(Redirected from Culbert Levy Olson)
'Culbert Levy Olson' (
November 7,
1876 –
April 13,
1962) was an
American lawyer and politician. A
Democrat, Olson was involved in
Utah and
California politics and was elected as the twenty-ninth
Governor of California from
1939 to
1943.
Personal background
Olson was born in
Fillmore,
Utah to Daniel Olson and his wife Delilah King in
November 7,
1876. Olson's mother, Delilah, was a
suffragette and became the first female elected official in
Utah. Both his mother and father belonged to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, Culbert was unconvinced of the existence of
God, becoming an
atheist at the age of ten. Olson's change of beliefs distanced himself from his parents' Mormon beliefs.
[1]
Leaving school at the age of 14, Olson worked briefly as a telegraph operator and in
1890, enrolled at
Brigham Young University in
Provo, studying law and journalism. Upon graduating at the age of 19 in
1895, Olson embarked on a career as a journalist with the ''
Daily Ogden Standard''. During the
1896 Presidential Election, Olson openly campaigned for
Democratic candidate
William Jennings Bryan. After the election, Olson moved briefly to
Michigan, studying law at the
University of Michigan, and then later to
Washington, D.C., working as a newspaper correspondent and secretary for the
U.S. Congress. During his time in the capital, Olson attended law school at
George Washington University, being admitted to the Utah Bar in
1901.
[2]
Time in the Utah and California State Legislatures
Olson moved back to
Utah in
1901, settling in
Salt Lake City to join a law practice. Building a reputation of defending
trade unionists and political progressives, Johnson was elected to the
Utah State Senate in
1916. During his four years in the State Senate, Johnson wrote and endorsed legislation to end
child labor in the state, guarantee
old age pensions, and expand government control of
public utilities.
[3]
Olson declined to run again for the State Senate in the
1920 general election. Instead, Olson relocated to
Los Angeles, California, beginning another law practice, where he again gained a reputation of investigating corporate fraud. Politics never remained far. Olson campaigned openly for
Progressive Party candidate
Robert La Follette in the
1924 Elections, and for
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in the
1932 Elections. In
1934, in the middle of the
Great Depression, Olson ran as a Democrat for the
California State Senate, representing
Los Angeles. During the 1934 state general elections, Olson campaigned for former
Socialist Party member and
Democratic nominee for
Governor,
Upton Sinclair, participating in Sinclair's
End Poverty in California campaign.
[4] While Sinclair lost the gubernatorial election to
Republican Frank Merriam, Olson was elected to the State Senate that year.
While in the
California State Senate, the second
state legislature he was elected to, Olson openly supported Roosevelt's
New Deal policies towards the unemployed. Seeing large business interests as a barrier to change, Olson wrote the Olson Oil Bill to cut down oil company monopolies in the state.
With the open support of President Roosevelt, Olson ran for
Governor of California in the
1938 general elections against conservative Republican and anti-labor incumbent Governor
Frank Merriam. Merriam, known for suppressing the
1934 Longshore Strike and his conservative fiscal policies, was a highly unpopular candidate among progressives, unionists, and even among conservative Republicans who were angered by his
1935 tax reforms. Merriam lost soundly to Olson. He was the first Democrat to win the governorship since
James Budd's election in
1895, breaking the forty-year Republican dynasty over the governorship.
Governorship
Olson was inaugurated as California's twenty-ninth executive on
January 2,
1939. In his inaugural address, Olson pointed at progressives and the
Left for his inspiration, citing that "[t]hey point the way forward--toward the achievement of the aspiration of the people for an economy that will afford general employment, abundant production, equitable distribution, social security and old age retirement, which our country, with its ample resources, great facilities and the genius of its people, is capable of providing."
[5]
Olson refused to say "so help me God" during his
oath of office to state Supreme Court Justice
William H. Waste. Olson remarked earlier to Justice Waste that "God couldn't help me at all, and that there isn't any such person." Instead, Olson said, "I will affirm."
[4]
Olson's tenure in the governorship began to a rocky start. Olson collapsed four days after his
inauguration. Doctors discovered that Olson was suffering from an ailing heart. On top of personal health matters, Kate Jackson, the Governor's wife for nearly thirty-nine years, died shortly after Olson assumed the office.
