Raymond E. Baldwin

Raymond Earl Baldwin (August 31, 1893 – October 4, 1986) was a United States Senator, the 72nd and 74th Governor of Connecticut.

Biography

Born in Rye, New York, he moved to Middletown, Connecticut in 1903 and attended the public schools. He graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown in 1916, and entered Yale University. However, upon the declaration of war, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He was assigned to officers' training school and was commissioned an ensign in February 1918, and promoted to lieutenant (j.g.) in September 1918. He resigned from the Navy in August 1919 and returned to Yale Law School, graduating in 1921; he was admitted to the bar in 1921 and practiced in New Haven and Bridgeport.

Baldwin was prosecutor of the Stratford Town Court from 1927 to 1930, and was judge of that court from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1931 to 1933, serving as majority leader in 1933. He resumed the practice of law from 1933 to 1938, and was town chairman of Stratford from 1935 to 1937. He was Governor of Connecticut in 1939 and 1940, and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the office in 1940. He was, however, again elected Governor in 1942 and 1944, and served until his resignation on December 25, 1946, having been elected United States Senator as a Republican on November 5, 1946, to fill the vacancy in the term ending January 3, 1947, caused by the death of Francis T. Maloney, and at the same time was elected for the term commencing January 3, 1947, and served from December 27, 1946, until his resignation on December 16, 1949. Baldwin was an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors (now the Supreme Court of Connecticut), and was appointed chief justice in 1959 and served until his retirement in 1963; in addition, he was chairman of the Connecticut Constitutional Convention in 1965. He died in Fairfield, Connecticut on October 4, 1986, aged 93, and was interred in Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown.

Baldwin was instrumental in helping Wendell Willkie win the 1940 Republican presidential nomination. An early supporter of Willkie, Baldwin saw to it that he had the Connecticut delegation behind him at the convention, which was crucial in Willkie's efforts to beat frontrunners Thomas Dewey, Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg. Willkie had unofficially promised Baldwin the spot as his running mate, but party leaders pressured Willikie to name Charles McNary instead, and Baldwin graciously stepped aside from contention.

Baldwin was a member of the Connecticut State Library Committee and its successor, the State Library Board, from 1957-1982 and served as its chair for many years. In tribute to his service, the board renamed the State Library's museum the Raymond E. Baldwin Museum of Connecticut History in 1983. The Baldwin Bridge that carries the Connecticut Turnpike (Rt. 95) from Old Lyme to Old Saybrook is also named for him. The Middlesex Judicial District court house in Middletown as well as the Baldwin Center, a senior citizens center in Stratford are named in his honor.

References

• Raymond E. Baldwin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress