California's New DealCalifornia's New Deal California Progress Report:
"California never had a New Deal. While California voted for FDR in 1932 (and for each of his three reelection bids), state politics were dominated by right-wing factions in both the Republican and Democratic parties for much of the era.
In 1934, when Upton Sinclair won the Democratic nomination on a socialist platform called End Poverty In California, or EPIC, he was unable to overcome a sophisticated campaign machine built by conservative Republican Frank Merriam, which included political ads created by movie studios and shown in cinemas statewide before the election. (A centrist Democrat, Raymond Haight, also ran in the 3-way contest, costing Sinclair anti-conservative votes.)"
In 1938 progressive Democrat Culbert Olson finally broke through. An atheist and friend of labor unions, his term in office was marked by battles with conservative Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, frustrating his plans to bring the New Deal to California, beyond the few dams and bridges that had been initiated earlier in the decade. Moderate Republican Earl Warren beat Olson in the 1942 election, and a true New Deal for California would have to wait until 1958, when Pat Brown got elected governor.
As California sinks deeper into a similar economic crisis some 75 years later, we risk making the same mistake - being unable to overcome a legacy of Hooverism and provide the state with the government-led economic recovery program we so desperately need. So argue California scholars Richard Walker and Gray Brechin in a SF Chronicle op-ed today:
"California never had a New Deal. While California voted for FDR in 1932 (and for each of his three reelection bids), state politics were dominated by right-wing factions in both the Republican and Democratic parties for much of the era.
In 1934, when Upton Sinclair won the Democratic nomination on a socialist platform called End Poverty In California, or EPIC, he was unable to overcome a sophisticated campaign machine built by conservative Republican Frank Merriam, which included political ads created by movie studios and shown in cinemas statewide before the election. (A centrist Democrat, Raymond Haight, also ran in the 3-way contest, costing Sinclair anti-conservative votes.)"
In 1938 progressive Democrat Culbert Olson finally broke through. An atheist and friend of labor unions, his term in office was marked by battles with conservative Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, frustrating his plans to bring the New Deal to California, beyond the few dams and bridges that had been initiated earlier in the decade. Moderate Republican Earl Warren beat Olson in the 1942 election, and a true New Deal for California would have to wait until 1958, when Pat Brown got elected governor.
As California sinks deeper into a similar economic crisis some 75 years later, we risk making the same mistake - being unable to overcome a legacy of Hooverism and provide the state with the government-led economic recovery program we so desperately need. So argue California scholars Richard Walker and Gray Brechin in a SF Chronicle op-ed today: