Max Rafferty

For the former bassist of the band The Kooks, see Max Rafferty (Musician).

Max Rafferty
22nd California Superintendent of Public Instruction
In office 1963–1971
Preceded by	Roy E. Simpson
Succeeded by	Wilson C. Riles
Personal details
Born	May 9, 1917(1917-05-09) New Orleans, Louisiana
Died	June 13, 1982(1982-06-13) (aged 65) Alabama
Political party	Republican
Profession	Author & Teacher

Maxwell Lewis (Max) Rafferty (May 9, 1917, in New Orleans, Louisiana–June 13, 1982, in Alabama) was an author, educator, and politician.

Early life

Rafferty spent most of his childhood in Sioux City, Iowa, before his family moved to California in 1931. He was one of two children, the other being the American actress and pin-up girl Frances Rafferty. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1933. Rafferty earned his bachelor of arts (1938), Master of Arts (1949) and PhD (1955) from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Career

Rafferty's first job was as a teacher in the Trona Unified School District in the Mojave Desert portion of San Bernardino County, California, during World War II

From Trona, after World War II Rafferty went on to jobs as vice-principal, principal, and school superintendent in various California school districts. He was school superintendent at Saticoy, (1951–1955), Needles (1955–1961), and La Canada, a prosperous northeast Los Angeles suburb (1961–1962)^[1]. In 1962, he was elected to the nonpartisan office of Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of California. He held this office for two terms, from 1963 to 1971, after which time he became the Dean of Education at Troy State University in Alabama.

Rafferty was the author of a number of books on educational philosophy, including Suffer, Little Children (1963), What They Are Doing to Your Children (1964), and Max Rafferty on Education (1968). His newspaper column, "Dr. Max Rafferty", was syndicated nationally. Rafferty was the conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1968, having beaten Senator Thomas H. Kuchel, whom he had excoriated as a "liberal", in the Republican primary. Rafferty was defeated in the general election by State Controller Alan Cranston. After his defeat in the Senate race, Rafferty was defeated in 1970 for re-election as Superintendent of Public Instruction by Wilson C. Riles, a liberal African American.

Death

Rafferty died at the age of 65 when his car plunged off an earthen dam into a pond near Troy, Alabama.^[2] His papers were donated to the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries in Iowa City.^[3]

External links

• Suffer, little children by Max Rafferty. Published 1963 by New American Library in New York (OpenLibrary.org)

References

1. ^ "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
2. ^ Ted Thackrey Jr. and Judith A. Michaelson, "Alabama Car Crash Kills Max Rafferty," Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1982
3. ^ "The Papers of Max Rafferty," Library of the University of Iowa (website)

Party political offices
Preceded by Thomas Kuchel	Republican Party nominee for United States Senator from California (Class 3) 1968	Succeeded by H. L. Richardson

Persondata
Name	Rafferty, Max
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 9, 1917
Place of birth	New Orleans, Louisiana
Date of death	June 13, 1982
Place of death	Alabama