Personal backstory to this post.
During my freshman year at Yale (1969-70) I took a double-credit seminar course “Early Concentration Economics”. The idea, I suppose, was to give me an accelerated start into an economics major. At least that is why I enrolled in the course. The first semester covered microeconomics and was taught by Professor Merton J. (“Joe”) Peck and a visiting graduate student from Harvard (Ph.D., 1971), Joseph Persky (now a distinguished historian of economics). We used the intermediate price theory textbook by Richard H. Leftwich and we were assigned the “Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization” by Francis Bator. I loved the course. It also led to Joe Peck becoming one of my mentors in economics.
The second semester was not so successful. Now, with nearly a half-century of university life behind me, it is pretty obvious what the problem with that course was. Basically, a double-credit course is going to be incredibly hard to staff, I mean what professor is going to let himself/herself be tied down to double sessions with first year students? I believe Kent T. Healy (in his last year of teaching) allowed himself to be drafted into covering the macroeconomics semester for us early concentrators. As you will see from the biographical and career information below, Professor Healy was a railroad expert from the old school of transportation economics. I vaguely recall an anecdote or two having to do with him travelling in a caboose.
Complicating matters, the second semester of 1969-70 was marked by academic strikes and disruption (the Black Panther Bobby Seale was on trial in New Haven, there were the Kent State shootings etc.) so that many course meetings were canceled and academic credit was fudged all around. We were assigned two of the short volumes in Otto Eckstein’s Prentice-Hall series “Foundations of Modern Economics” (Charles Schultze’s National Income Analysis and Eckstein’s own Public Finance). I recall Myrdal’s Asian Drama was part of the original course plan, but I don’t think we did much with it.
I do want to give Healy some credit, he took on the burden of teaching far outside his lane during the last semester of his service. It’s what a loyal, long-time colleague in a department does (yeah, right). Still, there was no infectious enthusiasm for macroeconomics coming from him during the Spring of 1970 and I feel Yale should have been held liable for charging tuition but only providing academic day-care with that course.
Besides being something of an academic anachronism as far as the discipline of economics goes, Healy was also one of the few people I have encountered who attained the rank of professor without having a Ph.D. degree. From the career information provided below, we see that Kent Tenney Healy lived a very rich and active life that combined elements of business and engineering experience, public policy, teaching, and public service. I have also been told by Gustav Ranis that Healy was a kind, thoughtful man. I do regret never having met the man in his true realm of distinction.
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Biographical Note
Kent Tenney Healy was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 2, 1902, the son of William and Mary Sylvia (Tenney) Healy. He received an A.B. [cum laude, in Physics] from Harvard College in 1921 and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1923. From 1923 to 1924, he was a student at the Harvard Law School.
On November 3, 1928, he married Ruth Emily Allen. His four children were Ruth Tenney, William Kent, Kent Allen and Sylvia Kent.
Associated with transportation and economics all his life, he began as a switchboard operator on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1922. From 1924 to 1925, he was an inspector and from 1925 to 1926, a cost engineer.
After studying transportation in Europe during the years of 1926 and 1927, he became an assistant professor of transportation at Yale University. From 1934 to 1940, he was an assistant professor of economics, becoming an associate professor in 1940. In 1945, he received an M.A., and was appointed as the T. Dewitt Cuyler Professor of transportation, a position he held until 1970.
As a recognized expert in transportation economics, he served as member or consultant with many United States Government agencies from 1940 to 1945, participated in local government planning and financial management in Killingworth, Connecticut, circa 1957 to 1970, and was a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company (1947-1948) and the Connecticut Company (1947-1964).
He died on January 9, 1985 at the age of 82 [in West Haven, Conn.].
Source: Connecticut State Library. Healy (Kent T.) Papers, 1935-1963. Inventory. Additions from obituary in the New York Times, January 12, 1985.
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Books by Kent T. Healy
- Electrification of steam railroads.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1929.
- Cases on railroad economics, supplemented by selected statistics, (1938).
- The Economics of Transportation in America: The Dynamic Forces in Development, Organization, Functioning and Regulation. New York: Ronald Press, 1946.
- Performance of the U.S. railroads since World War II: A quarter century of private operation. New York: Vantage Press, 1985.
