Frank Merriam

Frank Merriam
Merriam during the 1930s
28thGovernor of California
In office June 2, 1934 – January 2, 1939
Lieutenant	George J. Hatfield
Preceded by	James Rolph
Succeeded by	Culbert Olson
31stLieutenant Governor of California
In office January 5, 1931 – June 2, 1934
Governor	James Rolph
Preceded by	H. L. Carnahan
Succeeded by	George J. Hatfield
Member of theCalifornia State Senate from the33rddistrict
In office January 7, 1929 – January 6, 1931
Preceded by	Cadet Taylor
Succeeded by	Ralph H. Clock
41stSpeaker of the California State Assembly
In office January 1923 – October 1926
Preceded by	Henry W. Wright
Succeeded by	Edgar C. Levey
Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the70thdistrict
In office January 8, 1917 – January 3, 1927
Preceded by	Joseph A. Rominger
Succeeded by	Morgan Keaton
17thState Auditor of Iowa
In office 1899–1903
Governor	L. M. Shaw Albert B. Cummins
Preceded by	Cornelius G. McCarthy
Succeeded by	Beryl F. Carroll
Member of theIowa House of Representatives from the68thdistrict
In office 1896–1898
Preceded by	D. H. Young
Succeeded by	Bion A. Baker
Personal details
Born	Frank Finley Merriam (1865-12-22)December 22, 1865 Hopkinton, Iowa,U.S.
Died	April 25, 1955(1955-04-25)(aged 89) Long Beach, California,U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elnora Hitchcock (m. 1889; divorced) Mary Ella "Nellie" Day ​ ​ (m.1901; died 1931)​ Jessie Millisack Lipsey ​ ​ (m.1936; died 1948)​
Education	Lenox College
Profession	Journalist,politician

Frank Finley Merriam(December 22, 1865 – April 25, 1955) was an AmericanRepublicanpolitician who served as the28thgovernor of Californiafrom June 2, 1934, until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of theGreat Depressionfollowing the death of GovernorJames Rolph,Merriam defeatedDemocraticnomineeUpton Sinclairin the1934election. Merriam also served as theState Auditor of Iowafrom 1900 to 1903, and served in both theIowaandCaliforniastate legislatures.

Early years

Merriam was born in 1865 inHopkinton, Iowa,the eldest of 11 children. In 1861, his father Henry C. Merriam and uncle Charles E. Merriam enlisted in Company K, 12th Iowa Infantry. Both were captured at theBattle of Shiloh,held as prisoners of war atLibby Prison,and returned to Iowa.

After graduating fromLenox Collegeat Hopkinton in 1888, Merriam served as the principal of the Hopkinton schools for two years and superintendent of schools atPostvillefor one year. He was a school superintendent inWisner, Nebraska.He next became the editor of theHopkinton Leader,a newspaper.

In 1904, he moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he owned and published theMuskogee Evening Times.He moved toLong Beach, Californiain 1910 with his second wife, Nellie, to attend to family obligations. There he worked in the advertising department of theLong Beach Press.

Iowa and California legislatures

Merriam in theIowa State House

Merriam was elected to theIowa House of Representativesas a Republican at the age of 31 in 1896.Two years later, Merriam was elected asIowa State Auditor,a post he would hold until 1903.In 1910 at the age of 44, Merriam moved toCalifornia.Following seven years of living in the state, Merriam was elected to theCalifornia State Assemblyin 1916, representing the Long Beach area, beginning his rise in California politics.

In 1922, while still serving in the Assembly, Merriam presided over the successful election campaign of formerBull Moosemember and Republican candidate for governorFriend Richardson.Name recognition from Richardson's successful campaign among fellow Republicans helped Merriam be elected by the Republican majority in the Assembly as itsSpeakerin 1923. During the 1926 general elections, Speaker Merriam ran as a primary candidate forlieutenant governor.However, state Republicans instead voted forBuron Fittsas the party's candidate for that office.

Following his departure from the Assembly that year, Merriam took a two-year hiatus from state politics. He returned in the 1928 elections after he was elected to theCalifornia State Senate.After two years in that body, Merriam won the nomination for lieutenant governor and, along with the Republican candidate for governor,San Francisco MayorJames Rolph, was elected to office.

Governor of California 1934-1939

On June 2, 1934, Governor Rolph was pronounced dead ofheart failureat Riverside Farm inSanta Clara County.Upon the news of the Governor's death, Lieutenant Governor Merriam was sworn in as governor.

