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{{Short description|American engineer, industrialist, and politician (1880–1970)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = Ralph Flanders
|image         = FLANDERS, RALPH. SENATOR LCCN2016862620 (composed).jpg
|jr/sr         = United States Senator
|state         = [[Vermont]]
|term_start    = November 1, 1946
|term_end      = January 3, 1959
|predecessor   = [[Warren Austin]]
|successor     = [[Winston L. Prouty]]
|office1       = 6th President of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]]
|term_start1   = May 1, 1944
|term_end1     = February 28, 1946
|predecessor1  = William Paddock
|successor1    = [[Laurence F. Whittemore]]
|birth_name    = Ralph Edward Flanders
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1880|9|28}}
|birth_place   = [[Barnet, Vermont]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1970|2|19|1880|9|28}}
|death_place   = [[Springfield, Vermont]], U.S.
|resting_place = Summer Hill Cemetery, Springfield, Vermont
|party         = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|spouse        = [[Helen Hartness Flanders|Helen Hartness]]
|children      = 3
|relatives     = [[James Hartness]] (father-in-law)
|occupation = Inventor<br/>Business executive
}}
'''Ralph Edward Flanders''' (September 28, 1880 – February 19, 1970) was an American [[mechanical engineer]], [[industrialist]] and politician who served as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from the [[U.S. state|state]] of [[Vermont]]. He grew up on subsistence farms in Vermont and Rhode Island and was an apprentice machinist and draftsman before training as a mechanical engineer. He spent five years in New York City as an editor for a machine tool magazine. After moving back to Vermont, he managed and then became president of a successful machine tool company. Flanders used his experience as an industrialist to advise state and national commissions in Vermont, New England and Washington, D.C., on industrial and economic policy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Herman|2012|p=147}}</ref> He was president of the [[Boston]] [[Federal Reserve Bank]] for two years before being elected U.S. Senator from Vermont.

Flanders was noted for introducing a 1954 motion in the Senate to censure Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]. McCarthy had made sensational claims that there were large numbers of [[Communists]] and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] spies and sympathizers inside the [[United States government|federal government]] and elsewhere. He used his Senate committee as a nationally televised forum for attacks on individuals whom he accused. Flanders felt that McCarthy's attacks distracted the nation from a much greater threat of Communist successes elsewhere in the world and that they created division and confusion within the United States, to the advantage of its enemies. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led to his being discredited and censured by the United States Senate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Klingaman|1996|p= }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:FlandersBrothers.jpg|thumb|Flanders brothers, Ralph, Donald ([[Manhattan Project]] mathematician), and Ernest (co-inventor). Ca. 1955.]]
Flanders was born in [[Barnet, Vermont]], on September 28, 1880, the oldest of the nine children of Albert W. Flanders and Mary (Gilfillan) Flanders.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Rothe |editor-first1=Anna |editor-last2=Ellis |editor-first2=Constance |date=1948 |title=Current Biography: Who's News and Why, 1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPMpAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA212 |location=New York, NY |publisher=H. W. Wilson |page=212 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|''Current Biography''}}}}</ref> When Flanders was six, his family moved to [[Lincoln, Rhode Island]], where his father farmed while overseeing the manufacture and sales in [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island|Pawtucket]] of a bookrack he designed.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} Flanders attended school in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]] and [[Central Falls, Rhode Island|Central Falls]], and was an 1896 graduate of [[Central Falls High School]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| p= 39}}</ref>

== Career ==
In his first years as a machinist and draftsman, he spent his vacations traveling by bicycle over country roads between Rhode Island and Vermont and New Hampshire.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp=52–53}}</ref> Later, he lived for a time in [[New York City]] where he edited a machine tool magazine,<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp=82–103}}</ref> but after five years decided to move back to Vermont.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}}

Flanders's career began with an apprenticeship, progressed into engineering, journalism, management, policy consulting, banking, finance, and finally politics when he was elected U.S. Senator from Vermont.<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127">{{Harvnb|Vermont Encyclopedia|2003|p= 127}}</ref>

===Apprenticeship and continued education===
During his education in Rhode Island, Flanders received a solid grounding in mathematics, literature, Latin and Classical Greek.<ref name="A2949">{{cite book |last=U.S. Senate |date=May 8, 1958 |title=Congressional Record: Appendix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbVK6sPIbEIC&pg=SL1-PA4249 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=A2949 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In addition, he acquired a working knowledge of German and French.<ref name="A2949"/> According to Senator [[John Sparkman]], when Flanders was in the Senate, Sparkman and he used to converse in Latin during committee meetings.<ref name="A2949"/>