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Yale Career from the Yale Archives.
Kent T. Healy was born in Chicago on February 2, 1902. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1921, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1923. Healey was an assistant professor of transportation at Yale from 1928-1937, an assistant professor of political economy from 1937-1938, an assistant professor of economics from 1938-1940, an associate professor from 1940-1945, and the Thomas DeWitt Cuyler Professor of Transportation from 1945-1970.
Source: Yale University Archives. Kent Tenney Healy papers.
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Extra-academic career
Kent Tenney Healy was born in Chicago, IL on February 2, 1902. A recognized expert in transportation economics, he taught at Yale University from 1934-1970. Due to his expertise, he often served as a consultant to many United States government agencies or as a member of various commissions from 1940-45. He also participated in state and local government planning and financial management especially in Killingworth, CT. Mr. Healy served as a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co., 1947-48 and the Connecticut Co., 1947-64.
Commission on Reorganization of State Departments, 1935-1937. Special Act No. 242 of 1935 established a five member commission appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly to study the “organization, powers and duties, personnel and expenditures” of each agency and prepare recommendations and propose legislation. The commission held its first meeting in Governor Wilber Cross’ office on June 21, 1935. Col. Thomas Hewes served as chairman. The commission appointed Benjamin P. Whitaker, Research Director, on July 1, 1935. A small staff and a number of expert consultants prepared the report, approved by the commission, for submittal to the governor on January 25, 1937. The General Assembly extended the commission authorization to March 30, 1937. Even after that date, the commission members and the Research Director provided advice and assistance to the governor and the General Assembly.
State Planning Board. Advisory Committee on Transportation, ?-1936. The State Planning Board adopted a policy of appointing advisory committees to assist the board and its staff in developing research studies. The Transportation Committee consisted of the Highway Commissioner, the Motor Vehicle Commissioner, and a member of the Public Utilities Commissioner. The committee was to make the state’s transportation program more definite and practical, review past accomplishments, draw up plans for further work and prepare and interpret a report for the State Planning Board. On April 10, 1935, the committee issued “Transportation in Connecticut. Part I: Passenger Transportation.” There is no evidence that it issued any other parts.
Highway Advisory Committee, 1943-1945. Special Act 456 of 1943 directed the governor to appoint a five member committee to study and advise the highway commissioner concerning post-World War II highway improvements, the problem of just and equitable distribution of highway funds for cities and towns, problems with the system, the departments procedures and practices and existing laws to determine what is desirable for an efficient highway program. Highway Commissioner William J. Cox, first mentioned such a committee in his biennial report to the governor for 1939-1940. He again recommended the committee to Governor Baldwin in December 1942. Baldwin put the recommendations into his inaugural speech and saw it through the General Assembly. After hearing testimony from the Highway, Motor Vehicle and State Police departments and inspecting the new Fairfield County route (I-95) to replace Route 1, the committee submitted its report to the governor in December 1944.
Savings Banks’ Railroad Investment Committee, 1945-1963. The General Assembly created a six member committee to certify railroad company bonds as eligible for investment by savings banks for the banking commissioner. The governor appointed members to three-year terms from nominations given him by the Executive Committee of the Savings Banks’ Association of Connecticut, the Banking Commissioner, the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bankers Association, and the Executive Committee of the Savings Banks’ Deposit Guaranty Fund of Connecticut. A nominee had to be either a bank officer or director or trustee of one of the above organizations or its members. The statute allowed reimbursement of travel expenses only to be paid by the Savings Banks’ Association. In 1961, the General Assembly changed the committee’s name to the Railroad Legal Investment Commission. In 1963, it disbanded the committee and placed its responsibilities solely with the banking commissioner.
Source: Social Networks and Archival Context website.
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Report to the 25th Reunion of the Harvard Class of 1922
KENT TENNEY HEALY
HOME ADDRESS: 245 Lawrence St., New Haven 11, Conn.
OFFICE ADDRESS: Strathcona Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
BORN: Feb. 2, 1902, Chicago, Ill. PARENTS: William Healy, ‘97, Mary Sylvia Tenney.
