Endicott Peabody
Peabody in 1962
62nd Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 3, 1963 – January 7, 1965
Lieutenant	Francis Bellotti
Preceded by	John A. Volpe
Succeeded by	John A. Volpe
Member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council from the 3rd district
In office 1955–1957
Preceded by	David B. Williams
Succeeded by	Christian A. Herter, Jr.
Personal details
Born	( 1920 -02-15)February 15, 1920 Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	December 2, 1997(1997-12-02) (aged 77) Hollis, New Hampshire, U.S
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Barbara Welch Gibbons ​ ​ (m. 1944)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Malcolm E. Peabody Mary E. Peabody
Relatives	John Endecott (ancestor) Endicott Peabody (grandfather) Henry Parkman (grandfather) Henry Parkman Jr. (uncle) Marietta Peabody Tree (sister) Desmond FitzGerald (former brother-in-law) Ronald Tree (brother-in-law) Frances FitzGerald (niece) Penelope Tree (niece)
Education	Harvard University (AB,JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Battles/wars	World War II Pacific War
Awards	Silver Star
Football career
Personal information
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	181 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school	Groton (Massachusetts) Penn Charter (Philadelphia)
College	Harvard (1939–1941)
Awards and highlights
Unanimous All-American (1941) First-team All-Eastern (1941)
College Football Hall of Fame

Endicott Howard Peabody (February 15, 1920 – December 2, 1997) was anAmerican politician fromMassachusetts. ADemocrat, he served a single two-year term as the62nd Governor of Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1965. His tenure is probably best known for his categorical opposition to thedeath penalty and for signing into law the bill establishing theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston. After losing the1964 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Peabody made several more failed bids for office in Massachusetts andNew Hampshire, including failed campaigns for the U.S. Senate in1966 and1986.

Born inLawrence, Massachusetts to a family with deep colonial roots, Peabody playedcollege football atHarvard University, where he earned honors as anAll-Americanlineman. He served in theUnited States Navy inWorld War II before embarking on a political career noted more for its failures than its successes. He made multiple unsuccessful attempts to win the position ofMassachusetts Attorney General, and for theUnited States Senate representing both Massachusetts andNew Hampshire, and ran forUnited States Vice President in1972.

Endicott Peabody, nicknamed "Chub", was born inLawrence, Massachusetts, the son ofMary Elizabeth (née Parkman) and the ReverendMalcolm E. Peabody, anEpiscopal Bishop of Central New York.^[1] He was a grandson of the founder ofGroton School andBrooks School, also namedEndicott Peabody, and was a descendant of colonial governorJohn Endecott.^[2] His maternal grandfather,Henry Parkman, was a Boston businessman and politician.^[3]

Peabody first attended theWilliam Penn Charter School, and graduated in 1938 from the Groton School.^[1] He earned hisA.B. fromHarvard College in 1942, majoring in history. Peabody played on theHarvard Crimson football team and also played ice hockey and tennis.^[4] He stood out in football, where he was known as the "baby-faced assassin",^[5][6] playing three seasons on the varsity squad, and was theonly unanimous choice for the1941 College Football All-America Team.^[7] He was awarded theKnute Rockne Memorial Trophy for best collegiatelineman in 1941,^[4] and was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1973.^[7]

Peabody served in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II, primarily as aLieutenant aboard theUSSTirante in thePacific Ocean theater.^[8][9] He led several boarding parties involving hand-to-hand combat, for which he was awarded several commendations including theSilver Star.^[10]

While serving in the war, Peabody decided to embark on a career in politics. After the war ended, he attendedHarvard Law School, receiving hisJ.D. degree and attaining admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1948. His first political work was on the1948 presidential campaign ofHarry S. Truman. Truman appointed him an Assistant Regional Counsel for theOffice of Price Stabilization in 1950 and Regional Counsel for the Small Defense Plants Administration in 1952.^[4][11] In 1954 he won election to theMassachusetts Governor's Council, serving one two-year term.In 1958, Peabody ran forAttorney General of Massachusetts, but lost in the Democratic primary toEdward McCormack, Jr. by nine percentage points.^[12] In1960, he ran forGovernor of Massachusetts, but came in second (out of seven candidates) in the Democratic primary with 25.5% of the vote.^[13] Inthat year's presidential election, he coordinatedJohn F. Kennedy's campaigns inWest Virginia,Pennsylvania, andNew Hampshire.

