New Order of Cincinnatus
Encyclopedia
The New Order of Cincinnatus (NOOC) was a young men's political organization established in Seattle, Washington
in the 1930s. The short-lived "conservative and moralistic reform group" was a municipal party that challenged both the Democratic
and Republican
parties, electing David Lockwood (in 1934) and Frederick G. Hamley, a lawyer, public official and judge
, and Arthur Langlie (in 1935) to the Seattle City Council
. Lockwood, age 26 at the time of his election, was the youngest person ever to sit on the council. In 1938, Langlie became Seattle mayor, but by then the NOOC was fading. During its brief existence, the group spread beyond Seattle, and was active in Tacoma, Washington
, Portland, Oregon
, and San Francisco.
farmer and statesman Cincinnatus
, the NOOC was founded in September 1933 by approximately 10 young men including Seattle attorney Ralph Bushnell Potts. Potts, who Richard C. Berner describes as the "prime mover and first commander" of the NOOC, had resigned from the presidency of the Consolidated Republican Clubs of King County to start the group. The NOOC's idealistic, mostly middle-class professional supporters reacted against both political corruption
and labor unionism. They required the candidates they supported to disaffiliate from the established political parties and to limit campaign contributions to US$25. A May 1934 NOOC leaflet called for a "rebirth of political idealism among the younger citizens of America… [T]he major political parties have become nothing but job-hunting cliques… Cincinnatus advocates a Sparta
n-like devotion to honesty, efficiency, and ability in government." The group called for a reduction of 40% in Seattle city taxes, in a context where the city had already made large cuts: by the time the NOOC had a significant foothold on the city council, opposing councilman James Scavotto could argue that the city had already cut operating costs 50% in five years.
The NOOC also advocated a vastly increased state
-level police
constabulary, with no intermediate levels between the state and municipalities. This police force would consist entirely of men under age 40, trained by a State Police School, and enlisting for a military-style four-year term rather than being free to resign at any time.
The NOOC restricted its membership to men ages 21 to 35, and was organized along military lines to the point of resembling a fascist
organization. By December 1933, Potts had built the NOOC into an organization with 17 divisions in Washington State each headed by a "captain"; statewide officers were "major
s" and "colonel
s". In early 1934, 50 Cincinnatans marched to city hall to file three candidate petitions for city council, all of them dressed in white shirts and green and yellow headpieces (the colors of Seattle's Roosevelt High School). They used a slightly rewritten version of Sigmund Romberg
's "Stout Hearted Men" as their anthem. This "proto-fascist" style was a matter of tension within the organization from the outset. NOOC councilman Frederick Hamley's diary indicates that he and his fellow councilman David Lockwood generally disliked this aspect of the group and focused mainly on local municipal issues. In February 1934 they and others successfully defeated a proposal that the members of the organization should routinely stand and salute Potts when he entered the room.
Commissioner John C. Stevenson (born John C. Stockman). Stevenson had successfully avoided extradition
to New York
, where he was wanted for stock
fraud; the NOOC further accused him of mismanagement of the county relief. They failed, but the attention gained encouraged them to run candidates for public office themselves. David Lockwood, Wellington Rhinehart, and Lloyd Johnson filed to run in the February 1934 primaries. Their total campaign budget was less than US$600.
Seattle City Council offices are officially nonpartisan
, and there is no official acknowledgment or a party or ticket. These three NOOC candidates in 1934 got around this by all listing "Cincinnatus" as their middle names on the ballot, which the election officials permitted. In this period, three of the nine Seattle City Council positions were up for election each year, with the top six candidates in the primary election going on to a general election.
The NOOC candidates were supported by the Washington Taxpayers Council, as was conservative incumbent John E. Carroll. Of the Cincinnatans, only Lockwood made it through the primaries, but he gained office despite a complete lack of newspaper endorsements, coming in second in the general election. He took office in June amidst the Maritime Strike of 1934, which had led to lethal violence in Seattle.
Elected mayor at the same time Lockwood joined the council was Charles William Smith. Smith and his police chief, W. B. Kirtley, undoubtedly tolerated Seattle's then-longstanding police corruption. Lockwood further accused Smith of profiting personally from this corruption and tied Smith's toleration of corruption to his toleration of a growing budget deficit. Among the remedies he proposed were a fixed term for police chiefs, making the chief more independent of the mayor (and thereby separating the mayor from any system of police payoffs).
