Robert Fiske Bradford (December 15, 1902 – March 18, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as the 57th Governor of Massachusetts, from 1947 to 1949. Early years Robert Fiske Bradford was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Edward and Edith (Fiske) Bradford. His father was from an old traditional New England Yankee Brahmin family, a successful physician, and dean of Harvard Medical School, and his mother was the founder of the private Fiske School in Boston. Through an entirely paternal line he was a descendant of Mayflower passenger William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century. Bradford attended the Browne and Nichols School, and graduated from Harvard College in 1923. While at Harvard, Bradford was on the varsity crew team, and served as editor of The Harvard Crimson. In 1926 he received his law degree from Harvard Law School, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice law in Boston at Ropes & Gray. That same year he married Rebecca Crowninshield Browne; the couple had four children. Political career A Republican, Bradford entered politics by serving as executive secretary to Governor Joseph Ely, a conservative Democrat with whom he served as an associate at Ropes & Gray. After Ely left office in 1935, the two founded a law firm. He later worked on the gubernatorial and senatorial campaigns of Leverett Saltonstall, with whom he formed a close friendship. In 1938, he made his first bid for elective office by challenging Republican incumbent Warren L. Bishop in the race for District Attorney of Middlesex County. He defeated Bishop and served in that position from 1939 to 1945. In this post he gained a reputation for cracking down on corruption; his convictions included mayors of Lowell and Cambridge, and a state public works commissioner. In 1944 he won election as lieutenant governor, serving under Democratic Governor Maurice J. Tobin. In 1946, Bradford challenged and defeated Tobin, and served one term as governor, from 1947 to 1949. In the contest, Bradford was supported by Democrat James Michael Curley, who was contesting with Tobin for control of the state Democratic party apparatus. As governor, Bradford governed in the fashion of his mentor, Leverett Saltonstall, with an emphasis on fiscal conservatism and social liberalism. During his administration, he advanced balanced budgets and intervened to prevent protracted strikes, which would be deleterious to the interests of business and