CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Malcolm Wilson (politician)

American politician (1914-2000)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ880392 ↗
Source-derived summary

Charles Malcolm Wilson (February 26, 1914 – March 13, 2000) was an American politician who served as the 50th governor of New York from December 18, 1973, to December 31, 1974. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1939 to 1958. He also served in the Navy during World War II. In 1958, he was elected the lieutenant governor of New York on the gubernatorial ticket with Nelson Rockefeller, and when they won he served as lieutenant governor until succeeding to the governorship after Rockefeller resigned. Wilson lost the 1974 gubernatorial election to Hugh Carey.

In 1994, the original Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed in Wilson's honor. There is also a park in Yonkers, New York named for him.

Early life

Wilson was born in New York City, one of four children born to patent attorney Charles H. Wilson and Agnes (Egan) Wilson. The Wilsons were a Roman Catholic family of Irish and Scottish extraction. Charles H. Wilson, was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the New York State Assembly in 1912. Agnes Wilson was a Republican activist and local party leader.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Malcolm Wilson (politician)” is american politician (1914-2000). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Malcolm, Wilson and politician, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1914, 2000, 1973, 1974—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1914-02-26. For this dossier, Malcolm, Wilson and politician is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician (1914-2000)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q880392. VIAF identifies the subject as 166137335. The Library of Congress control number is n86076700. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914, 2000, 1973 and 1974.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Malcolm Wilson (politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Malcolm Wilson (politician) primary sources, Malcolm Wilson (politician) archive and Malcolm research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Malcolm Wilson (politician)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Malcolm Wilson (politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.