Unable to afford college tuition after his high school graduation, in 1896 Flanders's father bought him a two-year apprenticeship at the [[Brown & Sharpe|Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company]], a leading machine tool builder.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} In addition to learning machining and drafting during his apprenticeship, Flanders also supplemented his training through courses at the [[Penn Foster Career School|International Correspondence Schools]] and the [[Rhode Island School of Design]].{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| p= 64}}</ref>{{efn|According to Flanders, while serving in the Senate, he revised the International Correspondence Schools course on gearing and gear cutting.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| p= 66}}</ref>}} Following his apprenticeship, he worked for various machine tool companies in New England.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}}  Despite his lack of a formal university education, he was a [[autodidact|self-taught]] scholar, who read extensively in the literatures of science, engineering and the liberal arts.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 37, 47, 64–65}}</ref>

===Technical journalism===
Flanders began writing early in his career, and his published articles on machine tool technology led to a job as an editor of ''Machine'' magazine in New York City.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} This job, which he held between 1905 and 1910, required him to cover developments in the machine tool industry.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} He traveled widely to visit the companies that he wrote about, which provided him many valuable contacts with leaders in the industry.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} As editor, he wrote articles on [[Gear|gear tooth systems]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909a|p= }}</ref> [[Gear cutting|gear cutting machinery]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909b|p= }}</ref> [[Hobbing machine|hobs]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909c|p= }}</ref> and the manufacture of [[Tin can|cans]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909d|p= }}</ref> and automobiles,<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909e|p= }}</ref> including ''Machine's'' reference series on the subject.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1910|p= }}</ref><ref name="Harvnb|Flanders|1909f|p">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1909f|p= }}</ref>

In 1909, while working long hours on his definitive book on gear cutting machinery, his energy gave out and he suffered a "nervous breakdown". He took time off to recover, and in 1910 he accepted an offer to work at a machine tool company in Vermont.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp= 100–103}}</ref> He continued to write on technical and other matters throughout his life and developed a broad philosophy of the role of industry in society.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1935|pp= R1–77}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1936a|p= 3}}</ref> In 1938, he received a [[Worcester Reed Warner#Worcester Reed Warner Medal|Worcester Reed Warner Medal]] in recognition of his technical writing.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 139}}</ref>

===Engineering===
[[File:RalphFlanders1910.jpg|thumb|right|Ralph Flanders ca. 1916.]]

Flanders's first major experience in machine design came when he helped an entrepreneur in [[Nashua, New Hampshire]], develop a box-folding machine.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} After that, he worked as a draftsman for [[General Electric]] in [[Lynn, Massachusetts]] until 1905, when he moved to New York City to work for ''Machine''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 75, 78, 81}}</ref>

In 1910, he moved to Springfield, Vermont to work as a mechanical engineer for the Fellows Gear Shaper Company.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 103}}</ref> He was already friendly with [[James Hartness]], the president of the Jones & Lamson Machine Company (J&L), another company in town. In 1911, Flanders married Hartness' daughter, Helen.{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=212}} Shortly afterwards, Hartness hired Flanders as a manager<ref>{{Harvnb|Roe|1937|p= 42,111}}</ref> of the department at J&L that built the [[Fay automatic lathe]].<ref>{{Harvnb|ASME|1921|p= 452}}</ref> Flanders redesigned that lathe to achieve higher productivity and accuracy. He became a director in 1912 and president of the company in 1933 after Hartness retired.<ref name="Flanders 1961 117">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 117}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|The Tech|1949|p= 4}}</ref> As president of J&L, Flanders implemented a continuous production line to manufacture the Hartness Turret Lathe instead of building each machine individually, attempting to bring some of the efficiencies of mass production to machine tool building.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1925| pp= 28–37}}</ref> By 1923, he had acquired and assigned more than twenty patents to J&L.<ref name="Flanders 1961 117"/>

[[File:ThreadGrinder1K.jpg|thumb|J&L publicity photo from ca.1940 showing J&L president, Ralph Flanders (left) and his brother, mechanical engineer Ernest Flanders (right of machine), with their invention, the automatic screw thread grinder.]]
Flanders and his brother, Ernest, were instrumental in developing [[Threading (manufacturing)#Thread grinding|screw thread grinding machines]].{{sfn|''Current Biography''|page=213}} These incorporated advances in thread technology (furthered by the Hartness [[optical comparator]]) and Flanders's engineering calculations for gear-cutting machinery.<ref name="Harvnb|Flanders|1909f|p"/> In 1942, the two brothers received the Edward Longstreth Medal of the [[Franklin Institute]] as recognition of this accomplishment, which improved the accurate manufacture of die-cut screws in soft metal and solved the problem of thread-grinding on hardened work.<ref>{{Harvnb|The Boston Globe|1942}}<!--Editors|1942|pp= 116–117}}--></ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp= 116–117}}</ref> The award also recognized their development of a precision grinding machine that enabled rapid production of [[turbine blade]]s at the start of [[jet aircraft]] age, which made it possible for companies including General Electric to manufacture [[jet engine]]s far more quickly than they could previously.<ref>{{Harvnb|Strickland|1998|pp=47–48}}</ref>

