Description
Claude Hutchinson was a former mayor of Berkeley and dean of the College of Agriculture of the University of California from 1930 to 1952. Born in 1885 in Livingston, Missouri, he studied agriculture at the University of Missouri and completed his graduate studies at Cornell and Harvard. After several years as a professor of plant breeding at Cornell, he entered the world of academic administration in 1922 as the director of the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, located in Davis. Following his retirement from academic administration, he went on to serve as the mayor of Berkeley from 1955 to 1963. In this interview, Hutchinson discusses his myriad experiences in agricultural research, academia, administration, and local politics throughout the 20th century.