1938 Los Angeles mayoral recall election

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1938 Los Angeles mayoral recall election
Flag of Los Angeles, California.svg
  1937 September 16, 1938 (1938-09-16) 1941  
Vote on recall
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svgYes235,39564.65%
Light brown x.svgNo128,72735.35%
Valid votes364,122100.00%
Invalid or blank votes00.00%
Total votes364,122100.00%
Mayoral election
  Fletcher Bowron, 1930s.jpg Frank L. Shaw at the Los Angeles County Grand Jury (cropped).jpg
Candidate Fletcher Bowron Frank L. Shaw
Popular vote233,427122,692
Percentage64.33%33.81%

Mayor before election

Frank L. Shaw

Elected Mayor

Fletcher Bowron

The 1938 Los Angeles mayoral recall election took place on September 16, 1938, following the recall of incumbent Frank L. Shaw. Shaw was defeated by Fletcher Bowron in the election, making him the first recalled mayor in American history. [1]

Contents

Municipal elections in California, including Mayor of Los Angeles, are officially nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot. [2]

Election

Shaw had been accosted with corruption in City Hall which led to a recall movement against him and his close associates. Reformers who opposed Shaw and the Los Angeles Times both agreed that Shaw was "building the largest machine in the city's history," choosing Fletcher Bowron, a Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, to run against Shaw. [3] [4] The reformers campaigned for Shaw's recall saying that he did not do enough to stop crime and that he had supposedly committed arious crimes during his tenure. [5] The recall was approved by voters by a large margin, and Bowron defeated Shaw by a landslide. [6]

Results

Los Angeles mayoral recall election, September 16, 1938
ChoiceVotes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes235,39564.65
No128,72735.35
Total votes364,122100.00
Los Angeles mayoral recall election, September 16, 1938 [7]
CandidateVotes %
Fletcher Bowron 233,42764.33
Frank L. Shaw (incumbent)122,69233.81
Alonzo J. Riggs4,0501.12
Albert F. Osterloh2,7060.75
Total votes362,875 100.00

See also

References and footnotes

  1. John R. Babcock, "When Los Angeles Was a World-Class City of Corruption," Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, May 12, 1989, page A-19
  2. "LOS ANGELES: STRUCTURE OF A CITY GOVERNMENT" (PDF). League of Women Voters .
  3. Viehe, Fred W. (1980). "The Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw: A Revision". California History. 59 (4). University of California Press: 290–305. JSTOR   25158002.
  4. "Judge Named on Reform Ticket". Imperial Valley Press . August 9, 1938.
  5. Sitton, Tom (1987). "Another Generation of Urban Reformers: Los Angeles in the 1930s" . The Western Historical Quarterly. 18 (3). Oxford University Press: 315–332. doi:10.2307/969090. JSTOR   969090.
  6. "Formidable Ofensiva del Japón La Primera Autoridad". La Opinión (in Spanish). October 13, 1938.
  7. "Los Angeles Mayor". Our Campaigns.