Biography/History

The career of William Gorham Rice Jr., champion of civil liberties and expert on international and labor law, spanned 55 years and a variety of occupations, endeavors, and interests. Above all, Rice fought for the cause of social justice, numbering among his targets Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and McCarthyism, racial and sex discrimination, repressive legislation, and the war in Vietnam. The citation on the honorary doctor of laws degree awarded to Rice by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in June 1971 summarized a lifetime of work and commitment:

For his service to the legal profession and many generations of students, For his commitment to humane values and his labors on behalf of human relationships, For the example of the universal man that he represents: lawyer, teacher, scholar, musician, organizer, public servant.

Rice's tenure as professor of law (1922-1963) at the University of Wisconsin was interrupted numerous times--by service as United States Department of Labor representative to the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (1935-1936), as member of the National Defense Mediation Board and National War Labor Board (1941-1945), and as assistant general counsel of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In 1948 he taught a course on American labor law and economics in Salzburg, Austria, and ten years later spent a semester lecturing throughout Pakistan and India. Always active in Democratic politics, Rice was a candidate for Congress in 1946, and for the Wisconsin Assembly in 1958, but was unsuccessful in each attempt. He served as a Eugene McCarthy delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Following his retirement from full-time teaching in 1963, Rice joined the firm of Anderson, Bylsma, and Eisenberg as part-time legal counsel. He continued, although less actively, his long interest in the National Lawyers Guild, dating from the late 1940s, and in the World Peace Through Law organization. During the 1960s and 1970s, Rice was an active member, counsel to, and chairperson of the Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union. In April 1970, his wife, Rosamond, died after a lengthy illness, and in November of that year, Rice married Hazel Farkasch Briggs. On April 17, 1979, at the age of 86, William G. Rice died. He was survived by his widow and three children.

1892 December 30	William Gorham Rice Jr. born at Albany, New York, the only child of W.G. Rice Sr. and Harriet Langdon Pruyn Rice. His father was secretary to Grover Cleveland while Cleveland was governor of New York and later served on the United States and New York State Civil Service Commissions. His mother was the daughter of John V.L. Pruyn, Chancellor of the State University of New York and a Congressman in the 1860s.
1914	Received Bachelor's degree from Harvard University
1915	Received Master's degree from Harvard and entered Harvard Law School
1916 May	Left Harvard to join the American Ambulance Field Service (AAFS). The name was later shortened to the American Field Service (AFS). AAFS units were attached to French ambulance sections, and duties consisted primarily of carrying wounded from dressing stations near the front to hospitals further behind the lines. As a volunteer, Rice supplied his own passage to France and expense money.
1916 July 8	Sailed for France to begin first six month tour of duty
1916 August-1917 January	Ambulance driver at Verdun and in the Argonne
1916 December	Visited England and Scotland while on leave
1917 February	Returned to the United States
1917 April 6	U.S. declared war on Germany
1917 May	Returned to France for second tour
1917 May-October	Ambulance driver in Champagne and along the Chemin des Dames
1917 June	Promoted to Chief of Ambulance Section 66/623
1917 July 29	Received the Croix de Guerre
1917 October	Left the AFS and joined the Army Ambulance Service of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
1917 October-1918 March	Commanded ambulance section along the Chemin des Dames
1918 March-May	Attended French Army Automobile School at Meaux
1918 June	Saw action in the Allies' Montdidier-Noyon defensive
1918 July-November	Saw action in the Allies' Somme offensive in France and Belgium
1918 November 11	Armistice signed
1918 December-1919 February	On duty at Roubaix, France. Traveled, while on leave, in Belgium and to the French Riviera
1919 March-June	Attached to the Intelligence Service at the U.S. General Military Headquarters at Chaumont, France. Primary duties were translating and condensing French newspaper comment for American authorities in France during the treaty negotiations.
1919 June 28	Treaty of Versailles signed
1919 July	Returned to the U.S. and was discharged
1920 June 29	Married Rosamond Eliot, whose father, Samuel Eliot, was president of the American Unitarian Association and grandfather, Charles Eliot, was president of Harvard University, 1868-1909
1920-1922	Received LLB and SJD from Harvard Law School and served one year as Justice Louis Brandeis' law clerk and secretary
1922	Joined University of Wisconsin faculty
1934	General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board
1935-1936	U.S. State Department and Department of Labor representative at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland
1937	Appointed Counsel to the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board
1963	Retired from active teaching
1968-1974	American Civil Liberties Union National Board member