Longshoremen's strike

Main article:1934 West Coast waterfront strike

Nearly immediately after assuming the governorship, Merriam faced labor agitation, particularly by members of theInternational Longshoremen's Associationon the docks ofSan Francisco.Beginning in May 1934, longshoremen along theWest Coastwalked off the job to strike, protesting against the ILA national leadership's negotiated settlements with transportation and cargo companies. Longshoremen demanded six-hour days,closed shops,and the right to unionize freely. Activity in theports of San FranciscoandOaklandground to a halt.Teamsterssoon joined the longshoremen in their walk-out. Popular support for the strikers also grew from various segments of the urban working-class, left unemployed by theGreat Depression.By the strike's second month, violence had begun to break out along theEmbarcaderoasSan Francisco Policeclashed with the strikers during attempts to escort hired labor to the docks. Municipal officials accused the ILA's ranks filled withCommunistsand otherleft-wingradicals.

As governor, James Rolph had consulted with other West Coast governors such asJulius L. MeierofOregonandClarence D. MartinofWashingtonto bring in theU.S. Department of Laborin order to settle the dispute. After his unexpected death in June, these efforts were suspended. Furthermore, negotiations between thefederal governmentand local ILA organizers failed to yield any agreement.

On July 5, 1934, as more attempts to open thePort of San Franciscowere made by employers, hostilities between strikers, their sympathizers, and the police reached their zenith. Later known as "Bloody Thursday", San Francisco Police shottear gasat strikers and sympathizers onRincon Hill,followed by a charge on horseback. Later, protestors surrounded a police car and attempted to overturn it, but were met by gunshots in the air, and quickly afterwards, shots into the crowd itself. Later in the day, police raided an ILA union hall, shooting tear gas into the building and into other local hotels.

Merriam, only governor for a month, threw the state government into the fray. As reports of growing violence in San Francisco reachedSacramentoby the minute, Merriam activated theCalifornia Army National Guard,deploying regiments to San Francisco's waterfront. In the weeks before "Bloody Thursday", Merriam had remained updated on the ongoing labor dispute, threatening only to activate the Guard if the situation grew too serious. Behind the public scenes, however, the Governor had confided to fellow Republicans that ordering the Guard into San Francisco would ruin him politically.The events of July 5, however, proved to be a turning point. In addition to the Guard's deployment, federal troops of theU.S. Armywere placed on stand-by in thePresidioif the situation grew beyond the Guard's control.

Merriam also ordered the halt of construction on theSan Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridgeuntil the violence in San Francisco subsided.

Within the day, 1,500 Guardsmen armed with fixedbayonetsandmachine gunspatrolled the waterfront, with an additional 5,000 state troops on reserve. Explaining to theUnited Pressthe following day, Merriam placed full blame of "Bloody Thursday" on the politicalLeft."The leaders of the striking longshoremen are not free from Communist and subversive influences...There will be no turning back from the position I have taken in this matter."

Following the funerals of the two men slain on "Bloody Thursday", the San Francisco Labor Council voted for ageneral strike.For four days from July 16 to July 19, the activity in the city ground to a halt. MayorAngelo J. Rossirequested more Guardsman in the city, and in meetings with generals, plans were drawn to imposemartial lawover the entire city. However, with a heavily armed National Guard presence along the waterfront, violence did not break out again. In the meantime, the police, now backed up by National Guardsmen, raided and arrested militant and radical offices of theInternational Longshoremen's Association(ILA) leaders and sympathizers. By July 19, the General Strike Committee and the Labor Council ordered an end to the strike, demanding its picketers to acceptarbitrationfrom the federal government. With the strike broken by its less militant leadership, longshoremen grudgingly returned to work.

Less than three years later, Governor Merriam was called upon to intervene in another labor dispute, theStockton Cannery Strike of 1937in which one person died and 50 injured. Merriam refused to call up the National Guard this time, but did play a significant role in mediating between the two sides after the violence to get the canneries open and save the $6 million spinach crop.

1934 Gubernatorial election

In the aftermath of the Longshore Strike, Merriam was highly praised by the conservative San Francisco press for his perceived victory over the strikers. During the strike, state Republicans nominated the Governor to run for a full term in the general election that November. Merriam, however, had threatened not to deploy theCalifornia National Guardto San Francisco if the party would not nominate him.

Running against Merriam in the 1934 elections was formerSocialist PartymemberUpton Sinclair,who had surprisingly won the nomination of theDemocratic Partyfor governor. A third-party candidate,Raymond L. Haightof theCommonwealth-Progressive Party,also challenged Merriam.

During the campaign, Sinclair promoted theEPIC project,asocialistwork program to ensure universal employment for all Californians, complete with the state control of factories, the opening of farmcooperativesand the creation of acabinet-level California Authority for Production agency to oversee state employment.

