The 1934 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1934. Held in the midst of the
Great Depression, the 1934 election was amongst the most controversial in the state's political history, pitting conservative
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Frank Merriam
Frank Finley Merriam (December 22, 1865 – April 25, 1955) was an American Republican politician who served as the 28th governor of California from June 2, 1934 until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of the Great Depress ...
against former
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
member turned
Democrat Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...
, author of ''
The Jungle
''The Jungle'' is a 1906 novel by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers we ...
''. A strong
third party
Third party may refer to:
Business
* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
* Third-party insurance, such as a V ...
challenge came from
Progressive Raymond L. Haight, a Los Angeles lawyer campaigning for the political
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
. Much of the campaign's emphasis was directed at Sinclair's
EPIC movement, proposing interventionist reforms to cure the state's ailing economy. Merriam, who had recently assumed the governorship following the death of
James Rolph
James "Sunny Jim" Rolph Jr. (August 23, 1869 – June 2, 1934) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to a single term as the 27th governor of California from January 6, 1931, until his death on June 2 ...
, characterized Sinclair's proposal as a step towards
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
.
Negative campaigning
Negative campaigning is the process of deliberately spreading negative information about someone or something to worsen the public image of the described. A colloquial, and somewhat more derogatory, term for the practice is mudslinging.
Delibe ...
funded by the
film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...
was used against Sinclair to favor the Merriam campaign, as briefly depicted in the 2020 American
biographical drama
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...
film ''
Mank''.
[Mitchell, Greg]
‘Mank’ and Politics: What Really Happened in 1934 California
New York Times, Dec. 7, 2020.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election results
Results by county
References
Further reading
* Antognini, Richard. "The Role of A.P. Giannini in the 1934 California Gubernatorial Election." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 57.1 (1975): 53–86
online* Barger, Bob. "Raymond L. Haight and the Commonwealth Progressive Campaign of 1934" ''California Historical Society Quarterly'' 43 (September, 1964), pp 219–30
online* Hill, Patricia Lucy. "Upton Sinclair and the 1934 California gubernatorial election." (MS thesis, Portland State University, 1978
online
* Larsen, Charles E. "The Epic Campaign of 1934." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 27.2 (1958): 127–147
online* Mitchell, Greg. ''The campaign of the century: Upton Sinclair's race for governor of California and the birth of media politics'' (Random House, 1992).
* Rising, George G. "An EPIC Endeavor: Upton Sinclair's 1934 California Gubernatorial Campaign." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 79.1 (1997): 101–124
online* Singer, Donald L. "Upton Sinclair and the California Gubernatorial Campaign of 1934." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 56.4 (1974): 375–406
online
{{US Third Party Election
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
1934
Events
January–February
* January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.
* January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...
Gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
November 1934 events