Dixy Lee Ray

Dixy Lee Ray
17th Governor of Washington
In office
January 12, 1977 – January 14, 1981
Lieutenant John Cherberg
Preceded by Daniel Evans
Succeeded by John Spellman
Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
In office
January 19, 1975 – June 20, 1975
President Gerald Ford
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Frederick Irving
Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission
In office
February 6, 1973 – January 18, 1975
President Richard Nixon
Preceded by James Schlesinger
Succeeded by Position abolished
Personal details
Born Marguerite Ray
(1914-09-03)September 3, 1914
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Died January 2, 1994(1994-01-02) (aged 79)
Fox Island, Washington, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Education Mills College (BS, MS)
Stanford University (PhD)
Signature

Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American scientist and politician who served as the 17th Governor of the U.S. state of Washington. Variously described as idiosyncratic, and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female governor and was known for her leadership of the state during the devastating 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, for her strident support of atomic energy, and for her personal eccentricities.

A graduate of Mills College and Stanford University, where she earned a doctorate in biology, Ray became an associate professor at the University of Washington in 1957. She was chief scientist aboard the schooner SS Te Vega during the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Under her guidance, the nearly bankrupt Pacific Science Center was transformed from a traditional, exhibit-oriented museum to an interactive learning center, and returned to solvency.

In 1973 Ray was appointed chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by President Richard M. Nixon. Under her leadership, research and development was separated from safety programs, and Milton Shaw, the head of the powerful reactor development division, was removed. She was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs by President Gerald Ford in 1975, but resigned six months later, complaining about lack of input into department decision making.

To the surprise of many, Ray ran for election as Governor of Washington as a Democrat in 1976. She won the election despite her blunt, sometimes confrontational, style. As governor, she approved allowing supertankers to dock in Puget Sound, championed support for unrestrained growth and development, and continued to express enthusiasm for atomic energy. On April 3, 1980 she declared a state of emergency as a result of the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. She retired after losing her bid for re-election in 1980.

Early life and education

Ray was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma, Washington to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray, the second in a family of five girls. She joined the Girl Scouts and, at the age of 12, became the youngest girl, up to that time, to summit Mount Rainier.[1][2] In 1930, at age 16, she legally changed her name to "Dixy Lee" in homage to Robert E. Lee.[3]

At the age of 12, Ray became the youngest girl to summit Mount Rainier.

Ray attended Tacoma's Stadium High School and graduated as valedictorian from Mills College in Oakland, California in 1937, working her way through school as a waitress and janitor.[2] She went on to earn a master's degree in 1938. Her thesis was titled A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca. Ray spent the next four years teaching science in the Oakland Unified School District. In 1942 a John Switzer Fellowship allowed her to enter a doctoral program in biology at Stanford University.[4] Ray's dissertation was the peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus a lanternfish; she completed the research for her dissertation in 1945 at the Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California.[5]

Scientific career

University of Washington

In 1945 Ray returned to Washington to accept a position as an instructor in the zoology department at the University of Washington. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1947 and, five years later, received a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship grant, which she used to undertake six months of postdoctoral research at Caltech.[6] In 1957 she was made an associate professor at the University of Washington. During her time there, she also served as chief scientist aboard the schooner SS Te Vega during the International Indian Ocean Expedition.[4] Her reputation in the classroom swung between wild extremes; students either "loved her or loathed her" as did faculty members. One fellow professor reportedly described her as "an intemperate, feeble-minded old bitch." [7]

KCTS-TV and Pacific Science Center

Intrigued by her reputation as a person who could "make science interesting," producers at KCTS-TV, Seattle's PBS affiliate, approached Ray about hosting a weekly television program on marine biology. The show, "Animals of the Seashore," was a hit and helped propel her into the public eye beyond campus. Her growing popularity led to the Pacific Science Center extending an invitation to Ray to take over the nearly-bankrupt science museum for an annual salary of $20,000. Ray jumped at the opportunity and immediately began a top-to-bottom overhaul of the center, declaring "I'll be damned if I'm going to become a landlady to a hoary old museum." Under Ray's guidance, the Pacific Science Center was converted from a traditional, exhibit-oriented museum to an interactive learning center.[7]

Dixy Lee Ray presents the Pacific Science Center's "Arches of Science" award to Nobel Laureate Glenn Seaborg in 1968.

