Alexander Cushing

Alexander Cushing was the man responsible for the unusual choice of Squaw Valley, California to host the 1960 Olympic Winter Games. Cushing was born into a wealthy family and graduated from Groton School, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School. After law school, Mr. Cushing worked for the Justice Department in the antitrust division, served in the Navy, and got a job on Wall Street.

While recovering from a broken ankle from a skiing accident, Cushing struck up a conversation with Wayne Poulson, a Pan Am pilot and an avid skier. Poulson told him of a site in the Sierra just west of Lake Tahoe that he thought would be perfect for a ski resort. Poulson had bought 640 acres of what became Squaw Valley from Union Pacific Railroad in the 1940s. Poulson took Cushing to see it, and in June 1948 they formed the Squaw Valley Development Corporation.

Against all odds, Cushing convinced the IOC to hold the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, which at the time of the bid consisted of a single chairlift and one 50-room lodge. The Games went off well, despite the Organizing Committee’s refusal to build a bobsled track. After concern for offending Native American groups, the name of the site was eventually changed to Palisades Tahoe.