Dixy Lee Ray

Dixy Lee Ray
17th Governor of Washington
In office January 12, 1977 – January 14, 1981
Lieutenant	John Cherberg
Preceded by	Daniel J. 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	Office established
Succeeded by	Frederick Irving
Personal details
Born	September 3, 1914(1914-09-03) Tacoma, Washington United States
Died	January 2, 1994(1994-01-02) (aged 79) Fox Island, Washington United States
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Never married
Profession	Marine biologist

Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914–January 2, 1994) was the 17th Governor of the U.S. State of Washington. She was Washington's first female governor.

Biography

Early years

She was born Marguerite Ray in Tacoma to Frances Adams Ray and Alvis Marion Ray (a commercial printer).^[1] Marguerite was second in a family of five girls. In 1930 she changed her name to "Dixy Lee". She attended Tacoma's Stadium High School, graduated as valedictorian from Mills College in Oakland, California in 1937, and with a master's degree in 1938 with her thesis entitled "A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca". She earned her PhD from Stanford University in Palo Alto. Her doctoral dissertation was "The peripheral nervous system of Lampanyctus leucopsarus," completed in 1945 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, California.^[2]

Academic career

Ray was a marine biologist and taught at the University of Washington from 1947 until 1972. In 1952 she received a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship grant for Biology.^[3]

From 1963 until 1972, Dr. Ray became the director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center, guiding its future after the founding as part of the 1962 World's Fair. An advocate of nuclear power, she was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1973 and was the only woman to serve as chair of the AEC.

In 1975, Dr. Ray was appointed and served as the first Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

Political career

Ray was elected governor of Washington in 1976 as a Democrat. She quickly astonished her supporters^[who?] with her strongly conservative views. She was governor when Mount St. Helens started volcanic activity after a 123 year dormant or inactive phase. As volcanic activity increased, the mountain attracted scientists and sightseers. On April 3, 1980, she declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay away from the mountain. This declaration allowed the National Guard to assist State Patrol troopers and sheriffs deputies from Cowlitz County and Skamania County. Ray also issued an executive order that restricted access to extremely dangerous areas of Mount St. Helens and its surrounds.^[4] The "red zone" restrictions would be credited by Forest Service respondents to a post-eruption 'Warning and Response Survey' with keeping between 5,000 and 30,000 potential decedents out of the blast area.^[5]

In 1980, she lost in the Democratic primary election to then-State Senator Jim McDermott, who went on to lose in the general election to moderate Republican John D. Spellman. Ray left the governor's office in January 1981 when her successor took the Oath of Office.

Death and legacy

Dixie Lee Ray died on January 2, 1994 at Fox Island, Washington.

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 in 1998. The award, which consists of a bronze medal with the governor's likeness and $1000 was first given to Clyde W. Frank in 1999 and has been made annually since.^[6]

She co-authored two books critical of the environmentalist movement with Lou Guzzo. Her papers are archived at the Hoover Institution and are catalogued online.^[7]

Footnotes

1. ^ HistoryLink.org
2. ^ reference
3. ^ Guggenheim reference
4. ^ Governor Dixy Lee Ray (30 April 1980). "Executive Order 80-05". http://www.governor.wa.gov/execorders/eoarchive/eo80-05.htm. Retrieved 28 July 2010. 
5. ^ Thomas Frederick Saarinen, James L. Sell. Warning and response to the Mount St. Helens eruption. p. 72. http://books.google.ca/books?id=VT6BAVlPUUAC&pg=PA72. 
6. ^ ASME reference
7. ^ Online Archive of California

Further reading

• Ware, Susan; Lorraine Braukman, Stacy Braukman (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University Press. pp. 538–539. ISBN 067401488X. 
• Grinstein, Louise S; Carol A. Biermann, Rose K. Rose (1997). Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group,. pp. 424–432. ISBN 0313291802. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee; Louis R. Guzzo (1994). Environmental Overkill. New York: Harper Perennial. pp. 260 pages. ISBN 0060975989. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee; Louis R. Guzzo (1992). Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal With Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things). New York: Harper Perennial. pp. 206 pages. ISBN 0060974907. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee (1973). The Nation's Energy Future: A Report to Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.). pp. 175 pages. ISBN predates. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee (1959). Marine Boring and Fouling Organisms. Seattle WA: University of Washington Press. ISBN predates. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee (1950). The peripheral nervous system of lampanyctus leucopsarus. 87. Wiley Interscience. 61–178. doi:10.1002/jmor.1050870104. ISBN predates. 
• Ray, Dixy Lee (1945). The peripheral nervous system of lampanyctus leucopsarus. Pacific Grove, CA: Hopkins Marine Station. pp. 360 pages. ISBN predates (Note reference above). 
• Ray, Dixy Lee (1938). A Comparative Study of the Life Habits of Some Species of Burrowing Eumalacostraca. Oakland CA: Mills College. pp. 24 pages. ISBN predates. 

External links

• "Ray, Dixy Lee (1914-1994)" historylink.org Essay 601
• "Defeat for Dixy Lee Ray" in TIME magazine
• Biography: Dixy Lee Ray
• Register of the Dixy Lee Ray Papers, 1937-1982
• WA State Library governor's list
• New York Times obituary "Dixy Lee Ray, 79, Ex-Governor; Led Atomic Energy Commission"
• Nat'l Governor's Association article "Washington Governor Dixy Lee Ray"
• North Cascades Conservation Council (NCCC) 1977 commentary on Dixy Lee Ray's promotion of the ill-fated High Ross Dam project
• NCCC 1977 commentary on Dixy Lee Ray's efforts to stop the Skagit River system from being designated a Wild and Scenic River

Government offices
Preceded by New Office	Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs January 19, 1975 – June 20, 1975	Succeeded by Frederick Irving

Persondata
Name	Ray, Dixy Lee
Alternative names
Short description	Seventh governor of Washington
Date of birth	September 3, 1914
Place of birth	Tacoma, Washington
Date of death	January 2, 1994
Place of death	Fox Island, Washington