Sheridan Downey: Difference between revisions

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 thea [[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 senators elected in 1950.