The Politics of Depression
As the depression of the 1930s worsened, voters looked to the nation's elected officials for leadership and reassurance. Millions of Americans gathered around their radios on March 4, 1933, to listen to the inaugural address of their new president. "Let me assert my firm belief," said Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Politics in California, however, continued to resound with fear and uncertainty. Governor "Sunny Jim" Rolph attempted to win public favor by openly encouraging and defending a lynching. Upton Sinclair, a former socialist, won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1932 but was defeated in a campaign of unprecedented viciousness. Culbert Olson's New Deal for California offered only modest reform.