C. C. Young | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byFred Hartsookc. 1926 | |
| 26th Governor of California | |
| In office January 4, 1927 – January 6, 1931 | |
| Lieutenant | Buron Fitts H. L. Carnahan |
| Preceded by | Friend Richardson |
| Succeeded by | James Rolph |
| 28th Lieutenant Governor of California | |
| In office January 6, 1919 – January 4, 1927 | |
| Governor | William Stephens Friend Richardson |
| Preceded by | William Stephens |
| Succeeded by | Buron Fitts |
| 39th Speaker of the California State Assembly | |
| In office January 6, 1913 – April 27, 1917 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Hathaway Hewitt |
| Succeeded by | Henry W. Wright |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly | |
| In office January 4, 1909 – January 6, 1919 | |
| Preceded by | John Morton Eshleman |
| Succeeded by | Anna L. Saylor |
| Constituency | 52nd district (1909–1913) 41st district (1913–1919) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Clement Calhoun Young (1869-04-28)April 28, 1869 Lisbon, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | December 24, 1947(1947-12-24) (aged 78) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican(before 1914, after 1916) Progressive(1914–1916) |
| Spouse | Lyla Jeannette Vincent |
| Children | 2 |
| Profession | |
Clement Calhoun Young (April 28, 1869 – December 24, 1947) was an American educator and politician who was affiliated with the originalProgressive Party and later theRepublican Party. He was elected to five consecutive terms in theCalifornia State Assembly, serving from 1909 to 1919, then as the 28thlieutenant governor of California, holding that office from 1919 to 1927. In the1926 general election, he was elected in alandslide victory as the 26thgovernor of California and served from 1927 to 1931. Young is considered to have been one of the last governors from theProgressive movement.
Born inLisbon, New Hampshire, Young moved toCalifornia at an early age, and graduated from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1892. After his graduation, Young embarked on a career as ahigh school teacher, teaching inSanta Rosa from 1892 to 1893 and then atLowell High School inSan Francisco from 1893 to 1906, heading the school'sEnglish department. While at Lowell, Young actively participated in theNational Education Association, attending and speaking at its conferences, including giving a speech entitled "The Use of a Library" at the association's conference inLos Angeles in 1899, arguing for greater cooperation between public schools and public libraries.[1] Students at Lowell popularly nicknamed Young "C-Square," due to his initializing of his first and middle names, Clement Calhoun.[2] In 1904, Young, along withCharles Mills Gayley, publishedThe Principles and Progress of English Poetry.[3] published and distributed by theMacmillan Company.
While teaching, he established his home inBerkeley, where he lived until his death, except for the years he served as governor.
Young was a close friend of realtor and conservationistDuncan McDuffie, and worked for Mason-McDuffie, areal estate general partnership based in Berkeley. Young would work or consult for Mason-McDuffie until 1944. He also helped McDuffie, who had served as president of theSave the Redwoods League andSierra Club, establish the State Parks system upon his election as governor.
After his departure from Lowell in 1906, Young became involved in state politics. In 1908, he was elected to theCalifornia State Assembly for the district that included Berkeley. In the Assembly, Young became a political ally of governorHiram Johnson and quickly rose through the chamber's ranks, becomingAssembly Speaker in 1913. In the following year's legislative elections, Young was elected as a member of theProgressive Party. His flirtation with the party lasted for a single term before its dissolution in 1916 and he quickly returned to Republican ranks, though he remained sympathetic to theProgressive movement for much of the rest of his political career.
In the1918 general elections, Young won the race forLieutenant Governor of California, a position to which he was re-elected in1922. In the1920 U.S. presidential election, Young was a member of theElectoral College.[4]
By 1926, frustration within inner Republican ranks with the fiscally conservative governorship ofFriend Richardson had reached its zenith. In the gubernatorialprimary election, Progressive Republicans overcame conservative and corporate opposition to win the nomination for Young, knocking Richardson out of the general election.[5] In the1926 general election campaign, Young earned vocal support from former governorHiram Johnson and prominent bankerAmadeo Giannini. Young won in a landslide, garnering 71.3 percent of the vote and crushing his rivals, who includedDemocratJustus S. Wardell andSocialist authorUpton Sinclair.[6]
Beginning his governorship on January 4, 1927, Young's agenda included reorganizing the state's various commissions and departments into hiscabinet to better coordinate state governmental affairs. "Some system like this would, I believe, be far more businesslike and effective than such haphazard and infrequent consultations as must otherwise normally take place between a Governor and our numerous unrelated boards and commissions," Young said.[7]
Among his other priorities were: the financing of thestate highway system through afuel tax rather than bystate bonds; more clearly defined roles for theState Board of Education and theCalifornia State Superintendent of Public Instruction to eliminate conflicting duties; upholding thedirect primary; and the creation of penal facilities specifically for convicted females, believing that "San Quentin is no place for our women prisoners."[7]
In his first year of office, Young signed a bill passed by theCalifornia State Legislature authorizing the creation of a California State Parks Commission. Headed byFrederick Law Olmsted Jr., the survey commission investigated lands across the state suitable for state protection and developed plans for their future financing.[8] A year later in avoter initiative supported by Young, state voters approved the creation of theCalifornia State Park system.
