Hiram W. Johnson and California Politics 1910-1914

<p>This essay treats of the political achievements of the Progressive movement organized under the outstanding leadership of Hiram Johnson. Previous to his advent, California had for many years been dominated by the Southern Pacific Railroad which came into being through the wise maneuverings of the Big Four—Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. The political machine which they built up controlled every sphere of the govern­ment, executive, Judicial, and legislative, and left the people in a state of complete indifference as far as political affairs were concerned.</p> <p>The period covered by this paper extends from 1910 when the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, the chief state reform organ, solicited the help of Hiram Johnson ao its gubernatorial leader, to 1914, the end of the first term of his successful administration, when Califor­nia possessed a model government with a act of reforms that remedied the corruption that had brought upon it shame and confusion. The first chanter treats of a survey of machine politics shortly before the advent of Johnson, in order to set the stage for a full am re ela­tion of the Progressive achievements.</p> <p>It has been the writer's aim: (1) to show the Influence of the dynamic leadership of Hiram Johnson in riding California of a corrupt political power and bequeathing to the state a set of Pro­gressive reforms that have merited the esteem of outstanding histo­rians; and (?) to show that the Progressive movement under his able direction extended its potent influence into national politics, and eventually evolved into a California Progressive party as a means of strengthening the power of reformers and of being the political lever which would raise Hiram Johnson to higher governmental positions.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Humanities

Year

1953

Author dc:creator

• O'Leary, Mary of the Nativity

• Humanities
• Arts and Humanities

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/54

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:humanities-print-theses-1053