Nathan Ralston

Nathan Ralston (July 19th, 1913 -- January 2nd, 1995) was an attorney, U.S. politician, and diplomat who served as governor of Maryland from 1959 to 1963. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Early Life
Nathan Ralston was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1913. His father, Albert Ralston, was a socially prominent doctor while his mother, the former Julia Richardson, was the daughter of then-Baltimore Mayor Quinton Richardson. On his mother's side, Nathan Ralston was descended from former U.S. President Matthew Gardiner. The oldest of six children, Nathan Ralston was raised Catholic and remained one for his entire life.

Education
Nathan Ralston graduated from Georgetown University in 1935. He received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1938 and joined the Maryland Bar the next year. While at Georgetown, he played on the university's football team. By Ralston's later account, he had to give up the game when, in 1934, he tore a ligament in his knee during a game. Along with giving him a lifelong limp, this injury prevented him from serving in the U.S. Military during the second World War.

Professional Career
Ralston served as a prosecutor in the office of the Baltimore County's State's Attorney from 1939 until 1943 when he left fo go into private practice. During his time as a prosecutor, Ralston had a 97% conviction rate.

Early Political Career And Race For Governor
Ralston served one term on the Baltimore City Council from 1949 through 1951. He then went on to win election to the Maryland Senate in 1952. On both the council and in the state senate, Ralston earned a reputation for being a racial moderate. While supporting civil rights legislation in general, he also consistently argued that reform should follow a slow and cautious pace. While supporting the Supreme Court ruling that segregation was unconstitutional, Ralston said that process towards integration would only work if it was gradual.

In 1956, Ralston announced that he would not run for reelection to his seat in the State Senate and would instead be a candidate for governor in 1958. Maryland's then-governor, Democrat Eugene Burns, was nearly 70 years old at the time and known to be in poor health. It was generally assumed that he would not be a candidate for reelection and, a few days after Ralston announced his candidacy, Burns announced that he would not rNew Leaders Of The Southun again.

Ralston entered the governor's race with little support and little name recongition. However, with the help of his family's connections, he did start out with more money than any of the other ten candidate who entered the Democratic Primary. Ralston was an energetic campaigner who ran as a forward-thinking reformer and, as the primary date approached, he was quickly identified as "everyone's second choice" by the Washington Post.

That same article identified "everyone's first choice" as being either Lt. Governor Thruston Morgan or State Sen. Danforth Barnes. While the undynamic Morgan was a well-known and respected figure in the state, he was often criticized for being an uninspiring campaigner. Barnes, meanwhile, was an outspoken supporter of segregation who promised to "clean out Annapolis."

The tide of the campaign changed approximately ten days before the primary when Morgan suffered a nearly fatal heart attack. Confined for a week to a hospital bed, Morgan could not actively campaign. On the primary date, the former front runner came in third with 21% of the vote. Coming in first, with 35%, was Barnes. And coming in second, barely edging Morgan with 23% of the total vote, was Nathan Ralston.

The subsequent run-off received national attention as the racially moderate Ralston faced off against the segregationist Barnes. After an intense campaign that was distinguished by personal attacks and bitterness, Ralston won the run-off with 52% of the vote.

Governor of Maryland
As Maryland's governor, Nathan Ralston openly supported legislation that, many observers feel, helped Maryland achieve racial integration in education without the controversy and bitterness that was found in so many Southern and border states. He also appointed what was a then record number of African-Americans to various state agencies. In 1961, Life Magazine included him in a profile entitled "New Leaders of the South."

In 1960, he endorsed then-U.S. Sen. James Fitzpatrick for the Democratic presidential nomination. He later told close intimates that he actually felt that Ernest Allison of Missouri would have made a better president but that he had to support Fitzpatrick as Fitzpatrick was on the verge of being the first Catholic ever elected to the presidency. Ralston served as one of Fitzpatrick's flood leaders at the Democratic Convention and was among the group sent to negotiate the vice presidential nomination with Augustus Anderson.

