Charles Norris Poulson | |
|---|---|
 Poulson in 1959 | |
| 36thMayor of Los Angeles | |
| In office July 1, 1953 – July 1, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Fletcher Bowron |
| Succeeded by | Sam Yorty |
| 15thPresident of the United States Conference of Mayors | |
| In office 1958–1959 | |
| Preceded by | Robert F. Wagner Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Richard J. Daley |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |
| In office January 3, 1947 – June 11, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Ned R. Healy |
| Succeeded by | Glenard P. Lipscomb |
| Constituency | 13th district (1947–53) 24th district (1953) |
| In office January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Kramer |
| Succeeded by | Ned R. Healy |
| Constituency | 13th district |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the56th district | |
| In office January 2, 1939 – January 3, 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Cunningham |
| Succeeded by | Ernest E. Debs |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Norris Poulson (1895-07-23)July 23, 1895 Baker County, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | September 25, 1982(1982-09-25) (aged 87) Orange, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Charles Norris Poulson (July 23, 1895 – September 25, 1982) was an American politician who representedSouthern California in public office at the local, state, and federal levels. He served as the 36th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1953 to 1961, after having been aCalifornia State Assemblyman and then a member of theUnited States Congress. He was aRepublican.[1]
Charles Norris Poulson was born inBaker County, Oregon. He was the son of Peter Skovo Poulson (1843–1928), an immigrant fromDenmark. Poulson attendedOregon State University for two years before he wed Erna June Loennig on December 25, 1916. The couple arrived in Los Angeles in 1923. Poulson became acertified public accountant through correspondence classes and night school atSouthwestern Law School, which at that time had a business school.[2]
In 1938, he was elected to theDistrict 56 seat of theCalifornia State Assembly. He won a congressional seat four years later. After losing the seat in the 1944 election, he returned to theUnited States Congress following the 1946 elections, remaining there until his election asmayor of Los Angeles. During his years as a congressman, Poulson helped lead California in its fight againstArizona overColorado River water. At the time of his departure from Congress, he was the chairman of theCommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs.[3]
Poulson's victory in the Los Angeles mayoral race came after a contentious battle in which his opponent, incumbent mayorFletcher Bowron, claimed that theLos Angeles Times wanted to control city government and, by endorsing Poulson, would have a puppet in the mayor's office. Poulson, for his part, challenged Bowron's support for public housing, in particular a project in the area known asChavez Ravine inElysian Park Heights (the site on whichDodger Stadium would later be built). With the support of the group Citizens Against Socialist Housing (CASH) and drawing on theanti-communist atmosphere of the time, Poulson promised to end support for such "un-American" housing projects and to fire city employees who were communists or who refused to answer questions about their political activities.[4]
During his eight years as mayor, Los Angeles became the third largest city in the United States, with Poulson instrumental in leading the construction ofLos Angeles International Airport and expanding theLos Angeles Harbor. Most notably, he led the drive to lure baseball'sBrooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. This led to what became known as theBattle of Chavez Ravine, which resulted in the removal of Hispanic residents from land on which Dodger Stadium was later constructed. He helped integrate the city's fire and police departments and initiated a garbage recycling program that proved to be a factor in his defeat in 1961.[5]
In 1958 and 1959, Paulson served as president of theUnited States Conference of Mayors.[6]
Perhaps the most memorable image of his mayoral career came on September 21, 1959, when he addressed Soviet premierNikita Khrushchev during a public ceremony. The comments came after Khrushchev had constantly touted Soviet superiority during his tour of the city by Poulson. Citing Khrushchev's phrase, "We will bury you," Poulson responded, "You shall not bury us and we shall not bury you. We tell you in the friendliest terms possible we are planning no funerals, yours or our own." Poulson received over 3,600 letters following the incident, many of them praising him for his comments.[7]
He lost a reelection campaign in 1961 toSam Yorty, partly due to having to explain the expenses incurred by the Dodgers' franchise shift. Efforts to blunt such criticism were limited due to a severe case oflaryngitis, which prevented him from responding to the invitation from local television personalityGeorge Putnam to debate Yorty on his show. Poulson did not recover from the laryngitis in time, and his campaign never recovered from the setback.[8]
Following the defeat, Poulson briefly returned to accounting before retiring toLa Jolla inSan Diego in 1962. He died at a hospital inOrange, California, in 1982, after acolostomy operation.[9] His grandson Norris Brandt is a nationally-recognized expert on water policy.[10]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 13th congressional district 1943–1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 13th congressional district 1947–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by None | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 24th congressional district 1953 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
