{{short description|American writer, educator, and politician (1917–1982)}} {{distinguish|text=the former bassist of the band The Kooks}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Max Rafferty | image = Max Rafferty, 1967.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 1967 | order = 22nd California State Superintendent of Public Instruction | term_start = January 7, 1963 | term_end = January 4, 1971 | deputy = | governor = Pat Brown<br>Ronald Reagan | predecessor = Roy E. Simpson | successor = Wilson Riles | birth_name = Maxwell Lewis Rafferty Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|5|7}} | birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1982|6|13|1917|5|7}} | death_place = Pike County, Alabama, U.S. | party = Republican | spouse = {{marriage|Frances Longman Rafferty|1944}} | children = 3 | relations = Frances Rafferty (sister) | profession = Author and educator}}
'''Maxwell Lewis Rafferty Jr.''' (May 7, 1917 – June 13, 1982) was an American writer, educator, and politician. The author of several best-selling books about education, Rafferty served two terms as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1963 to 1971 under Governors Pat Brown and later eventual future US President Ronald Reagan and ran unsuccessfully in 1968 for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee, losing to Democratic former State Controller Alan Cranston. To date, Rafferty is the last Republican to have served as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
==Family== Rafferty was born to Maxwell Rafferty Sr. (1886–1967), and the former DeEtta Frances Cox (c. 1892–1972) in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of two children. His younger sibling was actress Frances Rafferty, a co-star of the 1954-1959 CBS Television sitcom, ''December Bride''.
Max Rafferty spent most of his childhood in Sioux City, Iowa, where his sister was born in 1922. The family relocated to California in 1931.<ref>[http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/1707 Join California], joincalifornia.com; accessed January 2, 2018</ref> In 1944, he married Frances Longman, and the couple had three children: Kathleen, Dennis, and Eileen.<ref name=whoswho>''Who's Who in America, 1968-1969'' (Chicago, Illinois: Marquis Who's Who, 1968), p. 1780</ref>
==Education== Rafferty graduated in 1933 from Beverly Hills High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (1938) and Master of Arts (1949) from the University of California, Los Angeles. He earned his Ed.D. (1955) from the University of Southern California.<ref name=Emerald1963>{{cite magazine|date=Winter 1963|volume=49|number=4|magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi|title=Sigma Pi in the News: Superintendent of Public Instruction|pages=163–164|url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1963/SP_Emerald_VOL_49_NO_4_WINTER_1963.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021004429/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1963/SP_Emerald_VOL_49_NO_4_WINTER_1963.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 21, 2016}}</ref> While attending UCLA, he was a member, and president, of the Sigma Pi fraternity chapter.<ref name="Emerald1982">{{cite magazine|magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi|url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1982/SP_EMERALD_VOL_70_NO_2_SUMMER_1982.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001195813/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1982/SP_EMERALD_VOL_70_NO_2_SUMMER_1982.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 1, 2016|volume=70|number=2|pages=21|title=Adytum on High}}</ref>
As an undergraduate at UCLA, Rafferty "took umbrage at many of the things" in the college newspaper, the ''Daily Bruin'', "particularly the editorial page ... to the point of charging into the office and physically attacking me", recalled editor Stanley Rubin in 1970.<ref>{{cite book | first=George | last=Garrigues | chapter-url=http://www.ulwaf.com/DailyBruin/05B_Thirties.html | title=Loud Bark and Curious Eyes: A History of the UCLA Daily Bruin, 1919–1955 | chapter=The Decade of the Thirties (1929–1940) (Second Part) | access-date=August 14, 2023 | archive-date=February 8, 2013 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130208222510/http://www.ulwaf.com/DailyBruin/05B_Thirties.html | url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
In 1937, Rafferty wrote a letter to the ''Los Angeles Times'' in which he described ''The Bruin'' as "one of the most prejudiced newspapers on the Pacific Coast" and complained that its "radicalism is not so funny if it keeps you from getting a job."<ref>{{cite book | first=George | last=Garrigues | chapter-url=http://www.ulwaf.com/DailyBruin/09A_People%27s.html | title=Loud Bark and Curious Eyes: A History of the UCLA Daily Bruin, 1919–1955 | chapter=The Myth of 'The People's Bruin' (1937–1954): Part 1 | access-date=August 14, 2023 | archive-date=February 8, 2013 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130208215001/http://www.ulwaf.com/DailyBruin/09A_People's.html | url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
==Career== {{More citations needed section|date=September 2022}} Rafferty's first job, during World War II, was as a classroom teacher in the Trona Unified School District in the Mojave Desert portion of San Bernardino County, California. In his newspaper columns, Rafferty often remarked with nostalgia how his first teaching jobs in California had been the most satisfying ones of his career.