In the1962 gubernatorial election, Peabody was victorious in the race for governor, upsetting theRepublicanincumbentJohn A. Volpe by only 4,431 votes out of over two million cast. Peabody's campaign manager was his law partner Joseph M. Koufman. Peabody was aided in the victory by endorsements from President Kennedy, and by thecoattails ofTed Kennedy's victory inthe coinciding race for the president's formerUnited States Senate seat.

During his administration, voters approved a state constitutional amendment extending the terms of office of all state constitutional officers from two years to four years, starting from the next election. Peabody advocated laws to prevent discrimination in housing and to establish drug addiction treatment programs. He also strongly opposedcapital punishment and "vowed that he would not sign adeath warrant even for theBoston Strangler, if he were ever caught and convicted."^[14] This position was controversial, especially because several police officers werekilled in the line of duty in the state during his tenure.^[15] Peabody recommended thecommutation of everydeath sentence that he reviewed while governor.^[16]Massachusetts' last executions took place in 1947, though the penalty itself remained in force. On June 18, 1964, Peabody signed into law the bill establishing theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston.^[17]

On April 1, 1964, the governor's 72-year-old mother, Mary Parkman Peabody, made headlines when she was arrested at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge inSt. Augustine, Florida, for attempting to be served in an integrated group at aracially segregated restaurant. The action made her a hero to thecivil rights movement and broughtcivil rights efforts in St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, to national and international attention.^[18]

In1964,Lt. Gov.Francis X. Bellotti mounted a primary campaign against Peabody for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Although Peabody was supported by Senator Kennedy and the party convention, Bellotti was victorious in the primary. Peabody's loss was variously attributed to his controversial opposition to the death penalty, his stiff demeanor in television appearances, and a bruising defeat he suffered early in his term in opposing the winning candidate forSpeaker of the Massachusetts General Court.^[15] Bellotti subsequently lost the general election toJohn Volpe.

In1966, Peabody ran for the U.S. Senate, for which there was an open seat that year as a result of the retirement ofLeverett Saltonstall; he won the Democratic nomination but was defeated by a landslide in the general election by the Republican nominee, theliberal state Attorney GeneralEdward Brooke.

Peabody undertook a quixotic campaign forVice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket in1972;^[19] he came in fourth in the balloting at the1972 Democratic National Convention. He ran under the slogan "Endicott Peabody, the number one man for the number two job."

In 1983, he moved toHollis, New Hampshire, where he ran unsuccessfully for local and statewide political office several times, including for the U.S. Senate in1986 against the Republican incumbent,Warren Rudman.

In 1992, Peabody ran again for vice president by competing in theNew Hampshire vice-presidential primary, where he won with 59.7% of the vote. However, the primary is non-binding, and, at the prerogative of the presidential nominee,Bill Clinton ofArkansas, the vice-presidential nomination eventually went toAl Gore ofTennessee. Clinton and Gore subsequently won thegeneral election.^[20]

Also in 1992, Peabody ran for a seat in theNew Hampshire House of Representatives, but he came in third place with 20.7% of the vote.^[21]

Peabody died fromleukemia in Hollis in 1997, aged 77. His remains were interred inGroton, Massachusetts.

On June 24, 1944, Peabody married Barbara Welch "Toni" Gibbons (1922–2012), a native ofBermuda, the elder daughter of Morris Gibbons, a member of theParliament of Bermuda, and his wife, the former Maude Madge Welch. Peabody and his wife had a daughter, Barbara, and two sons, Robert and Endicott Jr.^[22]

Peabody's sister,Marietta Peabody Tree, represented the United States on theUnited Nations Commission on Human Rights.^[23]

• Silver Star
• Presidential Unit Citation for USSTirante
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with twobattle stars
• World War II Victory Medal

• Baltzell, Edward (1987) [1964].The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America. New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN 9780300038187.OCLC 1013182915.
• Herman, Jennifer (2008).Massachusetts Encyclopedia. Hamburg, MI: State History Publications.ISBN 9781878592651.OCLC 198759722.
• Molotsky, Irvin (December 4, 1997)."Obituary — Endicott Peabody, 77, Dies; Governor of Massachusetts in 60's".The New York Times.
• Porter, David L, ed. (1995).Biographical Dictionary of American Sports. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN 9780313284311.OCLC 30812419.

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