Curtis Dwight Wilbur

author

Curtis Dwight Wilbur

1867–1954

A lawyer, judge, and public servant, he moved from Iowa to California and rose to national prominence as Secretary of the Navy under President Calvin Coolidge. His career stretched from frontier-era law practice to the federal bench, linking state and national public life across a period of major change in the United States.

1 Audiobook

The Bear Family at Home, and How the Circus Came to Visit Them

The Bear Family at Home, and How the Circus Came to Visit Them

by Curtis Dwight Wilbur

About the author

Born in 1867, Curtis Dwight Wilbur built a long career in law and government after moving west from Iowa to California. He practiced law in Los Angeles and became an important figure in California public life, eventually serving as chief justice of the California Supreme Court.

Wilbur later entered national office as U.S. Secretary of the Navy during the Coolidge administration. In that role, he oversaw naval affairs in the later 1920s, bringing a judge’s reputation for order and seriousness to a cabinet position with wide national visibility.

After his cabinet service, he continued in public life as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. He died in 1954, remembered as a public official whose work reached across state courts, the presidential cabinet, and the federal judiciary.