After World War II, Rafferty became vice-principal, principal, and school superintendent in various California school districts, including Big Bear High School in Big Bear Lake from 1948 to 1951. He was the superintendent at Saticoy (1951–55), Needles (1955–61), and La Cañada, a prosperous northeast Los Angeles suburb (1961–62).<ref>"Max Rafferty, 1917–1982, Conservative U.S. Educator and Critic: Bibliography of Writings By and About Him", CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), VII, No. 1 (1983), Fiche 9 C1</ref>
In 1962, he was elected to the nonpartisan office of California education superintendent, defeating Los Angeles school board president Ralph Richardson.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-10-me-ralph10-story.html|title=Ralph Richardson, 83; Professor, School Trustee|last=Woo|first=Elaine|date=January 10, 2002|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=November 22, 2013}}</ref> He held the office for two terms, from 1963 to 1971.
In 1968, Rafferty challenged and defeated incumbent Republican Senator Thomas H. Kuchel in the Republican primary election in what has been described as "one of the biggest primary upsets in Senate history."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/dick-lugar-and-the-biggest-primary-upsets-in-senate-history/2012/05/07/gIQAk0ea8T_blog.html|title=Dick Lugar and the biggest primary upsets in Senate history|last=Blake|first=Aaron|date=May 7, 2012|work=The Fix|publisher=The Washington Post|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref>
Rafferty ran as a conservative while Kuchel was a moderate. A series of newspaper articles by David Shaw reported that Rafferty had been less than eager to serve his country during World War II after being classified 1A: fit for military service. Rafferty, Shaw reported, twice appealed the classification and was reclassified 4F—physically, mentally or morally unfit for service—because of what Rafferty said was a case of "flat feet". "The standing joke in the town", Shaw wrote, referring to the Mojave Desert community of Trona where Rafferty spent much of the war years as a teacher, "is still 'Max Rafferty celebrated V-J Day by throwing his cane away'."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-shaw2aug02-story.html | title=David Shaw, 62; Prize-Winning Times Writer Forged New Standards for Media Criticism | first=Jon | last=Thurber | date=August 2, 2005 | work=Los Angeles Times | access-date=August 14, 2023}}</ref> The stories damaged Rafferty and he lost the Senate election to Cranston, the former state controller.<ref>"Rafferty Falls To Cranston", ''Statesman Journal'' (Salem OR), November 6, 1968, pg. 3</ref><ref>"Nixon Wins Presidency; Cranston Beats Rafferty", ''Fresno (CA) Bee'', November 6, 1968, pg. 1</ref>
Two years later, in 1970, Rafferty failed in his bid for a third term as Superintendent of Public Instruction, losing to Wilson Riles, the first African-American to be elected to statewide office in California and a Democrat in the nonpartisan race.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB047491476F4D1&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Wilson Riles, former state school chief, dies at 81"], ''Sacramento Bee'', April 3, 1999</ref><ref>{{cite news | first=Susan | last=Sward | url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Wilson-Riles-Former-Chief-of-Public-Instruction-2938317.php | title=Wilson Riles—Former Chief of Public Instruction | work=San Francisco Chronicle | date=April 3, 1999 | access-date=August 15, 2023}}</ref>
He then moved to Alabama to serve on the faculty at Troy University in Troy, serving as Dean of Education from 1971 to 1981, and as Sorrell Chairman of Education from 1981 until his death in 1982.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19820615&id=PvpNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723,1747517|title=Educator Max Rafferty dies in accident|date=June 14, 1982|work=The Free-Lance Star|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref> Shortly before his death, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to a national advisory board on the financing of elementary and secondary education.<ref name=Emerald1982/>
Rafferty was the author of several books on educational philosophy, including ''Practice and Trends in School Administration'' (1961), ''Suffer, Little Children'' (1962),<ref name=whoswho/> ''What They Are Doing to Your Children'' (1964), and ''Max Rafferty on Education'' (1968). His newspaper column, "Dr. Max Rafferty", was syndicated nationally. He also received the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation.<ref name=Emerald1963/>
==Views== Rafferty was described by ''The New York Times'' as an "outspoken antiprogressive educator"<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1962/11/08/archives/school-post-goes-to-conservative-dr-rafferty-defeats-liberal-in.html "School post goes to conservative; Dr. Rafferty defeats liberal in California contest"], ''The New York Times'', November 8, 1962.</ref> who "built a national reputation attacking busing, sex education and the 'New Left'."<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vTdTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HYMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6926,3495511&dq=max-rafferty&hl=en Crash kills Max Rafferty], ''Deseret News'', June 14, 1982.</ref>
His books ''Suffer, Little Children'' and ''What They Are Doing to Your Children'' attacked progressive education and urged a "return to the fundamentals" in education.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iTpHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gvMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1389,383866&dq=max-rafferty+suffer&hl=en "What was Max Rafferty's Mission?"], ''Lewiston Journal'', August 5, 1982</ref> In particular, he wanted schools to focus on phonics, memorization, and drill; use American history and children's classics in teaching from the early grades forward; and drop psychology and "life adjustment" approaches from education.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iMUfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pdgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3044,5871645&dq=max-rafferty+suffer&hl=en "New California school director foe of life adjustment theory"], ''The Southeast Missourian'', December 15, 1962</ref> Among his controversial actions as state schools superintendent was his attempt to stop schools and classrooms from using books that he considered obscene, such as Eldridge Cleaver's ''Soul on Ice'' and Leroi Jones's ''Dutchman''. He threatened to revoke the teaching certificate of any teacher who used such works.