Sheridan Downey: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox senator| name=Sheridan Downeyofficeholder

| party=[[Democraticjr/sr Party ( = United States)|Democratic]] Senator

| term_start = January 3, 1939

| term_end = November 30, 1950

| precededpredecessor = [[Thomas M. Storke]]

| succeededsuccessor = [[Richard Nixon]]

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|3|11}}

| birth_place = [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]], [[Wyoming]], U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|10|25|1884|3|11}}

| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.

'''Sheridan Downey''' (March 11, 1884 – October 25, 1961) was aan American lawyer and a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[California]] from 1939 to 1950.

He was born in [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]], the seat of [[Albany County, Wyoming|Albany County]] in southernsoutheastern [[Wyoming]], the son of the former Evangeline Victoria Owen and [[Stephen Wheeler Downey]]. He was educated in [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]] of Laramie, and attended the [[University of Wyoming]]. Downey graduated fromattended the [[University of Michigan Law School]], withand aattained admission to the bar in 1907. In 1914, the school awarded Downey his [[bachelor of laws|LL.B.]] degree inas of the graduating class of 1907.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000469|title=Downey, Sheridan|last=Downey|first=Sheridan|date=|website=|access-date=}}</ref> He subsequentlypracticed returnedlaw toin Laramie to practice law, and in 1908 he was elected [[district attorney]] of Albany County as a Republican. In 1910 he married Helen Symons; they had five children. In 1912, Downey split Wyoming's Republican vote by heading the state's "Bull Moose" revolt in support of [[Theodore Roosevelt]], thus leading to a Democratic victory statewide. In 1938 Downey was elected to the United States Senate where he served until his resignation in November 1950.<ref name=":0" />

In 1913, Downey moved to [[Sacramento, California]], and continued to practice law with his brother, Stephen Wheeler Downey, Jr.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of American Biography|last=|first=|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1981|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref> During his first few years in California, he devoted most of his time and energy to his law practice and various real estate interests. In 1924 he supported [[Robert La Follette, Sr.]]'s Progressive party campaign for the presidency, and in 1932 he became a Democrat and campaigned for the election of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].

In October 1933, Downey announced that he was running for governor of California. After a series of meetings with the writer [[Upton Sinclair]], who also had designs on the governorship, Downey agreed to run for [[Lieutenant Governor of California]] while Sinclair ran for governor. Their political platform was the [[End Poverty in California movement|End Poverty in California]] (EPIC) plan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/the-plan-to-end-poverty-in-california-epic/|title=The Plan to End Poverty in California|last=Sinclair|first=Upton|date=|website=VCU Libraries|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref> Opponents called the ticket "Uppie and Downey". EPIC began as a mass movement, calling for an economic revolution to lift California out of the depression. The EPIC platform called for state support for the creation of jobs, a massive program of public works, and an extensive system of state-sponsored pensions and radical changes in the tax structure.

After Sinclair's defeat, Downey became an attorney involved with Dr. [[Francis Townsend]], the main advocate of the Townsend Plan for [[government]] old-age [[pension]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/social-security/the-townsend-plan/|title=The Townsend Plan’sPlan's Pension Scheme|last=DeWitt|first=Larry|date=December 2001|website=VCU Libraries|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref> Townsend's $200-a-month pension plan had won a large following in California, particularly among retirees. DowneysDowney's support lead to him writing ''Why I Believe in the Townsend Plan (1936).''<ref name=":2" /> In 1936, the two drifted apart, as Townsend supported [[Union Party (United States)|Union Party]] presidential nominee [[William Lemke]] of [[North Dakota]], and Downey remained a Democrat committed to [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]].

During his years in the Senate, Downey often represented the interests of California's powerful motion picture industry. His shift from a liberal New Dealer to a conservative Democrat would become officially recognized after the war ended.<ref name=":1">G. J. Barker-Benfield, Catherine Clinton, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HemsBuz3kqkC&pg=PA555&lpg=PA555&dq=sheridan+downey+became+conservative&sourcepg=bl&ots=8wc0h0Kq9g&sig=UmvM8Ks6wQd_P1RvsvgRO_BB1bw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ggDUT6PWOcG-2gWOzpSGDw&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=sheridan%20downey%20became%20conservative&f=falsePA555 Portraits of American Women: From Settlement to the Present]'', Oxford University, 1998, pg. 554.</ref>

In a 1947 book entitled ''They Would Rule the Valley'', Downey argued that the farmers of the Central Valley, who controlled water rights based on state law, would come into conflict with the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Downey acknowledged that Central Valley farmers were technically in violation of the Reclamation Act of 1902, but defended these violations of Federal law as necessary because, in the context of California agriculture the Federal limitation was impractical.<ref>Downey, Sheridan. 1947. ''They Would Rule the Valley'' San Francisco, self published</ref> Downey's political views made him vulnerable. [[Helen Gahagan Douglas]] challenged him in a primary. In 1950 Downey dropped out of the race, citing ill health, and threw his support in the Democratic primary behind [[Manchester Boddy]], the conservative and wealthy publisher of the ''[[Los Angeles Daily News (historic)|Los Angeles Daily News]]''.<ref name=":1" /> He even indicated that if Douglas won the primary, which she did, he would support Republican U.S. Representative [[Richard Nixon]] in the [[general election]]. In the ensuing Douglas-Nixon race, Nixon prevailed in what his critics called a [[smear campaign]]. From [[United States Senate election in California, 1950|this race]], Nixon emerged with the [[sobriquet]] "Tricky Dick".<ref>Kenneth Franklin Kurz, ''Nixon's Enemies'', NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, 1998, p. 103</ref> Downey resigned from his Senate seat on November 30, 1950, enabling the governor to appoint Nixon, which gave him a seniority advantage over other new senators elected in 1950.

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[[Category:California DemocratsProgressives (1924)]]

[[Category:PeoplePoliticians from AlbanySan County, WyomingFrancisco]]

[[Category:WyomingDemocratic RepublicansParty United States senators from California]]