Ends Work as Parole Chairman

After more than 20 years of working for the public, Matthew W. Bullock 'O4 has retired as Chairman of the Parole Board for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Serving the Board under nine Governors, he built steadily upon the reputation which he had established at Dartmouth. Those undergraduates who watched him play varsity end for four years knew him to be a player who, after sizing a situation up quickly and realistically, acted with courage and dispatch. These qualities were too inherent for him to relinquish during his public life. Through his habit of making his decisions as well as he could and then standing by them, he won a few enemies but more supporters. He contended, during the years when it was an unpopular opinion, that if more money were spent on rehabilitation projects inside prison walls, less would be necessary for maintenance of the parole boards outside.

Graduating from Harvard Law School in 1907, Matt Bullock spent the next years teaching and practicing law. During World War I he did YMCA work abroad, and shortly after coming to Boston, served as executive secretary of the Boston Urban League. In 1927 he combined law practice with work on the Parole Board, to which he was first appointed by Gov. Alvin I . Fuller. When the term expired, Bullock was not reappointed by Gov. James Curley, but acted as assistant to the Hon. Arthur Lyman, Commissioner of Correction, for six years. In 1943 Governor Saltonstall persuaded Bullock to serve again on the Parole Board, which he did until his retirement.

That word of his ability went beyond state lines was shown in 1945 when Bullock was asked by the late Secretary of the Navy [ames Forrestal to join a commission of six in investigating conditions between the Negro and white enlisted men in the Pacific area. This assignment, which covered over 25,000 miles, Matt Bullock considers one of the most valuable in his years spent in helping to bring about more constructive relations between men of different race but the same nation.

MATT BULLOCK '04 as he appeared when starring at end for the Big Green eleven.