Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Descriptive Summary
Title: Commissioner Bradford M. Crittenden
Collection
Collection number: MS 238
Creator:
Crittenden, Bradford M.
Extent: 4 boxes
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
The Crittenden Collection was given to Holt-Atherton Special Collections
in 1988 by the Commissioner's children, Thomas Crittenden and Barbara
Crittenden Phillips.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Commissioner Bradford M. Crittenden
Collection, MS 238, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University
of the Pacific Library
Biography
Bradford MacChesney Crittenden was born in San Jose, California on May
9, 1912. His father, later State Senator Bradford S. Crittenden (1876-1952),
was an attorney. His mother, Edith MacChesney Crittenden (1876 -1952), a former
music instructor at the College of the Pacific, was related to the late George
Kasson, a major landholder in the Tracy area.
The family moved to Tracy in 1915, where Crittenden attended school
until his father moved the family to Stockton upon his election to the State
Assembly in 1920. Crittenden completed his education in the latter city,
graduating from Stockton High School in 1930. Crittenden received a B.A. from
the College of the Pacific in 1934. He then pursued graduate study at the
Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, from which institution he received a
J. D. Degree.
Crittenden began law practice with his father's Stockton firm of
Crittenden and Hench in 1936. He became a member of the bar of the State
Supreme Court and the U. S. Supreme Court. He joined the staff of the San
Joaquin County District Attorney's Office in 1949, serving there, until 1959
both as an Assistant District Attorney and as District Attorney. In this
position, Crittenden was particularly interested in the prosecution of
narcotics cases. The Collection contains some material on these and other
litigations and business of the District Attorney's office during Crittenden's
tenure there.
In 1959, Crittenden was appointed Commissioner of the California Highway
Patrol by newly-elected Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. Crittenden held this
office until 1967. During his term in office, California was beset by a period
of social unrest that climaxed in the Watts Riots of August, 1965 and the
University of California Vietnam Day Demonstrations of October, 1965.
Crittenden, as head of the State's largest law enforcement agency, was deeply
involved in the enforcement response to these events. The Collection contains
substantial material relating to the election year 1966, conservatives attacked
the CHP as corrupt, noting that the agency had purchased all of its vehicles
from the same Sacramento auto dealership for several years. The CHP reaction to
these charges is well-documented in Crittenden's papers. The Commissioner
resigned on Ronald Reagan's assumption of the Governorship in January,
1967.
In July of that same year, Crittenden assumed the Associate Directorship
of the National Highway Safety Bureau's Traffic Safety Programs in Washington
D.C. He held this position until 1970 when he became Regional Advisor for the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Region IX, with Headquarters in
San Francisco. Crittenden held this post until he retired to Stockton in 1978.
The Collection contains some material from this period. Of greatest interest
are probably Crittenden's speeches based upon his experiences as California
Highway Patrol Commissioner.
Crittenden owned several San Joaquin Valley farms. The collection
contains substantial material pertaining to land leasing, farm operations, and
related matters, between the years 1953 and 1970.
Following his retirement, Crittenden returned to Stockton, where he
became active in the Concerned Citizens' Committee of San Joaquin County. In
1979, this group launched a drive to initiate a constitutional convention that
would provide the State with "tougher" law enforcement provisions and a
"tougher" judiciary.
Commissioner Crittenden married twice. His first wife, Virginia
Cookingham, whom he married in 1934, died in 1973. They had two children, a
son, Thomas, and a daughter, Barbara. Crittenden married Helen Harney of
Stockton in 1974. He died January 29, 1982.