THE CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY: Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics by Mitchell Greg

Author:Mitchell, Greg [Mitchell, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Sinclair Books
Published: 2011-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

One task completed, Albert Parker turned to unfinished business. United for California's investigation of Democratic vote fraud had turned up a number of illegal registrants, but nowhere near enough to cost Sinclair the election. Voters could be challenged at the polls or in court, but this was a cumbersome process and might result in striking only a few hundred names from the rolls. Scare tactics, however, might successfully keep tens of thousands from voting. Some of Sinclair's supporters were transient workers; many other EPICs, recent arrivals in the state, had signed up to vote only in the past few weeks. These types of people might be susceptible to intimidation.

Unsure of a legal precedent in California, Parker recalled that some sort of mass vote-purge scheme had been tried with some success in New York City by George Medalie, a former U.S. attorney. So he sent a telegram to his close friend Eli Whitney Debevoise, who was practicing law in New York with another one of Parker's buddies from Harvard (class of '25), Francis Plimpton. "We are bending our energies toward defeat of Upton Sinclair," Parker wired his friend. "He has secured many false registrations to bolster up his vote. Hope to attack this as federal crime." Parker said he'd appreciate it if Debevoise could find out how Medalie managed to invalidate voters in New York.

--OCTOBER 11

THURSDAY

Literary Digest announced today that it was conducting another one of its famous straw polls. Known for correctly picking presidential races, the Digest this time turned to a statewide race, explaining that the eyes of the entire nation were trained on California. "No political development in recent years has stirred the imagination of the people of the United States as the forthcoming contest for Governor of California," the Digest observed. "Will the results of the election in California be a future guide to the political and economic future of the other forty-seven States?"

They would know soon enough. The Digest had just put 680,000 ballots in the mail to voters in every city in California, representing about one quarter of the expected turnout on November 6. On the ballots were the names Haight, Merriam, and Sinclair, as well as Dempster and Darcy. This being a magazine promotion, the cover letter also made a sales pitch—seventeen issues for one dollar—but voters were under no obligation to subscribe. Literary Digest even promised to pay the postage if they returned their ballots.

The Digest claimed amazing accuracy in previous polls, correctly predicting the past four presidential contests. It had called the Roosevelt landslide in 1932 and in 1920 had forecast the seemingly impossible: Warren Harding would carry all five boroughs of New York City. "So," the Digest proclaimed immodestly, "this new Poll of California will show who will be the next Governor."

*

H. L. Mencken planned to write another column attacking his old friend Upton Sinclair but couldn't find time to finish it. He was still immersed in The American Language and in caring for his invalid wife, Sara. Today, however, he

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.