===Professional societies===
Flanders became president of the National Machine-Tool Builders Association in 1923.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 118}}</ref> He served as [[List of ASME Presidents|president]] of the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] (ASME) from 1934 to 1936.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Saunders |first=Gregory E. |date=July–September 2004 |title=Standardization – A Warfighter Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7MJQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA338 |magazine=Defense Standardization Program Journal |location=Ft. Belvoir, VA |publisher=Defense Standardization Program Office |page=1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He was vice president of the American Engineering Council in 1937. Throughout the 1930s, Flanders served as chairman of the Screw-Thread Committee of the American Standards Association.<ref name="Flanders 1961 pp= 111–112">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 111–112}}</ref> In 1944 the ASME awarded him the [[Hoover Medal]] for his "public service in the field of social, civic and humanitarian effort[s]".<ref>{{Harvnb|ASME|1944|p=}}</ref> The British Institution of Mechanical Engineers made him an honorary member.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 147}}</ref>

===Public life===
In 1917, Flanders served in the Machine-Tool Section of the War Industries Board.<ref name="Flanders 1961 pp= 111–112"/>

During the [[Great Depression]] Flanders began to write about social policy. His major concern was human development in a technological era.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1930|p= }}</ref> He addressed employing spiritual guidance with a "program of human values" to achieve a good life.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1931|p= }}</ref> Nevertheless, his underlying goal was to achieve "full employment".<ref name="Dennison 1938">{{Harvnb|Dennison|Filene|Flanders|Leeds|1938|p= }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1936a|p= }}</ref> So, he kept himself grounded in economic principles, as understood and debated during that era.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1932| pp= 121–126}}</ref>

In 1933, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s Secretary of Commerce, [[Daniel Calhoun Roper|Daniel Roper]], appointed Flanders to the Business Advisory Council, which was created to provide input to the administration on matters affecting business. The Council then made Flanders chairman of the Committee on Unemployment. This committee recommended addressing the problem both geographically and by industry. Flanders reported,<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 179–180}}</ref> however, that when the committee made its recommendations President Roosevelt was preoccupied with augmenting the Supreme Court and ultimately chose the undistributed profits tax instead—a choice that Flanders felt discouraged capital investment.

In 1933, the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]] created the [[National Recovery Administration]] (NRA). The NRA allowed industries to create "codes of fair competition," intended to reduce destructive competition and to help workers by setting minimum wages and maximum weekly hours. Flanders was appointed to the industrial advisory board of the NRA.<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/> In a speech before a 1934 conference of the code authority members, attended by [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]], Flanders opposed a proposal by the Roosevelt administration to require that businesses cut worker hours by 10 percent and raise wages by 10 percent in order to spread employment more widely. Ultimately, economic policy moved away from the codes system.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 175–178}}</ref>

In 1937, Vermont Governor [[George Aiken]] appointed Flanders to two commissions: first, the Special Milk Investigative Committee to study ways to modernize dairying in Vermont; and second, the Flood Control Commission, which chose Flanders as its chairman. This commission was to negotiate with other New England states a means of sharing costs in a system of flood-control dams as part of recovering from the [[Great Vermont Flood of 1927|massive floods of 1927]] and attempting to prevent a reoccurrence.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 170}}</ref>

In 1940, the New England Council elected Flanders president. The governors of the New England states had established this council to study industry and commerce in their states. Flanders's role increased his awareness of the labor and business assets in New England. He also tried to alert his peers to the prospect of U.S. involvement in the expanding [[World War II|Second World War]].<ref name="Flanders 1961 p= 186">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 186}}</ref>

In 1942, Flanders became involved in the Committee for Economic Development (CED), an offshoot of the Business Advisory Council, whose purpose was to help re-align the nation to a peacetime economy after the war. Flanders reported<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 189–192}}</ref> helping to shape the CED's recommendations to Congress on roles for the [[World Bank]] and [[International Monetary Fund]].

===Banking and investment===
Starting in the 1930s, Flanders held positions on the board of directors of the [[FleetBoston Financial|Shawmut Bank]] (1938–41), [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]] (1941–44)<ref>{{Harvnb|Fortune|1945|pp= 135–272}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bos.frb.org/about/history/presidents.htm|title=Past Presidents of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|website=Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|language=en|access-date=2018-08-15|ref={{sfnref|Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|2018}}|archive-date=2013-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005224810/http://www.bos.frb.org/about/history/presidents.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[Boston and Maine Corporation|Boston and Maine Railroad]], [[National Life Group|National Life Insurance Company]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], and [[Norwich University]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 186, 209}}</ref>

In 1944, he was elected to a two-year term as president of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|Federal Reserve Bank]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]].<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|2018}}</ref> During this period, the bank helped establish the [[Massachusetts Port Authority|Boston Port Authority]] to revitalize New England's capacity for sending and receiving goods by cargo ship.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 187}}</ref>

In 1946, [[Georges Doriot]], Flanders, [[Karl Taylor Compton|Karl Compton]] and others organized [[American Research and Development Corporation|American Research & Development]] (AR&D).<ref>{{Harvnb|WGBH|2004|p=}}</ref> This was the first [[venture capital]] company to invest—according to a set of investment rules and goals—in a pool of fledgling companies. Flanders served as a director of AR&D.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 188–189}}</ref>