[7]
Contrasting with the conservative policies of Governor
Frank Merriam, Olson extended friendly relations with the state's labor unions. In September
1939, Olson officially pardoned
Tom Mooney, a labor activist and
political prisoner accused of plotting the
1916 Preparedness Day Bombing in
San Francisco. Olson cited the reasons of his pardoning due to little evidence to implicate Mooney. The next month, Olson pardoned Mooney's alleged accomplice,
Warren Billings.
[4]
Olson's relationship with the
California State Legislature was often bitter. With conservative
Democrats controlling the
Assembly, and business friendly
Republicans in the
Senate, Olson had little room to promote his
New Deal politics, while the Legislature remained weary of Olson's
leftist agenda. By the first year of his governorship, Olson's proposed budget was cut by nearly 100 million dollars, plus the Governor's proposal of compulsory
universal health insurance for every Californian was defeated. The Legislature also defeated legislation to raise income, bank and corporate taxes, as well as Olson's proposed bills to regulate
lobbyists and reform the state
penal system. State subsidized relief for farmers was also nearly cut in half.
[9] During his tenure of the governorship, Olson installed a telephone
hotline to the Legislature to get immediate word of lawmakers' positions on bills in committee or on the floor for a vote.
[10]
During his tenure of the governorship, Olson grew increasingly critical of the
Roman Catholic Church and its presence in the state educational system. A
secular atheist, Olson was disturbed by the
State Legislature's passage of two bills in
1941, one to give free transportation to Catholic school students, while the other would release Catholic children early from school to attend church, making no mention of
Protestant children or students of other
sectarian or religious beliefs. Olson bowed to heavy pressure, and signed into law the first bill, later citing the enormous pressure of the Catholic Church on his office and on state lawmakers. However, Olson would veto the "early release" bill for Catholic children.
[4]
Due the entry of the
United States into the
Second World War in December
1941,
California witnessed near hysteria due to fears of a
Japanese invasion. On
February 19,
1942, President
Franklin Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 9066, ordering federal officials to remove all West Coast Japanese to
internment camps. Testifying before a
U.S. House committee on
March 6,
1942, Olson, a long supporter of nearly every Roosevelt position on economics, politics and foreign policy, supported the move whole-heartedly. "Because of the extreme difficulty in distinguishing between loyal
Japanese-Americans, and there are many who are loyal to this country, and those other Japanese whose loyalty is to the
Mikado. I believe in the wholesale evacuation of the Japanese people from coastal California."
[12]
By the
1942 general elections, Republicans had accused Olson of blatant partisan politics during wartime, citing Olson's often bitter divides with the State Legislature. The
Republican Party nominated
California Attorney General Earl Warren as the party's nominee for the governorship. Warren, a centerist Republican, campaigned as a moderate voice that would appeal to both liberals and conservatives during a time of war, where
California was considered as a possible front line, while accusing Olson as an uncompromising,
left-wing Democrat.
Olson lost to
Warren by a large margin. In later years, Olson accused "the active hostility of a certain privately owned power corporation and the
Roman Catholic Church in California" to his defeat.
[3]
Post governorship
Following his departure from the governorship, Olson returned to law. He regained the public spotlight again in the
1950s, when the Legislature voted to exempt Catholic schools from real estate taxes. Olson filed an
amicus curiae brief to the
state Supreme Court, asking the court to explain how the state's exemption of a religious organization from civil taxes was constitutional.
In 1957, Olson became president of the
United Secularists of America, a body made up of
secularists,
atheists,
freethinkers.
Olson died in
Los Angeles on
April 13,
1962 at the age of 85. Olson is buried in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale.
Quotes
Olson speaking to his successor,
Earl Warren, shortly before his inauguration in
1943:
[14]
Olson on religion:
[4]
Olson's view of the power of the Catholic Church:
[4]
References
1. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAolsonCB.htm - Spartacus Schoolnet biography and collection of interviews
2. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson - American Atheists biography and interviews
3. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAolsonCB.htm
4. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
5. http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/govsgallery/h/documents/inaugural_29.html - Inaugural Address, January 3, 1939
6. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
7. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761572,00.html "Olson's Luck." ''Time Magazine'', July 3, 1939
8. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
9. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761572,00.html
10. http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/govsgallery/h/biography/governor_29.html - Government of California
11. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
12. http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/evac3.html "Olson wants all Japs moved." ''United Press'', March 6, 1942
13. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAolsonCB.htm
14. http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/govsgallery/h/biography/governor_29.html
15. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
16. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson
External links
★
Biography and Inaguration Speech from the State of California
★
American Atheist profile
★
Spartacus Schoolnet profile
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