Carried away by their success in Seattle and the interest in forming other chapters around the state, the NOOC contested the statewide November elections. Among their candidates were William J. Wilkins for U. S. Senate, Cecil R. Fuller for the 1st District congressional seat, and John W. Day for King County Prosecutor. Running with great enthusiasm but very little budget, they did not elect anyone, but did have the best third-party results of any slate since the Bull Moosers
in 1912.
president Mildred Powell for the third seat. Originally the two NOOC candidates were to be Frederick Hamley and Leo Mortland, but the latter was a bit too enthusiastic in identifying as a Republican. When he gleefully announced his endorsement by the 36th District Republican Club, the NOOC decided he was no longer their candidate and replaced him with Arthur Langlie (although Langlie was never an official member of the NOOC).
Incumbents William Gaines, Frank Fitts, and David Levine
chose to campaign jointly, with the backing of the Central Labor Council and the newly formed Washington Commonwealth Federation. They accused the NOOC of being a "secret organization" and intending to impose a "fascist dictatorship". Nonetheless, Langlie and Frederick Hamley led in the primaries, followed by the incumbents; the sixth candidate was the NOOC-endorsed Powell. This time, Langlie and Hamley gained the endorsements of all three major dailies. Of the incumbents, only Levine secured any such endorsement, from the Seattle Star
. Langlie and Hamley came in as the top two in the general election. Powell was also elected. It was Levine's only defeat in a political career lasting more than three decades. Because of some resignations, Langlie and Hamley took office immediately after the election.
Secure in the knowledge that they needed only one other council vote to override any mayoral veto, the three NOOC council members used these council positions to investigate corruption and to reduce city spending. Lockwood updated proposals he already had for a central purchasing office and a central garage; he also framed a response to municipally owned Seattle City Light
's proposal to buy out the Seattle operations of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company, which the NOOC opposed. Hamlie and Langlie were assigned to investigate the city's street railway system, which was in chronic financial trouble, and the police department. As they turned up substantial evidence of police corruption, it became clear that Powell would also be interested in proposals to reform the police. The council voted 5 to 4 for a budget that would cut 120 city jobs, mainly in the police and fire departments and public schools. Mayor Smith vetoed this, and his veto was sustained because Powell opposed the school cuts. The city budget was put on hold until September.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
attacked Mayor Smith for running a "wide open" city, for refusing to make cuts in the departments controlled by the mayor's office, for being associated with a corrupt police-based political machine
, and for a recent upsurge in illegal gambling, prostitution, and Sunday liquor sales. The P-I was not alone in these views: The Argus
compared Smith to the legendarily corrupt Hiram Gill
and the United States Navy
made it known that they were considering placing the entire city of Seattle off limits for sailors on leave. Further condemnations of this state of affairs came from the Clean Government League, the Morals Committee of the Council of Churches, and the Philippine-American Chronicle, which published detailed exposes of the "Chinese Gambling Syndicate" and the police's policy of closing down only the "small fry".
In hearings, Chief W. B. Kirtley argued that the police were expending a great deal of effort dealing with numerous labor strikes and could hardly stand staff cuts. He acknowledged that the police made a "liberal construction" of city ordinances but said that he opposed "fanatical enforcement of the laws". He hinted broadly that some of the pillars of the church who opposed gambling actually profited from it as landlords, and might not be pleased with zealous enforcement. When talked of the material difficulty of raiding gambling dens (which usually had effective routes of escape), the Cincinnatans insisted on his accompanying them out of the hearing room to the openly operating Battersby and Smith's card room near First Avenue and Madison Street. Kirtley could hardly deny the evidence in front of his eyes: he ordered police to trash the establishment and to confiscate the money. None of the confiscated money ever made it to the police evidence room.
by cutting many city jobs and reduced wages, he now promised a reversal of these policies. This and other promises gained him the backing of organized labor in general and Dave Beck
of the Teamsters Union in particular. The all-round labor victory also returned David Levine to the city council. Dore announced, "This election means the end of fascist, semi-military organizations and of dictatorship in Seattle." Conversely, it brought to power a labor-based political machine.
