“Call Me Cousin George”

George L. Radcliffe (1877–1974) served as a United States Senator from Maryland from 1935 to 1947. Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, he earned both his B.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. His Ph.D. dissertation, Governor Thomas H. Hicks of Maryland and the Civil War, was published in 1901. After briefly teaching, he earned a law degree from the University of Maryland and was hired by the American Bonding Company. He remained with that firm and the affiliated Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland his entire life.

During World War I, he befriended Franklin Roosevelt, and the two would remain close friends throughout Roosevelt’s life. Through his association with Roosevelt, he would become connected with the campaign to bring attention to infantile paralysis (polio) and would go on to be Maryland Chairman of the March of Dimes for thirty-four years. He would manage Roosevelt’s presidential campaign in Maryland in 1932 and 1936.

George Radcliffe’s most notable achievement during his years in the Senate was chairing the Merchant Marine Committee, which oversaw the build-up of the U.S. Merchant Marine before World War II. In the Senate, he formed a close friendship with Harry Truman, and they would stay close until Truman’s death.

George was also a noted historian and an officer of the Maryland Historical Society for over sixty years, and its president for twenty five of those years. He engaged in countless historical preservation projects including saving the Baltimore Shot Tower in 1924 and bringing the USS Constellation to Baltimore.

The Author, George M. Radcliffe, Jr. is the grandson of Senator George L. Radcliffe and lives with his wife Jackie on the property on which the Senator grew up. He taught science for thirty-eight years in both Dorchester and Queen Anne’s County Schools and manages Spocott Farm, the farm which has been in his family since 1663.