At Berkeley in the Sixties: The Making of an Activist

6 The Young Democrats

6 The Young Democrats The UYD was a member of the California Democratic Council (CDC) and the California Federation of Young Democrats (CFYD). Of¤cially founded in late 1953, CDC was one product of the reform movement that swept the Democratic Party in the wake of the 1952 election. Although Adlai Stevenson lost to Eisenhower, his wry humor, elegant speeches, and image of intelligence and integrity reinvigorated the Democratic Party and “made it seem an open and exciting place for a generation of younger Americans who might otherwise never have thought of working for a political candidate.”1 During his campaign, thousands of political clubs were founded throughout the country, many of which continued to exist afterward in con®ict with local party bodies. They brought into Democratic Party politics a new breed, the amateur Democrat —educated, middle class, professionally employed, motivated by issues rather than patronage. In areas dominated by traditional party machines , such as New York City, these amateur Democrats founded Independent Democratic Clubs and fought the regulars. However, California was run by Republicans, so Democratic leaders welcomed new blood. In California, reform meant a resurgence of the Democratic Party.2 Of¤cial political parties were weak in California as a result of legislation passed in the Progressive Era. Cross-¤ling was a legacy of Governor Hiram Johnson (1911–1916). After running for vice president with Theodore Roosevelt on the 1912 Progressive Party ticket, he engineered cross-¤ling through the legislature so he could run for the Senate in 1916 as the candidate of both the Progressive and Republican Parties. For the next forty years, cross-¤ling gave the Republicans an electoral advantage. In 1950, they held most elected of¤ces even though almost 60 percent of the voters had registered Democratic since the days of FDR. Incumbents were listed at the top of the ballot for each race, so Republicans running in both party primaries were listed ¤rst on both ballots. CDC’s purpose was to endorse candidates running in the Democratic primary to prevent Republicans who cross-¤led from capturing the Democratic as well as the Republican nomination. Of¤cial parties were prohibited from endorsing any candidate in its primary; CDC wasn’t an of¤cial party body. All of its endorsed candidates for statewide of¤ce won the Democratic primaries in 1954 and 1958, making it, with 70,000 members organized into 400 clubs, more in®uential than the of¤cial Democratic Party. After cross-¤ling was abolished in 1959, CDC continued to make pre-primary endorsements at conventions to which member clubs sent delegates. For the most part, CDC endorsed those on the liberal side of the party’s ideological divide, describing itself as the “conscience of the party”; when it didn’t, club members often sat on their hands.3 In the election of 1958, the Democratic Party did well throughout the country and very well in California. The Democrats took control of the state for the ¤rst time since 1888, including “both houses of the legislature , the congressional delegation, the Board of Equalization and ¤ve of the six state constitutional of¤ces, [and] the governorship.” Attorney General Edmund G. “Pat” Brown became governor. The Democratic sweep was aided by a vicious factional ¤ght in the Republican Party. William F. Knowland, U.S. senator since 1945, wanted to be governor. He forced incumbent governor Goodwin Knight (who had replaced Earl Warren in 1953 when he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court) to run for the Senate so he (Knowland) could seek the state’s highest of¤ce. Both lost badly.4 While CDC endorsed all but one of the Democratic incumbents in 1960, when Democrats captured and kept major of¤ces, it was soon at odds with Democratic elected of¤cials. The anti-power ethic, which had motivated many amateurs to join the clubs in the ¤rst place, was transferred from the state’s Republican power structure to its Democratic incumbents . In the early 1960s, such classic liberals as Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh was denounced as a “boss” and snidely called “Big Daddy” Unruh, a reference to his considerable girth as well as his power. In 1963, Democratic legislators tried to limit CDC’s ability to “of¤cially endorse” candidates. By 1966, antagonism was so great between elected Democrats and CDC that Governor Brown engineered the removal of CDC leader Si Casady. Casady opposed the Viet Nam War and didn’t want CDC to endorse anyone who felt differently. His removal...