William Gorham Rice, Jr.
1892-1979
Professor of Law
Rice served as the first Board Vice President of UW Credit Union and signed the original credit union charter.
William Gorham Rice, Jr., the son of a prominent New York family, left Harvard Law School in 915 before the end of his first year to volunteer for duty as an ambulance driver with the American Ambulance Field Service on the Western Front in France. In a letter to his parents Rice wrote, "Well, I am glad I am going to see War & France & help serve Humanity & Justice." He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government in recognition of his bravery. After the U.S. entered the war, he was placed under the command of the U.S. Army and was made a First Lieutenant. After the war, Rice finished his Law degree and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandies for a term following graduation.
Even though his wife's grandfather was President of Harvard University, Rice so much admired Senator Robert La Follette, Sr., and the state's progressive reputation, that he left the patronage of his family and took a position at the University of Wisconsin. Professor Rice taught at the University from 1922 to 1963. He pioneered the study of Labor Law, then largely unknown at American law schools. His University service was interrupted by several leaves for government service, including General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board in 1934, U.S. State Department and Department of Labor representative at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (1935), and appointed counsel to the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board (1937). He chaired the University Committee in 1928.
Rice was a passionate advocate for free speech and the protection of civil rights. He pushed for a formal statement of non-discrimination on campus in 1929, and in 1930, he helped organize and was the first Chairman of the Madison chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 20 years later in 1953, at the height of McCarthyism, Rice again sought to protect civil rights and helped found the Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union. In 1974, Wisconsin Governor Lucey wrote of Rice, "There have been so many struggles in which your leadership has stood courageously at the forefront, and it is this 'first stand' effort that has so consistently characterized your career."