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r4czAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LPgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5083,2703179&dq=max-rafferty+books&hl=en "School Books Spark Battle"], ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'', August 25, 1969</ref> He attempted to get the ''Dictionary of American Slang'' removed from school libraries.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120713085151/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/490492712.html?dids=490492712:490492712&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=May+26,+1963&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Teachers+Rap+Rafferty+on+Slang+Dictionary&pqatl=google "Teachers Rap Rafferty on Slang Dictionary"], ''Los Angeles Times'', May 26, 1963.</ref> Rafferty has also espoused hero-worship of the founding fathers in history classes saying “Dwelling on their human faults distorts the overall picture.”<ref name=doingToChildren>{{cite book |last1=Rafferty |first1=Max |title=What They Are Doing to Your Children |date=1963 |publisher=New American Library |page=25}}</ref> Holding the image of the founding fathers even above objectivity:
<blockquote>"Balancing virtues with vices, belittling the heroes, dwelling unduly upon the scandals of the past—these are the techniques that produce in the minds of the children a balanced, bland, tasteless, lifeless image of the country, and all in the sacred name of objectivity."<ref name=doingToChildren /></blockquote>
Politically, he was known as an "articulate spokesman for the far right"<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IOdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IeEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6552,1080360&dq=max-rafferty&hl=en "Negro educator upsets Rafferty in California"], ''Eugene Register-Guard'', November 5, 1970</ref> who had a "nationwide reputation as a Fourth-of-July style orator and writer."<ref name = "Miami">[https://archive.today/20120713101426/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/594130852.html?dids=594130852:594130852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+18,+1968&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=LOOTERS+SHOULD+BE+SHOT+IF+CAUGHT+IN+ACT---RAFFERTY&pqatl=google Bomb halt advocate leads school head in bitter California race], ''Miami News'', October 17, 1968</ref> In 1968, while running for the Senate, Rafferty said that those caught in looting should be shot.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120713101426/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/594130852.html?dids=594130852:594130852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+18,+1968&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=LOOTERS+SHOULD+BE+SHOT+IF+CAUGHT+IN+ACT---RAFFERTY&pqatl=google Looters should be shot if caught in act -- Rafferty], ''Los Angeles Times'', April 18, 1968.</ref>
He urged quick, stiff punishment for crimes: "Retribution is what I'm talking about, friends, and ever since we crawled out of caves, retribution has followed wrongdoing as the night does the day."<ref name="Miami"/> He promised never to vote for higher taxes or for foreign aid to "dictators who hate us," and he criticized judges who "coddle criminals," saying he could not have voted to confirm any of the then Supreme Court Justices.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QmcxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mwEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7281,481009&dq=max-rafferty&hl=en "California's Max Rafferty: A fighter with sharp wit"], ''Toledo Blade'', June 6, 1968.</ref>
In 1972, he campaigned for and served as a stand-in speaker for Alabama Governor George Wallace during the latter's Democratic campaign for U.S. president.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9605/29/index.shtml|title=George Wallace's Appointment in Laurel|date=May 29, 1972|magazine=Time|publisher=CNN|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref>
==Death== Rafferty was active in the Lions Club and Rotary International.<ref name=whoswho/> He died on June 13, 1982, at age 65 when his car plunged off an earthen dam into a pond near Troy, Pike County, Alabama.<ref>Ted Thackrey Jr. and Judith A. Michaelson,[https://www.proquest.com/docview/153160234 "Alabama Car Crash Kills Max Rafferty"], ''Los Angeles Times'', June 14, 1982.</ref>
His papers were donated to the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries in Iowa City.<ref>[http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?MSC0214 "The Papers of Max Rafferty"], lib.uiowa.edu; accessed August 24, 2017.</ref>
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
== Further reading== * Franklin Parker, ''Roots of the New Right: School Critic Max Rafferty (1917-82).'' (West Virginia University, 1985) [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED257728.pdf online]
==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24220948M/Suffer_little_children Suffer, little children by Max Rafferty], Published 1963 by New American Library in New York (OpenLibrary.org) *[http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/HistFilmVid&CISOPTR=325&CISOBOX=1&REC=5 Footage of May 1969 interview with Max Rafferty regarding student unrest on college campuses] *[https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/227 Max Lewis Rafferty papers] are housed at University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & Archives
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Thomas Kuchel}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican Party nominee for United States Senator from California (Class 3)|years=1968}} {{s-aft|after=H. L. Richardson}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafferty, Max}} Category:1917 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Writers from New Orleans Category:Politicians from Sioux City, Iowa Category:Writers from Sacramento, California Category:Politicians from Los Angeles Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:American columnists Category:20th-century American educators Category:American education writers Category:California Republicans Category:Alabama Republicans Category:Road incident deaths in Alabama Category:People from Troy, Alabama Category:California superintendents of public instruction Category:Politicians from Sacramento, California Category:Writers from Sioux City, Iowa Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:Journalists from Alabama Category:20th-century American far-right politicians Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Educators from Louisiana Category:20th-century American journalists Category:Activists from California Category:Activists from Alabama Category:New Right (United States) Category:Sigma Pi members Category:20th-century American male journalists