party chairman, James P. Goodrich. McCray returned to his board duties, which expanded as World War I broke out. Goodrich appointed him Chairman of the Food Conservation Committee of Indiana and a member of the United States Live Stock Advisory Committee to help ensure adequate army supplies and rationing during the war. In 1922 he became Chairman of the Corn Belt Advisory Committee of the War Finance Corporation which sought government assistance for farmers. McCray was also very involved with the Red Cross and led several fund raising drives to help the organization. In 1920 McCray considered running for governor in the Republican primary again, but decided against it and to instead support Will H. Hays in his run. Hays, however, announced he would not be running and instead backed McCray. In the primary, he ran against five other candidates, who attacked him primarily over his war record, as some Republicans were not supportive of the war effort, and for his business practices. The charges proved ineffective, and McCray won the primary defeating his closest competitor by over 50,000 votes. Governor Reforms In the general election, McCray was opposed by Democratic congressman Carleton B. McCulloch. McCulloch was a war veteran and a doctor and the campaign focused largely on the progressive agenda. The election was highly contested and remains the election with highest voter turnout in state history, most polling places having a turnout near 95%. The election was a landslide for Republicans across the board, as they increased majorities in both houses of the Indiana General Assembly. McCray came to office and in his inaugural address he all but declared an end to the Progressive Era, stating that people demanded "a season of government economy and a period of legislative inaction and rest." He and the Republican majority in the General Assembly began rolling back several key regulatory laws and attempted to cut back on government spending. McCray focused attention on what he considered the useful and necessary state institutions and undertook an expansion of the education system by building dozens of new schools, constructing the first new state prisons in several decades, enlarging state hospitals, and building a new state reformatory for juvenile delinquents. McCray began laying out plans for a grander state highway system to better accommodate the automobiles which were becoming commonplace. Among the roads he approved creation of was the Lincoln Highway. To fund the