==Politics==
[[File:Ralph Flanders holding a piglet.jpg|thumb|Ralph Flanders 1940 campaign publicity photograph.<br>Courtesy of the Vermont State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State]]

In 1940, Ralph Flanders ran an unsuccessful campaign for the [[United States Senate]]. His [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] primary opponent was [[George Aiken]], the popular two-term Governor of Vermont. Although Flanders admired and liked Aiken, he felt that Aiken's "liberal" ideas would not help the nation's economic recovery.<ref name="Flanders 1961 185">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 185}}</ref> In 1990, one of Vermont's major newspapers, The ''[[Rutland Herald]]'' described the 1940 Republican primary campaign as dirty and mean. Aiken's side accused Flanders of selling arms to the [[Nazi]]s, and Flanders's side suggested that "Aiken was unduly influenced by his administrative assistant, a pretty 24-year-old with a fondness for power".<ref name="Porter 1990">{{Harvnb|Porter|Terry|1990|p= }}</ref> In retrospect, Flanders felt that he had allowed his campaign advisers to make too many of the decisions.<ref name="Flanders 1961 185"/> For example, a campaign brochure showed the candidate wearing a three-piece suit and holding a piglet in his arms. Although he had grown up on a subsistence farm and had an active interest in Vermont agriculture—especially in the type of hog shown in the picture—this made him appear to be a phony. The ''Rutland Herald'' observed that, "In Vermont in 1940, pigs were common to many households. But so was common sense. There were many people, most in fact, who did not want as their representative someone who would wear his best clothes if he intended to be handling pigs." Aiken won by 7,000 votes, having spent $3,219.50 to Flanders's $18,698.45.<ref name="Porter 1990"/> This campaign taught Flanders that "I had to be myself."<ref name="Flanders 1961 p= 186"/> 
 
In August 1946, incumbent Senator [[Warren Austin]] resigned to accept [[U.S. President]] [[Harry S. Truman]]'s appointment as [[Ambassadors from the United States|Ambassador]] to the [[United Nations]].<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/> The contest for the Republican nomination in the ensuing special election was between Flanders and [[Sterry R. Waterman]].{{sfn|"Republicans Nominate Flanders for US Senator"|page=1}} Flanders won the August 13 primary, which was then [[tantamount to election]] in Vermont.{{sfn|"Republicans Nominate Flanders for US Senator"|page=1}} On November 1, Governor [[Mortimer R. Proctor]] appointed Flanders to complete the remainder of Austin's term.{{sfn|"Ralph E. Flanders of Springfield, Vt. was appointed US Senator"|page=2}} With Flanders certain to win the November 5 election for the term that started in January 1947, his appointment to complete the two months left in Austin's term gave him seniority over the freshman Senators who were elected on the same day.{{sfn|"Ralph E. Flanders of Springfield, Vt. was appointed US Senator"|page=2}} Vermont had not elected a Democrat to any statewide office since the founding of the Republican Party in 1854, and as expected, Flanders easily won his contest, receiving 75 percent to Democratic nominee Charles P. McDevitt's 25.{{sfn|"Gibson Leads State Ticket"|page=1}} Flanders was overwhelmingly reelected in 1952, taking 72 percent to Democratic nominee Allan R. Johnston's 28.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 209}}</ref> He declined to seek a third term in 1958.<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 290}}</ref>

===Senate record and committee assignments===
Flanders's voting record in the Senate was more conservative than his senior colleague, George Aiken, and reflected Flanders's business orientation.<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/> In his second term, a Republican majority allowed Flanders to obtain seats on the [[United States Congress Joint Economic Committee|Joint Economic Committee]]—this committee acted in an investigatory and advisory capacity to both Houses of the Congress—the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance|Finance Committee]] and the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Committee on Armed Services]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp= 248, 250}}</ref>

===Political philosophy===
Flanders, although himself a conservative, espoused a constructive competition between conservatism and liberalism. He felt that liberalism represented the welfare of individual people, as opposed to organizations—governments, businesses, etc.—preserving freedom of thought and action. For him, conservatism was concerned with preserving institutions that serve the interests of people, collectively. Conservatives, according to Flanders, could find themselves offering "reasoned objections to foolish proposals" by emotionally motivated liberals.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 264}}</ref> He observed that, "Even in the established democracies, ... the voters are easily seduced into leaving politics to skillful politicians who are themselves without a sense of general, social responsibility."<ref name="Flanders 1963 5">{{Harvnb|Flanders|1963|p= 5}}</ref>

====On moral law in policy formulation====
Flanders had a strict [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] religious beginning, which evolved with his experience into a belief in "moral law". He felt that "recognition of moral law is as much a necessary requirement of social achievement as physical law is of material advancement." In Flanders's view, moral law required honesty, compassion, responsibility, cooperation, humility, and wisdom—values that all cultures hold in common.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1963|p= 24}}</ref> For him it was an absolute standard. He spoke of a "Presence" or "daimon" that "renewed his courage" and "indicated direction" in everything he did.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 311, 130}}</ref>

