Endicott Peabody

Endicott Peabody, nicknamed "Chub", was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Mary Elizabeth (née Parkman) and the Reverend Malcolm E. Peabody, a former Episcopal Bishop of Central New York.[1] He was a grandson of the founder of Groton School and Brooks School, also named Endicott Peabody, and was a descendant of colonial governor John Endecott.[2] He first attended the William Penn Charter School, and graduated in 1938 from the Groton School.[1] He earned his A.B. from Harvard College in 1942, majoring in history. Peabody played on the Harvard Crimson football team and also played ice hockey and tennis.[3] He stood out in football, where he was known as the "baby-faced assassin",[4][5] playing three seasons on the varsity squad, and was the only unanimous choice for the 1941 College Football All-America Team.[6] He was awarded the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy for best collegiate lineman in 1941,[3] and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.[6]

Peabody served in the United States Navy during World War II, primarily as a Lieutenant aboard the USS Tirante in the Pacific Ocean theater.[7][8] He led several boarding parties involving hand-to-hand combat, for which he was awarded several commendations including the Silver Star.[9]

While serving in the war, Peabody decided to embark on a career in politics. After the war ended, he attended Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D. degree and attaining admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1948. His first political work was on the 1948 presidential campaign of Harry S. Truman. Truman appointed him an Assistant Regional Counsel for the Office of Price Stabilization in 1950 and Regional Counsel for the Small Defense Plants Administration in 1952.[3][10] In 1954 he won election to the Massachusetts Governor's Council, serving one two-year term. In 1958, Peabody ran for Attorney General of Massachusetts, but lost in the Democratic primary to Edward McCormack, Jr. by nine percentage points.[11] In 1960, he ran for Governor of Massachusetts, but came in second (out of seven candidates) in the Democratic primary with 25.5% of the vote.[12] In that year's presidential election, he coordinated John F. Kennedy's campaigns in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

Peabody as governor.

Peabody with Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Boston Mayor John F. Collins in January 1964.

Peabody (left) with Boston Mayor John F. Collins and President Lyndon B. Johnson

In the 1962 gubernatorial election, Peabody was victorious in the race for governor, upsetting the Republican incumbent John A. Volpe by only 4,431 votes out of over two million cast. Peabody's campaign manager was his law partner Joseph M. Koufman. Peabody was aided in the victory by endorsements from President Kennedy, and the landslide victory of Kennedy's brother Edward in the coinciding race for the president's former United States Senate seat.

During his administration, voters approved a state constitutional amendment extending the terms of office of all state constitutional officers from two years to four years, starting from the next election. Peabody advocated laws to prevent discrimination in housing and to establish drug addiction treatment programs. He also strongly opposed capital punishment and "vowed that he would not sign a death warrant even for the Boston Strangler, if he were ever caught and convicted."[13] This position was controversial, especially because several police officers were killed in the line of duty in the state during his tenure.[14] Peabody recommended the commutation of every death sentence that he reviewed while governor.[15] Massachusetts' last executions took place in 1947, though the penalty itself remained in force. On June 18, 1964, Peabody signed into law the bill establishing the University of Massachusetts Boston.[16]

On April 1, 1964, the governor's 72-year-old mother, Mary Parkman Peabody, made headlines when she was arrested at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida, for attempting to be served in an integrated group at a racially segregated restaurant. The action made her a hero to the civil rights movement and brought civil rights efforts in St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, to national and international attention.[17]

In 1964, Lt. Gov. Francis X. Bellotti mounted a primary campaign against Peabody for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Although Peabody was supported by Senator Kennedy and the party convention, Bellotti was victorious in the primary. Peabody's loss was variously attributed to his controversial opposition to the death penalty, his stiff demeanor in television appearances, and a bruising defeat he suffered early in his term in opposing the winning candidate for Speaker of the Massachusetts General Court.[14] Bellotti subsequently lost the general election to John Volpe.

On June 24, 1944, Peabody married Barbara Welch "Toni" Gibbons (1922–2012), a native of Bermuda, the elder daughter of Morris Gibbons, a member of the Parliament of Bermuda, and his wife, the former Maude Madge Welch. Peabody and his wife had a daughter, Barbara, and two sons, Robert and Endicott Jr.[21]

Peabody's sister, Marietta Peabody Tree, represented the United States on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.[22]

• Silver Star
• Presidential Unit Citation for USS Tirante
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars
• World War II Victory Medal

• Baltzell, Edward (1987) [1964]. The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300038187. OCLC 1013182915.
• Herman, Jennifer (2008). Massachusetts Encyclopedia. Hamburg, MI: State History Publications. ISBN 9781878592651. OCLC 198759722.
• Molotsky, Irvin (December 4, 1997). "Obituary — Endicott Peabody, 77, Dies; Governor of Massachusetts in 60's". The New York Times.
• Porter, David L, ed. (1995). Biographical Dictionary of American Sports. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313284311. OCLC 30812419.