1934 California gubernatorial election

Republican primary

Candidates

• Raymond L. Haight, Los Angeles attorney
• Frank Merriam, incumbent Governor since June 1934
• John R. Quinn, member, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
• C. C. Young, former Governor (1927–31)

Results

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Democratic primary

Candidates

• George Creel, investigative journalist
• Forest Dowey
• William H. Evans
• Z. T. Malaby
• W. J. McNichols
• Upton Sinclair, author and perennial Socialist Party candidate
• James E. Waddell
• Justus S. Wardell, nominee for Governor in 1926
• Milton K. Young, nominee for Governor in 1930

Results

Sinclair won the Democratic nomination in what was considered a political upset.

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Minor party primaries

Socialist

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Commonwealth

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Progressive

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Prohibition

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Communist

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General election

Campaign

Negative campaigning funded by the film industry was used against Sinclair to favor the Merriam campaign. Hollywood studio bosses unanimously opposed Sinclair and their involvement in the campaign has been described as Hollywood's first intervention in electoral politics. They pressured their employees to assist and vote for Merriam's campaign, and made false propaganda films attacking Sinclair, giving him no opportunity to respond. Joseph M. Schenck threatened to move Twentieth Century Fox to Florida should Sinclair be elected.

Louis B. Mayer's MGM and other film studios deducted a day's pay from their employees to raise an anti-Sinclair fund that amounted to $500,000. Irving Thalberg was to lead MGM's anti-Sinclair campaign and the studio recruited Carey Wilson to create a series of anti-Sinclair propaganda films. These films, directed by Felix E. Feist, included fake newsreels of Sinclair supporters who were portrayed as bums and criminals. They were shown in California movie theaters, with one episode featuring hired actors as Sinclair supporters speaking with foreign accents. Supposedly when one actor objected to the films Thalberg replied "Nothing is unfair in politics".

Big corporations in California were strongly opposed to Sinclair. Both Standard Oil of California and Pacific Mutual sent out a letter to their stockholders encouraging them to oppose Sinclair. Various corporations created front organizations to oppose his campaign, for instance the California Real Estate Association formed the 'Merriam for Governor Committee'.

Sinclair later stated that there was a "campaign of lying" against him during the campaign which was "ordered by the biggest businessmen in California and paid for with millions of dollars" that was carried out by newspapers, politicians, advertisers, and the film industry. One survey of over 500 California newspapers found that over 90% supported Merriam, 5% supported Raymond Haight and the rest made no endorsement. The only newspaper surveyed that endorsed Sinclair was his own outlet Epic News.

However, Sinclair did have support from some public figures. For instance, the 'Author's League for Sinclair' was founded by Frank Scully, Dorothy Thompson and Gene Fowler. Progressives such as Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Parker, Donald Ogden Stewart, Lillian Hellman and Groucho Marx were also Sinclair supporters.

Haight campaigned as a centrist between the rightist Merriam and the leftist Sinclair, seeking support from voters dissatisfied with both candidates. Haight garnered 302,519 votes, 13% of the vote. Much of Haight's voting strength came from the San Joaquin Valley, where farmers were suspicious of Sinclair's End Poverty in California scheme to take over so-called 'idle farms'. With 13% of the vote, Haight arguably spoiled Sinclair's chances for the governorship.

Candidates

• Sam Darcy, organizer of the Marine Workers Industrial Union and 1934 waterfront strike (Communist)
• Milen C. Dempster (Socialist)
• Raymond L. Haight, Los Angeles attorney (Commonwealth-Progressive)
• Frank F. Merriam, incumbent Governor since June 1934 (Republican)
• Upton Sinclair, author and perennial Socialist Party candidate (Democratic)

Results

Results by county

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Contra Costa
• Lassen
• Madera
• Plumas
• Trinity
• Tuolumne

Counties that flipped from Republican to Progressive

• El Dorado
• Fresno
• Stanislaus

Aftermath and legacy

Hollywood involvement in the campaign against Sinclair was depicted in the 2020 American biographical drama film Mank.

Notes

References

References

1. (1990). "Film Study An Analytical Bibliography · Volume 1". Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
2. California Secretary of State. "Statement of Vote at Primary Election held on August 28, 1934 in the State of California". State Printing Office.
3. Mitchell, Greg. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/movies/mank-upton-sinclair.html 'Mank' and Politics: What Really Happened in 1934 California]". ''New York Times'', Dec 7, 2020.
4. (2001). "Hollywood Modernism Film and Politics in the Age of the New Deal". Temple University Press.
5. (2015). "The Struggle to Fashion the NRA Code: The Triumph of Studio Power in 1933 Hollywood". Journal of American Studies.
6. (Winter 1974). "Upton Sinclair and the California Gubernatorial Campaign of 1934". Southern California Quarterly.
7. (2013). "When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics". Cambridge University Press.
8. (2006). "Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century". Turner Publishing Company.
9. (2013). "American Fascism and the New Deal The Associated Farmers of California and the Pro-Industrial Movement". Lexington Books.
10. (2023). "I, Candidate for Governor And How I Got Licked". University of California Press.
11. (2021). "Chaplin and American Culture The Evolution of a Star Image". Princeton University Press.
12. (October 19, 2000). "Going Negative: The Smear Campaign Against Upton Sinclair". The Fortnightly Club.
13. California Secretary of State. "Statement of Vote at General Election held on November 6, 1934 in the State of California". State Printing Office.