The Commonwealth Party's Haight relied on centrists from the Democrats who believed that Sinclair had driven the party too far to the left.

Merriam's campaign rallied state conservatives into the so-called "Stop Sinclair" movement. Among supporters wereMGMstudio headLouis B. Mayer,media tycoonWilliam Randolph Hearst,andLos Angeles TimespublisherHarry Chandler.During the campaign, Mayer turned multiple studio lots inLos Angelesinto propaganda machines, churning out fake newsreels to be played before feature-length films in the state. One notable newsreel includedSovietsarriving in California to vote for Sinclair.Also during the campaign, Merriam frequentedfootballgames and public events, and on one occasion, attended a hospital talking to deaf mutes through an interpreter. Many such events were quickly publicized by the conservative press.

The result of the 1934 general election saw Merriam defeating Sinclair with 48% of the vote to Sinclair's 37%. Haight garnered 13%.After the election, Merriam announced that the result was "[a] rebuke to socialism and communism."

The 1934 general election is generally remembered as one of the most hotly contested elections in California history. It has also been cited by political historians as one of the first modern elections, due to the various uses of popular media and rhetoric to both popularize and demonize candidates.

Full Term

Upon beginning his full term, Merriam immediately faced an ever-shrinking state budget and growing deficit. In an effort that later angered many powerful conservative backers who had originally supported his 1934 candidacy, as well as challenging his own deep-seated conservatism, Merriam proposed to theLegislaturea tax increase of nearly $107 million. The tax reform laws included instituting a statepersonal income taxmodeled after theFederal Income Tax of 1934,which had been created by the Democratic-controlledCongress,and raisingsales taxesto three percent. The Legislature agreed, and passed the tax reform law in 1935.

William Randolph Hearst, whose newspapers provided one of the bulwarks of the governor's 1934 campaign, complained bitterly over the reformed tax laws. The Hearst-ownedSan Francisco Examiner's editorial shortly after the reform bills' passage read: "[e]xtortionate and confiscatory taxation will mean... devastation of business, paralysis of industry."

Fanning the growing rift between Merriam and conservative Republicans,right-wingauthor and playwrightCharles Gilman Norrispenned letters that became widely circulated thanks to Hearst's newspaper empire, complaining of Merriam's reforms. "[T]he minute the proposed State Income Tax becomes law, my wife,Kathleen Norris,and myself will put both our homes — the one inPalo Altoand our ranch nearSaratoga— up for sale and move out of the State. There is no alternative for us. We pay 52% of our income now to theFederal GovernmentatWashingtonand under the proposed State Income Tax Law, we shall have to pay an additional 18%, so that out of every dollar we earn from our writings, 70¢ will go out in taxes! "

Hearst supporters challenged Merriam's and the Legislature's 1935 reform laws in a special referendum in 1936 with Proposition 2. The proposition would automatically repeal the tax reforms, and would in the future require the support of two-thirds of the Legislature and approval of voters by statewide referendum before any newincome taxcould be imposed. The measure, however, was defeated.

While theState Senatewas controlled by Republicans, the cruciallower houseAssembly,where finance bills originated, was split between conservative and socialist-leaning Democrats. Merriam proceeded with appeasing the closely divided Legislature by praising the federalTownsend Plan,while complaining to conservatives and othercapitalistsupporters that he was surrounded by fanatics.

1938 Gubernatorial election

By the 1938 general election, Merriam had lost much support from the right due to the tax reform laws and support forSocial Security,while he garnered little support or sympathy from the left due to his troubled relationship withlabor unionsand the squelching of the Longshore Strike. In the primaries, the Democratic Party nominated State SenatorCulbert Olson,a formerEPICand Upton Sinclair supporter as well as an unabashed supporter of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt'sNew Deal.Republicans, meanwhile, renominated Merriam for a second full term.

Merriam Handily Lost Reelection to Olson, ending the Republican dynasty over the governorship that had lasted for forty years beginning with the election of GovernorHenry Gagein 1898. Merriam received 44% of the vote to Olson's 52%.

Post-governorship

Merriam resided in theBluff Parkneighborhood of Long Beach, California.

After his defeat, Merriam retired from public life. In 1941 he joined the California Society of theSons of the American Revolution.Following the death of former Governor and U.S. SenatorHiram Johnsonin 1945, a brief write-in campaign for Merriam appeared, though it only garnered 500 votes. He died at home in Long Beach of a heart attack, at age 89, on April 25, 1955.

External links

• Biography
• Join California Frank Merriam