Ray's hands-on approach to running the Pacific Science Center reflected at every level. She kept a police whistle in her desk that she would use to run off loitering hippies.[8] Jim Anderson, who would eventually teach fisheries science at the University of Washington, recalled a typical encounter with Ray, for whom he worked at the Pacific Science Center in 1968:[9]

Ray led the Pacific Science Center back into financial solvency. Her aggressive fundraising for the center also helped introduce her to many of the city's most influential citizens, including Senator Warren Magnuson.[3]

Government

Atomic Energy Commission

An advocate of nuclear power, in 1973 Ray was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on the recommendation of Senator Magnuson. The offer of appointment came via a telephone call after she was paged in an airport. After being told she would have to relocate to Washington, D.C., Ray declined the offer, saying "I'm living where I like to live." Nonetheless, she ultimately relented after being persuaded by her longtime friend Lou Guzzo.[8][10]

Ray and her dogs Ghillie and Jacques inspect the Hanford nuclear reservation. With them is Thomas Nemzek, at the time Director of Reactor R&D.

Following her appointment to the commission, news of her personal eccentricities began to emerge after reporters discovered she was living out of a 28-foot motor home, which was parked on a lot in rural Virginia.[3] Each morning she was chauffeured from her RV to the AEC offices in Germantown, Maryland, accompanied by her 100-pound (45 kg) Scottish deerhound Ghillie, and a miniature poodle named Jacques.[3][11] Media reports commented on her unusual hosiery (white knee socks).[3]

Her personal quirks were widely perceived as a weakness by tenured bureaucrats. A profile by Graham Chedd in New Scientist explained that,

Ray speaking with Robert Sachs, director of the Argonne National Laboratory, circa 1974

However, in less than a year of taking over, Ray had forced Shaw out, ordering that research and development be separated from safety programs as some environmental groups had demanded.[12] In addition to its research responsibilities, the AEC was charged with the manufacture of nuclear weapons for the U.S. military. Ray would later fondly recall the first time she saw a nuclear warhead describing it "like a piece of beautiful sculpture, a work of the highest level of technological skill."[2]

During her time as commission chair, Ray presented a 17-year-old Eric Lander with first place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search.[13]

U.S. State Department

In 1975, Ray was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs by Gerald Ford, but resigned six months later, complaining about lack of input into department decision making. She subsequently told a United States Senate committee that she "saw Secretary of State Henry Kissinger only once – the day she was sworn in as an assistant secretary of state."[3] In a parting shot as she left D.C., Ray declared that "anything the private sector can do, the government can do it worse."[8]

Governor of Washington (1977–1981)

Campaign and election

To the surprise of many, Ray announced in 1975 she would seek election as Governor of Washington. Later asked why she decided to make her first run for public office the highest office in the state, she would reason that "I was much too old to start at the bottom, so I decided to start at the top."[10] Though previously politically unaffiliated, she declared herself a Democrat.[3]

Governor Ray at Washington State Employees' Credit Union open house in 1977

Ray displayed a blunt, sometimes confrontational, style on the campaign trail, for which she would later become known. During a visit with the Dorian Society, a Seattle gay rights group, she was asked by one member if she had met any gay federal employees and if they ever felt under pressure. Ray responded, "I don't know any – you can't tell by looking at them," drawing applause from attendees.[14] In another instance, she declared Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Shelby Scates, who had deluged her with tough questions on the campaign trail, would "learn what the words persona non grata really mean" after her election.[8]

Ray narrowly won the Democratic nomination over Seattle mayor Wes Uhlman, having spent almost no money on her campaign, having no experience in running for elected office, and having little support from the state's political class.[8] Despite opposition from all major newspapers and predictions from pundits that the state was not ready "for an unmarried woman who gave herself a chainsaw for Christmas," Ray went on to win the general election with a victory over King County Executive John D. Spellman.[15] On election night, asked by a reporter to explain her surprise victory, she offered, "it can't be because I'm so pretty?"[1]

"the Best governor … or the worst"

After assuming office, Ray tightened Washington state spending and began an audit of state salaries and programs. She balanced the state budget and during her tenure as Governor oversaw the state's first full funding for basic education. As the first resident of the Governor's Mansion without a First Lady, Ray hired her elder sister Marion R. Reid to serve as her official hostess.[3]

