William Dudley Foulke (November 20, 1848 – May 30, 1935) was an American literary critic, journalist, poet, and reformer.
Biography
William Dudley Foulke was born in New York City on November 20, 1848. He graduated Columbia University in 1869 and Columbia Law School in 1871. He practiced law in New York until 1876, when he moved to Richmond, Indiana, and married Mary Taylor Reeves.
Foulke became involved in local politics and was elected to the Indiana State Senate from 1882 to 1886. As a senator, he introduced bills to reform the state's civil service system. In addition, he investigated abuses against inmates and employees at the state hospital for the insane. He served on the Platform Committee of the Progressive Party. In 1889 he was asked by the National Civil Service Reform League to investigate the U.S. Federal civil service. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Foulke a Commissioner in the Civil Service Commission in 1901.
