Sen. George L. Radcliffe
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(1877 – 1974)

 George L. Radcliffe (1877–1974) served as a United States Senator from Maryland from 1935 – 1947. The youngest of nineteen children born to John Anthony LeCompte Radcliffe and Sophie Delila Travers, George was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. After being home schooled and then attending high school at Cambridge High School, 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.

While volunteering his time at the Department of the Navy 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 United States 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 in 1972.

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.

Locally he was involved with numerous historic preservation projects, devoting considerable time to the restoration of Old Trinity Church and forming the Grace Foundation to initially preserve Grace Church on Taylor’s Island, the church his grandfather had helped build. In 1971, he decided it was time to rebuild his father’s windmill which had blown down in 1888. The windmill was dedicated in 1972.

George’s life was shaped by a non-stop commitment to serving the community and preserving the history he was so proud of. While many study history, George lived it. Staying active until the day he died, George L. Radcliffe left his mark on many. His good friend, Sam Dennis, chief justice of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, said of him, “Give him enough time, let him do it in his own way, and he will move the pyramids from Egypt to Druid Hill Park.”