"'FIGHTING BOB' WANTED TO RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT"

LA FOLLETTE FORCED TO ENTER CALIFORNIA ELECTORS UNDER SOCIALIST PARTY LABEL

San Francisco, California (JFK+50) On September 25, 1924, the Associated Press reports the announcement today by Rep. John M. Nelson*, manager of the Robert M. La Follette presidential campaign, that their "electors in California would be entered under the Socialist party label."

Although Senator La Follette wanted to run as an independent, a decision of the California State Supreme Court forced him "to go on the Socialist ballot with the same electors."

*John Mandt Nelson (1870-1955) graduated University of Wisconsin, 1892 & 1896, served as US representative of Wisconsin 1913-1933.

JFK+50 NOTE

The California Supreme Court ruled in a 4 to 3 decision that the 13 electors of Senator La Follette were barred from the ballot because they were placed on it by "initiative petition" instead of by a party's convention.

SOURCE

"La Follette Must Run As Socialist," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 25, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

 John M. Nelson

PD-U.S.

www.wikimedia.org/

UPTON SINCLAIR QUITS SOCIALIST PARTY

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2373

UPTON SINCLAIR QUITS SOCIALIST PARTY OVER OPPOSITION TO DRAFT

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, July 17, 1917, Upton Sinclair* issued a statement in which he gave reasons for his withdrawal from the Socialist party.

Mr. Sinclair took issue with the party's "majority report" in which mass opposition to the draft was advocated.

Upton Sinclair wrote...

"For me to remain in the party would be to misrepresent both the party and myself."

The writer predicted the Socialist party would be "wiped out" if it attempted to carry out its policy of mass opposition to conscription.

He concluded...

"I intend to go on working for socialism as hard as I can.  When the breakdown of the Prussian caste system seems to me to have progressed far enough, I may come back to ask the party to take me in again."

*Upton Sinclair, Jr. (1878-1968) was born in Baltimore, MD & studied law at Columbia University.  His novel, "The Jungle", about conditions in the meatpacking plants of Chicago became a best seller.

Although a socialist, US supported the nation in WWI.  In 1920, he founded the California chapter of the ACLU.  US wrote nearly 100 books & won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

SOURCE

"Sinclair Says War Views Made Him Quit Party," The Chicago Daily Tribune,   July 18, 1917,   http://archives.chicagotribune.com

LBJ & Upton Sinclair

December 15, 1967

Photo by Yoichi Okamoto

LBJ Library Image