Channing H. Cox

Channing Harris Cox (October 28, 1879 – August 20, 1968) was an American Republican politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. He served as the 49th governor of Massachusetts, from 1921 to 1925. He attended Dartmouth College and served as 47th lieutenant governor to Calvin Coolidge, winning election as governor after Coolidge decided to run for vice president. Cox was noted for advancing progressive labor legislation and adjusting administrative law to Massachusetts' changing economy. He was also the first Massachusetts governor to use radio, when he broadcast live from the Eastern States Exposition on September 19, 1921, at the debut of station WBZ in Springfield.

Early years Channing Cox was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, to Charles Edson Cox and Evelyn Mary (Randall) Cox. He was one of four brothers, one being Louis Cox, who became a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He attended the Manchester public schools and then Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1901. He then attended Harvard Law School, receiving his degree there in 1904. Cox remained a lifelong supporter of Dartmouth, where a residence hall is named in his honor.

Cox then opened a law practice in Boston, Massachusetts, which he maintained until he was elected governor. Cox contributed to the anti-immigrant sentiment in Massachusetts by characterizing discontented immigrants as a "motley array of questionable groups and influences". He won reelection in 1922, in another race against disorganized Democratic opposition. Although the state was in an economic downturn (an early whisper of the Great Depression), with textile production dropping and wages down, his campaigns emphasized "economy and sound administration" in governance, terms which characterized Republican campaigns through the 1920s. In 1922, Cox defeated former Mayor of Boston John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald by more than 60,000 votes.

As governor, Cox was somewhat more progressive than Coolidge, advancing a variety of modest reforms. He increased schooling requirements and reduced working hours for children, allowed labor unions to instigate lawsuits against employers, and improved workmen's compensation coverage. He signed legislation restricting the ability of state banks to engage in speculative investments, and instituted a commission on finance and reform to oversee the state's finances. In the 1922 race, Cox claimed credit for reducing income taxes by $2 million and the state's debt by $12 million. Substantive reforms were typically buried by the legislature, which studied reform proposals but generally did not act on them. Cox opted not to run for reelection in 1924, supporting Lieutenant Governor Alvan T. Fuller as his successor.

Later years and family After leaving office, Cox was encouraged to run for the United States Senate seat opened by the death of Henry Cabot Lodge. He refused, and spent the rest of his active years involved in business and philanthropic pursuits. He served on the boards of numerous local corporations, banks, and non-profits, He died in 1968 at his summer home in West Harwich, Massachusetts, and was buried in Boston's Forest Hills Cemetery.

Cox had married Mary Young of Wellfleet in 1915; they had one child.

In 1922 Cox became a compatriot of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.