Flanders referred to the [[Marshall Plan]] as an important application of moral law to public policy. He said that the plan's true purpose was to fend off Communism through the economic restoration of Europe—not to provide relief to Europe (something beyond the powers of the U.S.), nor to enhance gratitude towards the U.S., its prestige or power.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 222–223}}</ref>

====On labor and business====
In testifying on the [[Employment Act]] (of 1946) before the Banking and Currency Committee of the Senate in 1945, Flanders defined the "right to a job," as implying a responsibility shared among individuals, organized labor, businesses, and governments, as follows:
*Each individual should be "productive, self-reliant and energetically in search of employment, when out of a job."
*Organized Labor should avoid wage demands that upset costs of production in a manner that decreases the total volume of employment.
*Business should operate efficiently to allow for expansion of production and employment.
*State and local governments can help preserve human rights and property rights that foster investment, while the Federal Government should "encourage business to expand and investors to undertake new ventures."<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 194}}</ref>

Flanders felt that, to quell inflation, wage increases should be tied to productivity increases, rather than the cost of living. He recommended splitting gains in productivity three ways: to the worker for higher wages, to the company for higher profits and to the consumer for lower prices. He felt that with this approach everyone would benefit at the company level and in the national economy. Such an approach would require mutual respect and understanding between labor and management.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 310}}</ref>

Flanders's relations with organized labor were amicable. He welcomed the United Electrical Workers Union into Jones & Lamson Machine Company. J&L became the first company in Springfield, Vermont to be unionized.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burlington Free Press|1970}}</ref>

====On Franklin D. Roosevelt====
Flanders met with [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]] on several occasions. He felt that Roosevelt and his advisors did not heed Secretary of the Navy, [[Frank Knox]]'s warning that it was "easily possible that hostilities would be initiated by a surprise attack upon the fleet or the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor." He further faulted the president for failing to recognize the growing threat of [[Communism]] in China. In Flanders's opinion, he sold out on Mongolia, Nationalist China and Central Europe to Communist powers at the 1943 [[Tehran Conference]]. Flanders recognized the president's political genius and leadership skills, but deplored his advocacy of raising taxes. He characterized the Roosevelt philosophy as one where re-employment "must come from Government—not private—action."<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 201–204, 182}}</ref> Flanders felt that large social programs were an ineffective approach to solve national problems.

====On social policy====
In his autobiography, Flanders reported exploring opportunities for government funding of public housing<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 221}}</ref> and higher education.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 309}}</ref>
He voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75|title=HR. 6127. Civil Rights Act of 1957|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref>
 
===Cold War policies===
National policy relating to the [[Cold War]] interested Flanders greatly. He was concerned about the worldwide encroachment of Communism even without force of arms. He felt that President [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] was generally a good president, but was hampered by the Roosevelt legacy of appeasing the Soviets. He also felt that Truman's commitment to bringing the Nationalist and Communist Chinese factions together into an alliance was mistaken. He endorsed the [[Marshall Plan]] as a way to avoid Communist influence in Western Europe. However, he was critical of [[John Foster Dulles]], Secretary of State, for mishandling opportunities to create friendly alignment with [[Egypt]] and India, countries which instead sided with the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp= 228, 303–306, 277–278}}</ref>

Flanders felt that spending 62% of federal income on defense was irrational, when the Soviet government claimed it wished to avoid nuclear conflict.<ref name="Flanders 1963 5"/> He advocated that the development of "A[tomic]- and H[ydrogen]-bombs be paralleled with equally intense negotiations towards disarmament." For him, "gaining the co-operation of the Soviet government on an effective armament control," was most important.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= 237}}</ref>

===The censure of Joseph McCarthy===
[[File:FlandersHighNoon.jpg|thumb|right|''High Noon in Washington''<br>[[Herblock]] cartoon depicting Flanders attempting to deputize a reluctant Senator [[William F. Knowland]] in the effort to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy.]]

Flanders was an early and strong critic of fellow Republican Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s "misdirection of our efforts at fighting communism" and his role in "the loss of respect for us in the world at large". He felt that rather than looking inward for communists within U.S. borders, the nation should look outward at the "alarming world-wide advance of Communist power" that would leave the United States and Canada as "the last remnants of the free world". On March 9, 1954 he addressed Senator McCarthy on the Senate floor, expressing these concerns.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1954|}}</ref> (McCarthy had been advised of the speech, but was absent at the time.) Apart from a brief note of encouragement after this speech, Flanders was grateful that [[Dwight Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] stayed out of the McCarthy controversy. Members of President Eisenhower's cabinet passed along the message that Flanders should "lay off."<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 267, 255–257, 262}}</ref>

The ''[[Barre Montpelier Times Argus]]'' reported:<ref name="Crozier 1979">{{Harvnb|Crozier|1979|p= }}</ref>

{{blockquote|The speech was a sensation, and the next day Vonda Bergman reported to the Herald that Flanders was unable to appear on the Senate floor because of the flood of telephone calls and telegrams, said to run 6-1 in his support. One message called his speech 'a fine example of Vermont courage, humor and decency,' while another told him, 'Your remarks brought a breath of fresh clean air from the Green Mountains.'