Dixy Lee Ray signing a bill into law in the rotunda of the Legislative Building in Olympia

Nonetheless, she quickly alienated fellow Democrats with her conservative views on energy and the environment. She approved allowing supertankers to dock in Puget Sound, championed support for unrestrained growth and development, and continued to express enthusiasm for atomic power.[3] She, likewise, alienated the state's Republican establishment after she fired 124 appointees of her predecessor, three-term governor Daniel J. Evans, offering to send them "a box of kleenex with their pink slips."[15] She filled their places with old colleagues, described by some as "yes men."[16] Her treatment of the media was similarly dismissive. Local television reporter Paul Boyd once interviewed the governor while she was dressed in "a ratty Ban-lon sports shirt, sweat pants covered with dog hair, red socks, and tennis shoes." [8]

Ray's uncompromising belief in the correctness of her views occasionally spilled over state lines. During what was supposed to be a routine joint press conference in Boise, Idaho by the governors of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in which the three touted the benefits of energy conservation, Ray reacted with barely concealed disdain to Oregon governor Robert W. Straub's call for legislation to encourage the installation of home insulation. "I don't believe our citizens are lax, or lazy, or indifferent," Ray fired. "In Washington we have a strong voluntary energy conservation program. We don't need legislative incentives."[17]

Back in Washington, Ray sometimes engaged in elaborate ceremony; on her inauguration she hosted not just one, but nine, inaugural balls.[8] To promulgate House Bill 491, a relatively minor $13 million appropriations measure, she had nearly 1,000 people assembled in the rotunda of the Legislative Building (the Associated Press noted, at the time, that it was ordinarily "unusual for more than a dozen people to show up" to bill signings, which would customarily be held in the governor's office).[18]

Press and political opposition solidified in the face of her unyielding style of governance. In a critical 1977 article in Mother Jones, in which he labeled Ray as a "slightly wacky Miss Marple," Ray Mungo described the increasingly madcap atmosphere in Washington:

While Washington's chief executive, Ray split her time between the Governor's Mansion (pictured) and a trailer on rural Fox Island.

Ralph Nader, during a visit to the state, called Ray's administration "gubernatorial lunacy."[8] Ray's own campaign manager, Blair Butterworth, vaguely quipped "we thought she would be the best governor Washington ever had, or the worst, and we were right."[19] Support from her fellow scientists, however, was often positive; Edward Teller called Ray "a very wonderful lady" and said he would support her if she ran for President of the United States in the 1980 election.[20]

State of emergency

On April 3, 1980, Ray declared a state of emergency as a result of the worsening threat of volcanic eruption posed by Mount St. Helens. Warning that "the possibility of a major eruption or mudflow is real", she urged a sometimes skeptical public to remain away from the landmark mountain.[21]

A large portion of Washington was decimated by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Here, girders from the bridge that once crossed state route 504 lay in ruin after being washed more than half-a-mile away by mudflow.

The emergency decree was followed, on April 30, by the declaration of a "red zone" in southwestern Washington where public access would be banned and relocation of the population would be compelled by state troops, if necessary. Ray ordered the mobilization of the Washington National Guard and the deployment of the Washington State Patrol to reinforce the sheriffs of Cowlitz County and Skamania County in carrying out her requests, violation of which would be punishable by six months imprisonment. The "red zone" restrictions would later be credited by the U.S. Forest Service with saving between 5,000 and 30,000 people from certain death.[22] At the same time, however, Ray was criticized for establishing a parallel "blue zone" where the public were generally banned, but Weyerhaeuser loggers were permitted. (When the mountain finally erupted, 11 of those killed were loggers operating in the "blue zone." A subsequent lawsuit by families of the deceased, alleging negligence against the state, would be summarily dismissed in court for lack of evidence.)[23]

As a scientist, Ray was fascinated by the possibility of an eruption. In the weeks leading up to the fateful event, Ray flew to the mountain in the governor's plane, circling the peak and remarking, "I've always said I wanted to live long enough to see one of our volcanoes erupt." [24] The cataclysmic eruption of the mountain, which occurred on May 18, 1980, killed 57 people. The level of devastation caused by the ensuing ash cloud, earthquakes, electrical storms, and flooding was unprecedented and, the following day, Ray suspended local elections, which had been scheduled for May 20.[25]

