John Cooper Packard (November 1, 1892 – July 28, 1956) was an American attorney and politician who served on the California Industrial Welfare Commission from 1939 to 1947, and as its chairman from 1940 to 1947. He was for many years an attorney for

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 California gubernatorial election, 1934 Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, and during the

1934 California gubernatorial election 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 Frank M ...

was part of the "inner circle of the

EPIC Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

campaign."

Career

Packard entered politics as a

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

; he was the party's candidate for

State Assembly State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government. Channel Islands States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...

in the 67th district in 1914, coming in fourth place with 8.5% of the vote. In

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

, he was an unsuccessful candidate for

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

, pledged to Senator

Robert M. La Follette Robert Marion La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), nicknamed "Fighting Bob," was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. ...

. He was a delegate to the 17th National Convention of the Socialist Party in 1932, during which he was elected to its National Executive Committee. He was a member of the Party's

Old Guard faction The Old Guard faction was an organized group in the Socialist Party of America (SPA) that sought to retain the organization's traditional orientation towards electoral politics by fighting the Militant faction of generally-younger party members ...

. Packard was acquainted with Upton Sinclair as early as 1916, when the latter spoke at a

Intercollegiate Socialist Society The Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS) was a socialist student organization active from 1905 to 1921. It attracted many prominent intellectuals and writers and acted as an unofficial student wing of the Socialist Party of America. The Societ ...

symposium hosted at the Packard home. The next year, the two men co-founded the

Workers' Co-operative A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

Association of

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, with Packard as president and Sinclair as vice president. When Sinclair was arrested for reciting the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

during the 1923 San Pedro maritime strike, Packard acted as one of his attorneys. In 1933, Packard was approached by Sinclair to help him draft a political program for the 1934 gubernatorial election that would become the End Poverty in California plan. After Sinclair won the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

, Packard resigned from the National Executive Committee and left the Socialist Party to become a New Dealer. During the campaign, Packard secured a

writ of prohibition A writ of prohibition is a writ directing a subordinate to stop doing something the law prohibits. This writ is often issued by a superior court to the lower court directing it not to proceed with a case which does not fall under its jurisdicti ...

from the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

preventing the

disenfranchisement Disfranchisement, also disenfranchisement (which has become more common since 1982) or voter disqualification, is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing someo ...

of thousands of new Democratic voters. Although Sinclair ultimately lost the election, Packard remained active in the Democratic Party. He was a candidate for Congress in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

, but lost the Democratic primary to incumbent

John S. McGroarty John Steven McGroarty (August 20, 1862 – August 7, 1944) was a poet, ''Los Angeles Times'' columnist, and author who also served two terms as a Democratic Congressman from California from 1935 to 1939. __TOC__ Biography Born at Buck Mounta ...

by a margin of 58% to 29%. Packard was later a delegate to the

and 1940 Democratic National Conventions, and during the 1940 presidential election was chairman of the

Roosevelt Roosevelt most often refers to two American presidents: * Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, president 1901–1909), 26th president of the United States * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945, president 1933–death), 32nd president of the United State ...

Wallace Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name Wa ...

campaign in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Packard, John C. 1892 births 1956 deaths People from Oak Park, Illinois USC Gould School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers California lawyers Socialist Party of America politicians from California California Democrats Culbert Olson administration personnel Culbert Olson political appointees