Lockwood lost his council seat in the 1937 elections. Langlie, meanwhile, set his sights again on the mayoralty. Amidst a city fiscal crisis and a complete lack of aid from the state government of Governor Clarence D. Martin
, The chaotic election of 1938 saw Langlie faced off against an ailing Dore (who spent most of the campaign period in the hospital, with his son John, Jr. acting as campaign spokesman) and the flamboyant Vic Meyers, a locally famous jazz musician and bandleader who had backed into politics as a joke candidate in 1932, but who after becoming increasingly serious about the matter had become lieutenant governor
. Meyers, allied with the industrial unionists
, including the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO), opposed Dore from the left, Langlie from the right. Initially the main thrust of his campaign was an attack on the Dore/Beck alliance, which he accused of amounting to "racketeering
". This "'racket' talk" did not go over well with the Argus or the city's business community, who were in general happy with the collaborationist truce that had suspended Seattle's long labor war, and who also saw this rhetoric as bad for the city's image in the eyes of the rest of the country. Courting their support, Langlie toned down this rhetoric and re-focused on NOOC's tax-cutting agenda and the city's agenda. Meanwhile, he plotted with the Municipal League against Meyers: their intent was to disqualify Meyers by showing that he had not paid Seattle city taxes during his stint in Olympia
(the state capital), but to hold back this attack until such time as it would be too late for another candidate of the same faction to enter the race. Dore attacked Meyers as well, red-baiting
him and the CIO by tying them to the Communist Party
(CPUSA). In the primary Langlie won big and Dore lost big: Langlie garnered 51,175 votes, Meyers 27,436, Dore 21,480; an additional candidate, William Norton, took 10,457 votes, leaving Langlie to face Meyers in the general election.
A resounding, unsolicited Communist endorsement for Meyers in the general election as the "New Deal
candidate" running against a "reactionary
" entirely backfired against Meyers and even Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and left the CIO and the Washington Commonwealth Federation (WCF) looking like communist fronts
. Langlie won 80,149 to 48,563. The gravely ill Dore was relieved of his office by the city council on April 13, 1938 (and died five days later); Langlie began his term early. In the wake of Langlie's election, Governor Martin finally came to the city's financial aid, so Langlie expected to face a lesser fiscal crisis than his predecessor. This was, however, balanced or overbalanced by state Social Security Board administrator Charles F. Ernst cutting the relief rolls by 20%, removing over 12,000 Seattleites (and at least 8,000 elsewhere in King County) during one of the harshest periods of the Depression. In office, Langlie immediately overturned a rule that garbage collectors would be paid the prevailing wage
. This was the first of a series of Seattle wage cuts (and strikes), most won by employers including the city government. Over the next year, Langlie continued to fight against the power of labor in general and the Teamsters in particular and also revived the NOOC's fight against police corruption, but had to focus mainly on solving Seattle's financial crisis. Among his successes was the resolution of the longstanding crisis over the city's streetcar system: he obtained a US$10.2 million federal grant to pay off the debts and replace the entire system with a network of buses and trackless trolleybus
es. He had the good fortune that the start of World War II
in Europe led to a rise in defense production, from which Seattle benefitted greatly. He also obtained federal funding to build the Ballard Bridge
and West Seattle Viaduct
and to repair recreational facilities. In short, he succeeded in running his fiscally conservative administration by obtaining funds from the liberal Democratic federal government.
By 1939 the NOOC had disbanded and Langlie formally identified as Republican. He easily won re-election as mayor in spring 1940, and, as the Republican candidate, won the state governorship in the November 1940 election.
, later Democratic Governor of California
, in 1935. It completely lacked the Seattle chapter's militaristic tendencies, but shared its call for an end to "partisan bickering". It quickly gained over 500 members and established a headquarters on Market Street
. The San Francisco chapter soon launched an effort towards the ousting of incumbent members on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
, seeking to root out the corruption of those on the Board. After offering enforcement and assistance to a group of rival candidates, the chapter was successful in deposing four of the bureaucrats on the Board and in placing one of their own candidates (Dewey Meade) on the Board. Its main long-term political effect was to bring Brown to prominence.
, Bremerton
, Chehalis
, Everett
, Kirkland
, Spokane
, Tacoma
, and Wenatchee
, all in Washington; and Portland, Oregon
.