Ray ran for reelection in 1980, enlisting Republican consultant Montgomery Johnson to head her campaign after her former manager, Butterworth, had defected to her rival, then-State Senator Jim McDermott. She lost to McDermott in a contentious Democratic primary election during which bumper stickers emblazoned with "Nixy on Dixy" and "Ditch the Bitch" became popular campaign tchotchkes. McDermott, himself, went on to lose in the general election to Republican John D. Spellman.[16]

Later life and death

After politics

External video
Booknotes interview with Ray on Trashing the Planet, June 16, 1991, C-SPAN

After leaving office, Ray retired to her farm on Fox Island. She was frequently in the news giving her opinion of current events. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoted her as saying she favored "abolishing political parties and taking away voting rights from anyone who fails to vote in two consecutive elections."[3] During her retirement she co-authored two books with Lou Guzzo critical of the environmentalist movement. In one of those books, Trashing the Planet, she derisively described environmentalists as "mostly white, middle to upper income and predominantly college educated … they are distinguished by a vocal do-good mentality that sometimes cloaks a strong streak of elitism that is often coupled with a belief that the end justifies the means." She proposed dumping radioactive waste in the sea, and dismissed the need to clean up the radioactive Hanford Site or most of industrial Puget Sound.

During a speech in Pasco, Washington in 1991, she further denounced the growing number of scientists advancing theories of climate change by telling her audience to "beware of averages. The average person has one breast and one testicle."[26]

Death and legacy

Dixy Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994, at her home. Later, controversy erupted after it emerged employees of the Pierce County medical examiner's office had kept autopsy photos of Ray as souvenirs.[27]

Ray's death was met with opinionated reflections on her life by her many friends and enemies. She was eulogized by her successor as governor, John Spellman, as "one of a kind." "She had a brilliant mind," Spellman said. "Her strength was as a teacher and a lecturer. She had this really bubbling personality. People weren't quite used to anybody that outspoken. But whatever she said, people still loved her."[16]

Former state senator Gordon Walgren, who had been indicted on federal racketeering charges based on evidence collected by the State Patrol during Ray's term, recalled her in different tones. "I'm sure she made valuable contributions as an educator," Walgren noted. "I can't remember any as governor."[16]

Ray's friend and a co-author in two of her books, Lou Guzzo, concluded that "she should have never gone into politics." "We thought it was time for someone in politics who tells the truth all the time," Guzzo recalled. "It didn't work."[16]

In 2014, veteran Seattle journalist Knute Berger opined that Ray was ahead of her time. "It's interesting to note that many of her views are either mainstream or are creeping back into acceptability," Berger wrote.[28]

After her death, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established an award in Dixy Lee Ray's honor for engineering contributions to the field of environmental protection. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and a cash grant, was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.[29]

Ray's papers, totaling 190 boxes of records and memorabilia spanning her career, are in deposit at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University.

Honors

Ray was the recipient of twenty honorary doctorates from U.S. and foreign universities.[1]

Sexual orientation

The subject of Dixy Lee Ray's sexual orientation was carefully avoided in public discussion both during, and after, her life. While there were many rumors regarding her sexuality, the specific word "lesbian" was never used to describe her and many people have dismissed those rumors as speculation borne by Ray's tomboy characteristics and unmarried status, rather than informed assessment.[15][30]

Electoral history

Governor of Washington Democratic primary – 1976 [31]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Dixy Lee Ray 205,232 35.1
Democratic Wes Uhlman 198,336 33.9
Democratic Marvin Durning 136,290 23.3
Democratic Duke Stockton 5,588 1.0
Governor of Washington general – 1976[32]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Dixy Lee Ray 821,797 53.05
Republican John Spellman 689,739 44.53
American Art Manning 12,406 0.80
OWL Red Kelly 12,400 0.80
Socialist Labor Henry Killman 4,137 0.27
Libertarian Maurice W. Willey 4,133 0.27
Governor of Washington Democratic primary – 1980 [33]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Jim McDermott 321,256 56.37
Democratic Dixy Lee Ray (incumbent) 234,252 41.10
Democratic Caroline (Hope) Diamond 4,184 0.73
Democratic Robert L. Baldwin 3,578 0.63
Democratic Lloyd G. Isley 2,723 0.48
Democratic Douglas P. Bestle 2,481 0.44
Democratic Jef Jaisun 1,476 0.26

