7.5: The Meaning of Progressivism for Californians

The progressive era began with efforts at municipal reform in the 1890s and sputtered to a close during World War I. Some politicians who called themselves progressives, including Hiram Johnson, remained prominent afterward, and progressive concepts of efficiency and expertise continued to guide government decision making. But the war diverted public attention from reform, and by the end of the war political concerns had changed.

The changes of the progressive era transformed California’s politics and government. Regulation of railroads and other public utilities continues to be a major function of state government. Protection of particular types of workers—women, children, migrants—has also been a continuing responsibility of state government. The progressives’ assault on political parties, through nonpartisan elections, cross-filing, and direct democracy, transformed state politics.As parties declined, organized pressure groups—and their lobbyists—proliferated and gained significant influence in politics. Reliance on the initiative expanded dramatically over the course of the 20th century. With the decline of political parties came political campaigns based largely on personality and advertising. Hiram Johnson left a far greater personal mark on the state than did any of the governors or senators who preceded him. During the Johnson years, Californians came to expect policy proposals to flow from a forceful governor. Johnson became the standard against which later governors were often measured—usually to their disadvantage. Women’s participation in politics has continued to increase, especially in the last third of the 20th century.

Cross-filing remained a feature of California primary elections until 1959. Almost from the beginning, it permitted candidates with large personal followings to lock up all major party nominations in the primary. This gave a strong advantage to incumbents, for they usually had the greatest name recognition among voters. Given the Republican majority among California voters, crossfiling especially benefited Republicans. By the late 1910s and early 1920s, the Republican primary was often the real election, because the winner of the Republican primary won other parties’ nominations as well.

Johnson himself became a fixture in state politics, moving from the governorship to the U.S. Senate, and then winning reelection every six years until his death in 1945. In the Senate, he continued to carry the progressive banner through the conservative 1920s and into the 1930s. Pugnacious, tenacious, and deeply hostile to corporate influence in government, he defined the meaning of progressivism for a generation of Californians. Throughout his long career, he remained largely outside the bounds of political parties, though ostensibly a Republican after 1916. But his insistence on his own independence meant that his campaigns for office were always his campaigns and not party campaigns. In many ways, Johnson set new patterns for state politics.