In 1962, Ralston surprised many people by not running for reelection. Though he declined to offer an explanation at the time, it was later speculated that Fitzpatrick had already informed him that he (Ralston) would be taking Anderson's place on the Democratic ticket when Fitzpatrick ran for reelection in 1964. These plans -- if they were indeed true -- were, of course, rendered meaningless by Fitzpatrick's assassination in 1963.

Out Of Office
Though out of office, Nathan Ralston remained prominent in Democratic party affairs. At the 1964 Democratic Convention, he gave a speech seconding the vice presidential nomination of Ernest Allison.

In 1968, when Allison was himself nominated for president, Nathan Ralston was reportedly among those that he considered for vice president. It was rumored at the time that Ralston was President Anderson's choice for Allison's running mate. Though Allison ultimately selected Francis Merino, Ralston was named co-chairman of Allison's ultimately unsuccesful presidential campaign.

1972 Presidential Campaign
In 1972, feelings that the Democratic field was weak, Nathan Ralston decided to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. As the primary season had already begun, Ralston knew he wouldn't be able to win enough delegates to receive the nomination but he hoped to do well enough to present himself as a compromise candidate to a deadlocked convention. He was also interested in directly challenging Arkansas Gov. Archie Fowler in several southern primaries. However, Ralston failed to beat Fowler even in the Maryland Democratic Primary, despite (or perhaps because) of the fact that Fowler had been gunned down in a failed assassination attempt only three days previous.

Despite his failure to win any primaries, Ralston remained in the race through the 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami. His name was placed in nomination by the Mississippi-born essayist Eli Cauze. Ralston was a member of the Stop White Coalition but Ralston still only received 98 votes on the presidential ballot and Sam White still won the Democratic nomination.

1976 Presidential Campaign
Despite his less-than-impressive showing in 1972, Ralston decided to run for the 1976 Democratic nomination. He announced his candidacy on June 7th, 1975 and -- much like the eventual winner, Carl Shelby -- announced that the centerpiece of his campaign would be returning honesty and trust to Washington. While Ralston was favorably received by the national press and gained a following among some educators, he struggled to raise funds. In January of 1976, while campaigning in Iowa, Ralston felt a sharp pain in his chest and was diagnosed with a heart murmur. On January 17th, before the first primary or caucus, Ralston withdrew from the race, the first candidate of either party to do so.

Ambassador To Italy
On February 2nd, 1977, President Carl Shelby nominated Nathan Ralston to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Italy. His nomination was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

As Ambassador, Ralston soon found himself targeted by Italy's leading communist terrorist group, ''the Brigate Rosse. ''In 1978, he pledged -- without, it appears, consulting with President Shelby first -- that the United States would aid the Italian government "by any means necessary" to rescue former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who was at the time being held hostage by the group. Following Moro's murder on May 19th, Ralston released a statement vehemently condemning the murders. Two days later, a car bomb exploded in front of the U.S. embassy, killing an aide to Ralston and an Italian policeman. Ralston was not injured in the attempt.

Shortly after the bombing, Ralston was recalled by President Shelby and resigned as ambassador.

Later Life
In 1980, Ralston supported Sen. Michael Fitzpatrick's attempt to challenge President Shelby in the Democratic presidential primaries. After the Democratic nomination was won by Francis Merino, Ralston endorsed the ticket but declined to help the campaign in Maryland. Later, that same year, Gray Stuart became one of the few Republican presidential candidates ever to win Maryland's electoral votes.

In 1984, Ralston was an early supporter of Rudy Gunderson's presidential campaign and served as the campaign's honorary chairman in Maryland. Again, President Stuart won Maryland in November.

In 1995, Ralston died in his sleep at his home in Annapolis, Maryland. He was 81 years old.

Personal
Nathan Ralston married Marguerite Chandler in 1940. Their only child -- a daughter named Virginia -- was born in 1942. Marguerite Ralston survived her husband by ten years, dying of complications related to Alzheimer Disease on November 5th, 2005.