References

  1. 1 2 3 "From Mt. Rainier to the Governorship of Washington, Dixy Lee Ray Was a Climber". aauw.org. American Association of University Women. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dixy Lee Ray: Tough-minded Woman Who Calls Herself 'Chairman' of the AEC". people.com. People Magazine. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Becker, Paula (2004). "Ray, Dixy Lee (1914–1994)". historylink.org. HistoryInk. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 Hightower-Langston, Donna (2002). A to Z of American Women Leaders and Activists. Facts on File. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-4381-0792-9.
  5. ↑ reference
  6. ↑ "Dixy Lee Ray". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Mole, Rich. Rebel Women of the West Coast: Their Triumphs, Tragedies and Lasting Legacies. Heritage House. ISBN 1-926613-28-7.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mungo, Raymond (May 1977). "Dixy Lee Ray – How Madame Nuke Took Over Washington". Mother Jones.
  9. ↑ "35 Year Club". washington.edu. University of Washington. 18 May 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Booknotes: Dixy Lee Ray (video). C-SPAN. 1991. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Graetz, Michael J. (2011). The End of Energy: The Unmaking of America's Environment, Security, and Independence. MIT Press. p. 68. ISBN 0-262-01567-6.
  12. 1 2 Chedd, Graham (5 July 1973). "The lady gets her way". New Scientist.
  13. ↑ "American Academy of Achievement". achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  14. ↑ Atkins, Gary (2003). Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging. University of Washington Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-295-98298-5.
  15. 1 2 3 Governing Codes: Gender, Metaphor, and Political Identity. Lexington Books. p. 31. ISBN 0-7391-1199-X.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Duncan, Don (3 January 1994). "Dixy Lee Ray: Unpolitical, Unique, Uncompromising". Seattle Times. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Governors' tiff affects regional energy programs". Eugene Register-Guard. 28 August 1977. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  18. ↑ "Senior citizens cheer as Ray signs "their" bill". Spokesman-Review. 10 May 1979.
  19. ↑ "Blair Butterworth, top political adviser, is dead". seattlepi.com. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  20. ↑ Rubinson, Paul (2008). Containing Science: The U.S. National Security State and Scientists’ Challenge to Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War (PDF) (Ph.D.). University of Texas.
  21. ↑ "Mount St. Helens Tremors Prompt State of Emergency". Boca Raton News. Boca Raton, Florida. 4 April 1980.
  22. ↑ Thomas Frederick Saarinen; James L. Sell. Warning and response to the Mount St. Helens eruption. p. 72.
  23. ↑ "Court approves St. Helens settlement". Eugene Register-Guard. 8 February 1987.
  24. ↑ Thompson, Dick (2002). Volcano Cowboys: The Rocky Evolution of a Dangerous Science. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 48. ISBN 0-312-28668-6.
  25. ↑ "EXECUTIVE ORDER 80-07". governor.wa.gov. State of Washington, Office of the Governor. 1980. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  26. ↑ Godden, Jean (19 October 1991). "How Many Lawyers Do You Need To Fry Spam?". Seattle Times. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  27. ↑ "Ray's Family: Autopsy Photos 'Denigrating' Polaroids Of Corpses Discovered In Desk Of Ex-County Employee". Spokesman Review. 4 June 1996. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  28. ↑ Berger, Knute (5 August 2014). "A water taxi named 'Dixy'?". Crosscut. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  29. ↑ "Dixy Lee Ray Award". asme.org. ASME. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  30. ↑ Ellis, Erik (2006). Dixy Lee Ray. Marine Biology, and the Public Understanding of Science in the United States (1930–1970 (Ph.D. Thesis). Oregon State University.
  31. ↑ "Election Abstract" (PDF). Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  32. ↑ "1976 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Washington". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  33. ↑ "1980 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Election Results – Washington". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 11 February 2015.

Further reading

Government offices
Preceded by
James Schlesinger		 Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission
1973–1975 		Position abolished
New office Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
1975 		Succeeded by
Frederick Irving
Party political offices
Preceded by
Albert Rosellini		 Democratic nominee for Governor of Washington
1976 		Succeeded by
Jim McDermott
Political offices
Preceded by
Daniel Evans		 Governor of Washington
1977–1981 		Succeeded by
John Spellman
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