Two Senate colleagues, John Sherman Cooper, R-Kentucky, and Herbert Lehman, D-New York, were among those who heaped praise on the Vermont senator. The editor of a national publication said: 'It was one of the few recent indications that the Republican Party on Capitol Hill is not wholly devoid of courageous moral leadership.' And an editorial in the Rutland Herald stated, 'The effect of the speech was to hearten that vast majority of Americans who hate communism but who also revere the Constitution.'}}

[[File:Flanders-McCarthyFolly.jpg|thumb|''I don't like your methods''<br>[[L. D. Warren|L.D. Warren]] cartoon, subtitled ''Flanders' Folly—How about a vote of censure for Flanders?'' that showed a pro-[[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthy]] side of the censure issue.<br>Originally published in the ''New York Journal American'' in 1954.]]
Other reactions were not so favorable. People who wrote the ''[[Rutland Herald]]'' "hinted at retribution for McCarthy's foes" and called McCarthy "a demigod above the law of the U.S.A. ... If you disagree, you are RED." [[William Loeb III|William Loeb]], owner of the ''Burlington Daily News'', wrote, "It would take somebody as stupid as Senator Flanders to finally swallow the Democratic bait on the subject of Senator McCarthy."<ref>{{Harvnb|Hill|1989|p= }}</ref>
In a speech that Flanders did not mention in his autobiography, the ''Times Argus'' article reported that on June 1, 1954 Flanders<ref name="Crozier 1979"/>

<blockquote> ... addressed the Senate on 'the colossal innocence of the junior Senator from Wisconsin.' Comparing McCarthy to '[[Dennis the Menace (U.S.)|Dennis the Menace]]' of cartoon fame, the Vermonter delivered a scathing address in which he lambasted the Wisconsin man for dividing the nation. 'In every country in which communism has taken over,' he reminded the Senate, 'the beginning has been a successful campaign of division and confusion.' He marveled at the way the Soviet Union was winning military successes in Asia without risking its own resources or men, and said this nation was witnessing 'another example of economy of effort ... in the conquest of this country for communism.' He added, 'One of the characteristic elements of communist and fascist tyranny is at hand as citizens are set to spy upon each other.' 'Were the junior Senator from Wisconsin in the pay of the communists, he could not have done a better job for them.' 'This is a colossal innocence, indeed.' </blockquote>

On June 11, 1954, Flanders introduced a resolution<ref name="Vermont Encyclopedia 2003 p= 127"/> charging McCarthy "with unbecoming conduct and calling for his removal from his committee membership." Upon the advice of Senators [[John Sherman Cooper|Cooper]] and [[J. William Fulbright|Fulbright]] and legal assistance from the Committee for a More Effective Congress he modified his resolution to "bring it in line with previous actions of censure."<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961| pp= 260, 261, 267}}</ref> The text of the resolution of censure condemns the senator for "obstructing the constitutional processes of the Senate" when he "failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and acting "contrary to senatorial ethics" when he described the Select Committee to Study Censure Charges and its chairman in slanderous terms. ''Time'' reported that a "group of 23 top businessmen, labor leaders and educators ... wired every U.S. Senator (except McCarthy himself) urging a favorable vote 'to curb the flagrant abuse of power by Senator McCarthy.'"<ref>{{Harvnb|Time|1954|}}</ref> The Senate censured McCarthy on December 2, 1954 by a vote of 65 to 22.<ref name="Censure">{{Harvnb|Senate Historical Office|1995|p =}}</ref> The Senate Republicans were split 22 to 22.<ref name="Crozier 1979"/> For a further treatment of this episode, refer to [[United States Senate Select Committee on Censure Charges against Senator McCarthy|Joseph McCarthy – Censure and the Watkins Committee]].

A 1990 article in the ''Rutland Herald'' characterized the reaction in Vermont to Flanders's role in the McCarthy censure as "sour". It concludes that Flanders's convictions did not necessarily reflect the priorities of his constituency, which regarded the issue as "not our problem".<ref name="Porter 1990"/>

== Personal life ==
In 1911, Flanders married [[Helen Hartness Flanders|Helen Edith Hartness]], the daughter of inventor and industrialist [[James Hartness]]. They made their home in [[Springfield, Vermont]], when Flanders became president of Jones & Lamson. Flanders and his wife had three children: Elizabeth (born 1912), Anna (also known as Nancy—born 1918), and James (born 1923).<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp=104–121}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Flanders3-9-1954Speech.jpg|thumb|Click [[:File:Flanders3-9-1954Speech.jpg|here]] to read Flanders's March 9, 1954 speech]]

Flanders was the author or coauthor of eight books, including his [[autobiography]], ''Senator from Vermont''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p= }}</ref> He wrote about many issues: the problems of unemployment,<ref name="Dennison 1938"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1936b|p= }}</ref> inflation, ways for achieving a cooperative relationship between management and labor,<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1949a|p= }}</ref> and his belief that "moral law is natural law" and should be an integral part of everyone's education.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1956|p= }}</ref> His papers are located at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20050429094718/http://library.syr.edu/information/spcollections/index.html Special Collections Research Center] at [[Syracuse University]] Library and at the Special Collections<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1949b|p= }}</ref> of the [[University of Vermont]]'s Bailey-Howe Library.