In late June 1927, Young personally intervened forCharlotte Anita Whitney, a member of theCommunist Party of the United States, who had been convicted under the1919 Criminal Syndicalism Act passed under GovernorWilliam Stephens. In 1919, Whitney had been arrested inOakland after defying civic authorities in making a speech in behalf of John McHugh, a member of theIndustrial Workers of the World. The anti-syndicalism law used to prosecute her had recently been upheld by theU.S. Supreme Court which held that threats of violence against the state and individuals did not constitutefree speech and was not protected by theFirst Amendment. Following the high court's decision, Young granted Whitney an unconditional pardon, believing that putting her into a cell was "unthinkable." Young added that the law under which she was convicted was undoubtedly constitutional, but that "abnormal conditions attending the trial" greatly influenced the jury and that "under ordinary circumstances" the case never would have been prosecuted.[9]
On November 23, 1927, inmates atFolsom Prison rioted, taking control of a majority of the interior facilities, and took several prison guards as hostages. Young responded by mobilizing theCalifornia Army National Guard, ordering commanders to encircle the prison with their units, supported by heavymachine guns and twotanks shipped by train fromSalinas.[10] The heavy show of military force in full view of the rioters forced the revolting prisoners to capitulate peacefully.
In 1928, starring alongside British actorRonald Colman, Young appeared in the film shortGovernor C.C. Young Hails Greater Talkie Season, appealing to earlytalking picture audiences to attend family-friendly movies and to ignore films that depicted negative images of society.
In 1929, Young signed the law creating theCalifornia Highway Patrol.
In October 1929, Young, along with PresidentHerbert Hoover, established the Hoover-Young San Francisco Bay Bridge Commission to investigate the feasibility of a bridge linking theEast Bay toSan Francisco, supported by his Director of Public Works,Bert Meek, an engineer and surveyor. The commission submitted its report in August 1930, concluding that not only was the bridge necessary to the development of the area, but that it was "entirely feasible from economic and construction viewpoints."[11] TheSan Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge eventually was completed and opened to traffic in late 1936.
Following a strike by Mexican agricultural laborers in theImperial Valley in 1928, Young commissioned an investigation on the status of working conditions for Mexicans. The investigation's findings, presented to Young in 1930, concluded that Mexican immigrants made up a majority of farm labor, had supplanted other immigrant groups and were now doing the work whiteEuropean Americans would not do.[12] The report also outlined that many labor contracting practices, including the withholding of 25 percent of immigrant farm labor salaries, were likely to be illegal.[13]
Despite Young's Progressive credentials, Progressive attitudes towards the governor soured in 1929 after Young's appointee as state Superintendent of Banks, Will C. Wood, approved the merger betweenAmadeo Giannini'sBank of Italy withOrra E. Monnette'sBank of America.[5] While Young denied that Giannini's support of his gubernatorial candidacy in 1926 was the reason for his support of the merger, his decision did not sit well with Progressives, who viewed economic conglomerations with suspicion. In 1930, constitutional restrictions on corporations were repealed.
The loss of support for Young among Progressives, along with the beginning of theGreat Depression, severely hurt his chances of being re-nominated for a second term as governor. Despite campaign slogans that included "Re-Elect C.C. Young - He Left $31 Million in the Treasury," Young was defeated byJames Rolph, the charismaticMayor of San Francisco, in theRepublican party'sprimary election in 1930.[2]
Following Rolph's death shortly before the1934 gubernatorial election, Young again sought the Republican nomination, but lost theprimary election to Rolph's successor,Frank Merriam.
Young attended the1932 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, where he met and congratulated several of the athletes. Following his 1934 defeat, Young retired from politics. He served as the president of theCommonwealth Club of California between 1939 and 1940, and returned to writing, publishingThe Legislature of California, a study of California legislative politics, in 1943.[14] Until 1944, he devoted much of his working time to Mason-McDuffie, serving as its vice president.
He died onChristmas Eve (December 24), 1947 in Berkeley at the age of 78. His remains are interred at Sunset View Cemetery inEl Cerrito.
Young was married to Lyla Jeannette Vincent and had two daughters.
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of California 1926 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of California 1919–1927 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by William Stephens | Governor of California 1927–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Under Spain (1769–1822) |  | |
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| Under Mexico (1822–1846) | ||
| Under U.S. military (1846–1850) | ||
| U.S. state (since 1850) | ||
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| Other | |
