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{{Short description|American businessman (1867–1940)}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2007}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Rufus C. Dawes
| image         = Rufus Cutler Dawes.png
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Rufus Cutler Dawes
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1867|07|30}}
| birth_place   = [[Marietta, Ohio]]
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1940|01|08|1867|07|30}}
| death_place   = [[Chicago]], Illinois
| resting_place      = 
| burial_place       = [[Oak Grove Cemetery (Washington County)|Oak Grove Cemetery]], Marietta, Ohio
| monuments          = 
| nationality   = 
| other_names   = 
| alma_mater      = [[Marietta College]]
| occupation    = Oil and Banking
| years_active  = 1918–1940
| known_for     = {{unbulleted list|[[Dawes Plan]]|[[Commercial Club of Chicago]]|[[Century of Progress]]|[[World's Fair]]|[[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)]]}}
| notable_works = 
| spouse             = Helen B. Palmer (married 1893)
| children           = {{unbulleted list|William Miles|Charles Cutler|Jean Palmer|Palmer|Margaret|Helen}}
| signature     = Signature of Rufus Cutler Dawes.png
}}

'''Rufus Cutler Dawes''' (July 30, 1867 &ndash; January 8, 1940) was an American businessman in oil and banking from a prominent [[Ohio]] family. He and his three brothers all became nationally known. In the 1920s he served as an expert on the commissions to prepare the [[Dawes Plan]] and the [[Young Plan]] to manage German reparations to the Allies after [[World War I]].

He had most of his career in Chicago, where he was involved in civic organizations. He served as president of the [[Commercial Club of Chicago]], and from 1934-1940, as head of the [[World's Fair]] organization and the [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|Museum of Science & Industry]] (MSI).

==Early life and education==
Dawes was born in [[Marietta, Ohio]], to [[Brigadier General]] [[Rufus R. Dawes]] and Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes.<ref name=BlueBook>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7L4GAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA222 |title=Blue Book of the State of Illinois |publisher=[[Illinois|State of Illinois]] |page=222 |year=1921 |access-date=2020-07-06 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He was a younger brother of [[Charles G. Dawes]]. His two younger brothers, [[Beman Gates Dawes]] and [[Henry May Dawes]], also achieved national reputations. His middle name of Cutler is in honor of his paternal grandmother, Sarah Cutler's family (She was a daughter of Ephraim Cutler who was the son of Manasseh Cutler.) <ref>family records</ref> Cutler was also the name of [[Lysander Cutler]], one of Rufus Dawes's [[American Civil War]] colleagues in the [[Iron Brigade]].

Dawes graduated from [[Marietta College]] with an A.B. in 1886 and A.M. in 1889.<ref name=BlueBook/>

==Marriage and family==
He married Helen B. Palmer on June 3, 1893.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZToOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA430 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=XIV |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=430 |year=1910 |access-date=2020-12-18 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Career==
Dawes became active with his brothers in many gas and lighting utilities. He was selected as  president of the Union Gas & Electric Company, Metropolitan Gas & Electric Company, and Dawes Brothers, Inc.

He became involved in public service in 1918, when he was appointed to serve on the [[Illinois]] State Pension Laws Commission (1918–1919). In 1920, he was selected as a delegate to the Illinois constitutional convention.<ref name=BlueBook/>

His brother Charles appointed him to serve on the experts commission preparing the [[Dawes Plan]] in 1924, to settle an international crisis in Europe and develop a staggered plan for Germany to pay its reparations.  Because of his contribution, Dawes was also asked to work as assistant to [[Owen D. Young]], who developed the succeeding [[Young Plan]] in 1929.

Dawes was a member of the [[Commercial Club of Chicago]], serving as president in 1925–26.<ref>[http://www.commercialclubchicago.org/organization/past-members.html Commercial Club : Organization<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He was president of [[Century of Progress|A Century of Progress]] Corporation from 1927 until his death in 1940.

From 1934 until his death, Dawes was concurrently president of the [[World's Fair]] organization and the [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|Museum of Science & Industry]] (MSI). Dawes was the third president of the MSI, after [[Sewell Avery]] and [[William Rufus Abbott]]. Previously, he had been an active member of the Board of Trustees, helping to brief [[Waldemar Kaempffert]] when the latter became the first Executive Director of the Museum of Science & Industry in 1928. (Kaempffert was the ''[[New York Times]]'' science editor and served again after his time at the museum.)

Dawes was an hereditary companion of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]].

Rufus C. Dawes died in Chicago on January 8, 1940.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65522608/rufus-dawes-72-head-of-chicago/ |title=Rufus Dawes, 72, Head of Chicago Exposition, Dead |newspaper=[[Moline Daily Dispatch]] |location=Chicago |agency=AP |page=1 |date=1940-01-08 |access-date=2020-12-18 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
*During [[World War II]], in 1943 the [[United States Navy]] commissioned a [[Liberty Ship]], named the {{SS|Rufus C. Dawes}} in his honor. It was scrapped in 1968.

==References==
<references/>
* Seymour Currey, ''Chicago: Its History and Its Builders – A Century of Marvelous Growth'', Volume IV.  Chicago, Illinois: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company (1912), pages 9 & 10
* ''Who’s Who in Chicago 1931'', p.&nbsp;244
* Jay Pridmore, ''Inventive Genius: The History of the Museum of Science & Industry Chicago''.  Chicago, Illinois: Museum of Science & Industry, 1996.
* Herman Kogan, ''A Continuing Marvel: the Story of the Museum of Science & Industry''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1973.

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|31643123}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, Rufus C.}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Chicago]]
[[Category:People from Marietta, Ohio]]
[[Category:American energy industry businesspeople]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the United States]]
[[Category:Dawes family]]