PREPARED AT: Evanston Academy, Evanston, Ill.; Browne and Nichols School, Cambridge, Mass.; Wellesley High School, Wellesley, Mass.
YEARS IN COLLEGE: 1918-1921. DEGREES: A.B. cum laude, 1922 (21); S.B. (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology), 1923; A.M. hon. (Yale Univ.), 1945.
MARRIED: Ruth Emily Allen, Nov. 3, 1928, Cheshire, Conn. CHILDREN: Ruth Tenney, Aug. 4, 1929; William Kent, July 5, 1930; Kent Allen, Sept. 30, 1932; Sylvia Kent, Dec. 3, 1941.
OCCUPATION: T. DeWitt Cuyler Professor of Transportation; chairman, Economics Department; chairman, Committee on Transportation, Yale University.
WARTIME GOVERNMENT POSTS: Transportation consultant, Bituminous Coal Division, Department of Interior, Office of Defense Transportation, Administrator of Lend Lease and Office of Strategic Services.
OFFICES HELD: Public utility consultant, Commission of Reorganization of State Departments, Connecticut, 1935-36; member, Connecticut Highway Advisory Commission, 1943-45, New Haven Traffic Commission, since 1946; chairman, Savings Bank Railroad Investment Committee, since 1945; president, Family Service of New Haven, since 1944; treasurer, The Foote School Association, Incorporated, 1937-46.
MEMBER OF: Graduate Club; Delta Psi.
PUBLICATIONS: Steam Railroad Electrification, McGraw-Hill, 1929; Cases on Railroad Economics (private), 1938; The Economics of Transportation in America, Ronald, 1940; numerous articles.
THE twenty-five years since graduation have slipped by awfully fast and I don’t feel a day older than I did when I left Cambridge. Certainly the years have been full of interest and enjoyment.
One of the things that has made the years particularly challenging has been that I have consciously changed my course on several occasions. Starting out with a career of electrical engineer in the public-utility field, I fairly quickly shifted over to transportation and joined the Operating Department of the New Haven Railroad. If anybody had told me at this point that I was going to become a teacher, I would have been thoroughly dismayed. But when I left the New Haven to broaden myself by studying transportation operation in Europe, I started a sequence which was to lead to the doors of good old Eli.
If one writes a book, it apparently can easily lead to a college post. My first one, built around what I learned in Europe, led to an appointment in transportation at Yale. The teaching part of this job has been a continuous challenge because every year has given me a chance to introduce new ideas and methods. Further, the satisfaction of helping to develop the intellectual process of a loyal group of students cannot be matched by anything else. Along with the teaching has been research and consulting, which are some of the ways in which one can sharpen one’s thinking. help the world at large, and also keep abreast of the practicalities of life.
Along with all this, I was fortunate enough to team up with the ideal girl, and together we’ve gone through all the pains and pleasures of bringing up four children.
When the war came along, I naturally put what talents I have to work for the country, starting with the Bituminous Coal Division of the Department of Interior on coal transportation problems, working with the O.S.S. particularly on the North African problem, and with Lend Lease and the Office of Defense Transportation. Not the least interesting part of all this was the chance to compare the different government agencies in war time as well as contrast them with the peace-time agencies I had seen something of before.
In the meantime my work at Yale was shifting from just transportation to a combination of that and economics. Finally, by the end of the war, I found myself chairman of the Economics Department as well as head of the transportation group. I am not so sure that the administrative responsibilities, challenging though they are, are quite as worth while as the teaching and research.
Along with all this, I have always felt that one should play a part in the local community in which one lives, and I have for a goodly number of years maintained an association with various social agencies. More recently my contribution has been as president of the largest family casework agency in New Haven. At the same time I have done my stint in both state and city government, ranging from being a member of the State Highway Advisory Commission to now being chairman of the State Savings Bank Railroad Investment Committee and a member of the City Traffic Commission (trying to solve the unsolvable in this latter).
This all adds up to a full and happy existence and, I hope, a useful one.
Source: Harvard Class of 1922. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report (Cambridge, Mass.: 1947), pp. 427-429.
Image Source:Kent T. Healy (1922 and 1947). Harvard Class of 1922. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report, Portraits of the Class (Cambridge, Mass.: 1947), p. 97.