During his lifetime, Flanders received more than sixteen honorary degrees from institutions that included [[Stevens Institute of Technology]] (M.E.), [[Dartmouth College]] (M.S., LL.D.), [[Harvard University]] (LL.D.), [[Middlebury College]] (D. Sc.) and the [[University of Vermont]] (D. Eng.).<ref>{{Harvnb|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|1970|p= }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|pp=139–140}}</ref>

His wife, [[Helen Hartness Flanders]], was a [[folk song]] collector and author of several books on New England ballads.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flanders|1961|p=140}}</ref>

Flanders died in Springfield on February 19, 1970.<ref name="Hill">{{harvnb|Hill|1989|pp=E1–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/rutland-daily-herald-flanders/150355687/ E2]}}</ref> He was buried at Summer Hill Cemetery in Springfield alongside his wife and members of the Hartness family.<ref name="Hill"/><ref>{{cite news |date=May 29, 1972 |title=Services for Mrs. Flanders Conducted in Springfield |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/rutland-daily-herald-flanders/150355826/ |work=[[Rutland Herald]] |location=Rutland, VT |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

=== Vermont politics ===
Flanders's Senate legacy has continued to inspire Vermont politicians. In his May 24, 2001 speech announcing his departure from the Republican Party, Vermont Senator [[Jim Jeffords]] cited Flanders three times and spoke of him as one of five Vermont politicians who, "spoke their minds, often to the dismay of their party leaders, and did their best to guide the party in the direction of those fundamental principles they believed in."<ref>{{Harvnb|Jeffords|2001|p= }}</ref> In speeches to Georgetown University Law Center and Johnson State College, Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] cited Flanders as one of three Vermont politicians who showed, "the importance of standing firm in your beliefs," "that conflict need not be hostile or adversarial"<ref>{{Harvnb|Leahy|2008|p= }}</ref> and who "rose up against abuses, against infringements upon Americans' rights when doing that was not popular."<ref>{{Harvnb|Burlington Free Press|2006}}</ref> In 2016 Vermont Congressman, [[Peter Welch]], cited Flanders as someone to emulate when resisting those policies of the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Donald Trump Administration]] with which he disagreed, saying of Flanders, "He stood up and said no, this has got to end."<ref>{{Harvnb| Johnson| 2016|p=}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
*[[Margaret Chase Smith]], senator from Maine who spoke against McCarthy in 1950.

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

==Bibliography==

===Flanders===
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = Interchangeable Involute Gear Tooth Systems
  | journal = Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  | issue = 2410 F
  | date = February 1909a
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = Recent developments in gear-cutting machinery
  | journal =Machinery
  | issue = 2242 C
  | date = February 1909b
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = How many gashes should a hob have?
  | journal = Machinery
  | issue = 1550 C
  | date = January 1909c
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = Making solderless cans for food products
  | journal =Machinery
  | issue = 7500 C
  | year =1909d
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = The design and manufacture of a high-grade motor car – Illustrated detailed description of the factory, methods and products of the Stevens-Duryea Co.
  | journal =Machinery
  | issue = 8279 C
  | date = October 1909e
}}.
*{{Citation
 | last = Flanders
 | first = Ralph E.
 | title = Gear-cutting machinery, comprising a complete review of contemporary American and European practice, together with a logical classification and explanation of the principles involved
 | location = New York
 | publisher = J. Wiley & Sons
 | year =1909f
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = Construction and Manufacture of Automobiles, Machinery's Reference Series. No. 60
  | publisher = The Industrial Press
  | year =1910
  | location =New York
}}
*{{Cite book|last=Flanders|first=Ralph E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzIafyXOJ-YC&q=Locomotive+Building+%22Ralph+E.+Flanders%22|title=Locomotive Building: The Construction of a Steam Engine for Railway Use|publisher=The Industrial Press|year=1911|isbn=978-1-935327-55-4|language=en}}
*{{Citation
 | last = Flanders
 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1925 
 | title = Design manufacture and production control of a standard machine
 | volume =46
 | location =New York
 | publisher = ASME Transactions
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
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 | contribution=The new age and the new man
 | editor-last=Beard
 | editor-first=Charles A.
 | title = Toward Civilization
 | location= New York
 | publisher= Longmans, Green & Co.
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1931
 | title = Taming Our Machines; The Attainment of Human Values in a Mechanized Society
 | location = New York
 | publisher = R.R. Smith, Inc
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first= Ralph E.
 | publication-date= July 1932
 | year=1932
 | title = Limitations and possibilities of economic planning
 | periodical= Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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 | issue=16z
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*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1935 
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 | volume =46
 | location =New York
 | publisher = ASME Transactions
 | pages = R1–77
}}.
*{{Citation
  | last = Flanders
  | first = Ralph E.
  | title = New pioneers on a new frontier
  |magazine=Mechanical Engineering Magazine
  | page =3
  | year = 1936a
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1936b 
 | title = Platform for America
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Whittlesy House, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | year =1938 
 | title = Toward full employment
 | location = New York
 | publisher = McGraw-Hill Book
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1949a
 | title = The Function of Management in American Life
 | location = Palo Alto, California
 | publisher = Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
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 | series = Special Collections
 |pages=| year = 1949b
 |volume=}}.
*{{Citation
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 | year =1954
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 | title = Activities of Senator Mcarthy – The World Crisis
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}}.
*{{Citation
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 | first = Ralph E.
 | year =1956 
 | title = Letter to a generation
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 | publisher = Beacon Press
}}.
*{{Citation
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 | year =1961 
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}}.
*{{Citation
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 | year =1963
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}}.

