Modern CA History

The Progressive Era• Early 1900s SF run by Ruef machine

• Progressives: A middle class reform movement

• 1911-1917 Governor Hiram Johnson

• Weaken party machines and SPR—for “direct democracy”—initiative, recall, and referenda

SF again influences national immigration policy

• 1905 San Francisco segregates schools regarding Japanese

• 1908 leads to “Gentleman’s Agreement”

Great Depression 1930-40

• 100,000s of dustbowl refugees migrate here• "California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see

But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot If you ain't got the do re mi."

• Okie culture

1934 Governor’s race

• Former socialist and author of The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, runs for office as a Democrat and New Dealer on EPIC platform

• Is smeared in first professional media campaign

Growing Radicalism of the Depression era

• unions organize and strike--previously the “Wobblies,” now the Communist Party among others

• Over 50 strikes of farm workers in 1933

Salinas strike of 1934-36

• Growers brought over Filipinos to work in fields after WWI and exclusion of Chinese and Japanese

• Growers split striking Filipino lettuce pickers from white shed workers

San Francisco General Strike 1934

• Strike shuts down shipping on West Coast

• Entire Bay Area is shut down for 3 day General Strike after police force picketing longshoremen to allow in “scabs”

Again, economic downturn leads to greater xenophobia

• 100,000s of Mexicans are pushed out or deported

• anti-Filipino riots break out, and they are “invited” to leave under the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935

WW II and greater military presence

• (Southern) CA becomes a center of US aerospace industry

• All filled with bases—many close at end of Cold War

Post-War into 1960s

• Population and economy boom

• Under Governors Earl Warren and Pat Brown pro-growth policies—schools, colleges, and highways.

Ronald Reagan 1966-73

• Clashes with counter-culture and UC

• Tries to cut size of state govt.

Jerry Brown 1974-79

• Supported civil liberties and civil rights and “appropriate technology”, but not the spending of his dad