Raymond Garfield Gettell was born March 4, 1881, at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He was the son of John Jacob and Zora Lindlay Gettell. His family had been residents of that part of this country for six generations.

He graduated from Ursinus College at Collegeville, Pennsylvania, in 1904, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude. He received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1906, and from Amherst College in 1916. From Trinity College, in 1941, he received the degree of Doctor of Letters.

Dr. Gettell taught initially at Ursinus College and at Bates College, Maine, then at Trinity, from 1909 to 1914, where he was Northam Professor of History and Political Science; and at Amherst College from 1914 to 1923. He came to the University of California first as a visiting professor and then as a member of the Department of Political Science, and remained here an active teacher and administrative officer until his death.

He was pre-eminently a teacher of politics and of political philosophy. His History of Political Thought (1924) was a broad and informative review of man's conception of the state and of government from the teachings of Aristotle to the present day. It had its place in the salutary revival