===Others===
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}}.
*{{Citation|last = ASME|year = 1944|url=http://www.asme.org/Governance/Honors/UnitAwards/Past_Hoover_Medal_Recipients.cfm/ |title=Hoover Medal awardees |publisher=Asme.org |access-date=2013-05-04}}
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}}.
*{{Citation|date=1942|title=Scientific Notes and News |jstor=1668339 |journal=Science |volume=95 |issue=2468 |pages=403–406 |doi=10.1126/science.95.2468.403 |bibcode=1942Sci....95..403. |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1974994}}.
*{{Citation| title = In our opinion—Sen. Flanders of Vermont
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*{{Citation
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* {{Roe1937}}
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*{{Citation|url=https://www.federalreservehistory.org/people/ralph_e_flanders |title= Ralph E. Flanders {{!}} Federal Reserve History |website= www.federalreservehistory.org |publisher= Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|language=en|date=2018|access-date=2018-05-26}}.
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*{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=August 14, 1946 |title=Republicans Nominate Flanders for US Senator |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199241388/ |work=[[Burlington Free Press]] |location=Burlington, VT |url-access=subscription  |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref={{sfnRef|"Republicans Nominate Flanders for US Senator"}}}}
*{{cite news |date=November 1, 1946 |title=Ralph E. Flanders of Springfield, Vt. was appointed US Senator |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/114455444/ |work=Poughkeepsie Journal |location=Poughkeepsie, NY |url-access=subscription  |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref={{sfnRef|"Ralph E. Flanders of Springfield, Vt. was appointed US Senator"}}}}
*{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=November 6, 1946 |title=Gibson Leads State Ticket |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199252008/ |work=[[Burlington Free Press]] |location=Burlington, VT |url-access=subscription  |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref={{sfnRef|"Gibson Leads State Ticket"}}}}
*{{cite news |title=Tech Professor Wins Medal for Aeronautics Research |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-flanders-brothers-win-l/127624361/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=April 16, 1942 |page=16 |ref={{sfnref|The Boston Globe|1942}} }}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ralph Flanders}}
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000190 United States Congress Biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071005223330/http://members.localnet.com/~jeflan/evf/rflandersmccarthy.html Times-Argus Article on the Flanders's Censure of McCarthy.]
* [http://www.vpr.net/episode/31630/ Vermont Public Radio commentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Flanders's senate speech on McCarthy.]
* [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/author/#1119 A collection of works by Ralph Flanders]

==Further reading==
*{{Citation
  | last =Margolis
  | first =Jon
  | title =A mighty fall—How an obscure Vermont senator brought down Joseph McCarthy 50 years ago.
  | newspaper =Sunday Rutland Herald & Sunday Times-Argus
  | pages =8–11
  | date =July 11, 2004
  }}
*{{cite book|last=Meltzer|first=Allan H.|author-link=Allan H. Meltzer|title=A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 1: 1913–1951|year=2003|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|place=Chicago|pages=685–694|isbn=978-0226520001}}
*{{Citation
  | last =Shannon
  | first =William V.
  | title =An old-timer says a mouthful
  | newspaper =[[New York Post]]
  | pages = 2M
  | date =March 14, 1954
  }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state     = Vermont
|class     = 1
|before    = [[Warren R. Austin]]
|after     = [[Winston L. Prouty]]
|years     = 1946–1959 
|alongside = [[George Aiken]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Warren Austin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[List of United States Senators from Vermont|U.S. Senator from Vermont]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 1]])|years=[[1946 United States Senate election in Vermont|1946]], [[1952 United States Senate election in Vermont|1952]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Winston L. Prouty]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-other}}
{{s-bef|before=William Paddock}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]]|years=1944–1946}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Laurence F. Whittemore]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenVT}}
{{BostonFedBank}}
{{Presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flanders, Ralph E.}}
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