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in the 1930s. The short-lived "conservative and moralistic reform group" was a municipal party that challenged both the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
parties, electing David Lockwood (in 1934) and Frederick G. Hamley, a lawyer, public official and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, and Arthur Langlie (in 1935) to the Seattle City Council
Seattle City Council
The Seattle City Council is committed to ensuring that Seattle, Washington, is safe, livable and sustainable. Nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire city, elected by all Seattle voters....
. Lockwood, age 26 at the time of his election, was the youngest person ever to sit on the council. In 1938, Langlie became Seattle mayor, but by then the NOOC was fading. During its brief existence, the group spread beyond Seattle, and was active in Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, and San Francisco.
The nature of NOOC
An outgrowth of Seattle's non-partisan Municipal League, named for the RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
farmer and statesman Cincinnatus
Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was an aristocrat and political figure of the Roman Republic, serving as consul in 460 BC and Roman dictator in 458 BC and 439 BC....
, the NOOC was founded in September 1933 by approximately 10 young men including Seattle attorney Ralph Bushnell Potts. Potts, who Richard C. Berner describes as the "prime mover and first commander" of the NOOC, had resigned from the presidency of the Consolidated Republican Clubs of King County to start the group. The NOOC's idealistic, mostly middle-class professional supporters reacted against both political corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and labor unionism. They required the candidates they supported to disaffiliate from the established political parties and to limit campaign contributions to US$25. A May 1934 NOOC leaflet called for a "rebirth of political idealism among the younger citizens of America… [T]he major political parties have become nothing but job-hunting cliques… Cincinnatus advocates a Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
n-like devotion to honesty, efficiency, and ability in government." The group called for a reduction of 40% in Seattle city taxes, in a context where the city had already made large cuts: by the time the NOOC had a significant foothold on the city council, opposing councilman James Scavotto could argue that the city had already cut operating costs 50% in five years.
The NOOC also advocated a vastly increased state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
-level police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
constabulary, with no intermediate levels between the state and municipalities. This police force would consist entirely of men under age 40, trained by a State Police School, and enlisting for a military-style four-year term rather than being free to resign at any time.
The NOOC restricted its membership to men ages 21 to 35, and was organized along military lines to the point of resembling a fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
organization. By December 1933, Potts had built the NOOC into an organization with 17 divisions in Washington State each headed by a "captain"; statewide officers were "major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
s" and "colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
s". In early 1934, 50 Cincinnatans marched to city hall to file three candidate petitions for city council, all of them dressed in white shirts and green and yellow headpieces (the colors of Seattle's Roosevelt High School). They used a slightly rewritten version of Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian-born American composer, best known for his operettas.-Biography:Romberg was born as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Gross-Kanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian kaiserlich und königlich monarchy period...
's "Stout Hearted Men" as their anthem. This "proto-fascist" style was a matter of tension within the organization from the outset. NOOC councilman Frederick Hamley's diary indicates that he and his fellow councilman David Lockwood generally disliked this aspect of the group and focused mainly on local municipal issues. In February 1934 they and others successfully defeated a proposal that the members of the organization should routinely stand and salute Potts when he entered the room.
1934
NOOC formed in September 1933. The next month they demanded the resignation of King CountyKing County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
Commissioner John C. Stevenson (born John C. Stockman). Stevenson had successfully avoided extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he was wanted for stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
fraud; the NOOC further accused him of mismanagement of the county relief. They failed, but the attention gained encouraged them to run candidates for public office themselves. David Lockwood, Wellington Rhinehart, and Lloyd Johnson filed to run in the February 1934 primaries. Their total campaign budget was less than US$600.
Seattle City Council offices are officially nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
, and there is no official acknowledgment or a party or ticket. These three NOOC candidates in 1934 got around this by all listing "Cincinnatus" as their middle names on the ballot, which the election officials permitted. In this period, three of the nine Seattle City Council positions were up for election each year, with the top six candidates in the primary election going on to a general election.
The NOOC candidates were supported by the Washington Taxpayers Council, as was conservative incumbent John E. Carroll. Of the Cincinnatans, only Lockwood made it through the primaries, but he gained office despite a complete lack of newspaper endorsements, coming in second in the general election. He took office in June amidst the Maritime Strike of 1934, which had led to lethal violence in Seattle.
Elected mayor at the same time Lockwood joined the council was Charles William Smith. Smith and his police chief, W. B. Kirtley, undoubtedly tolerated Seattle's then-longstanding police corruption. Lockwood further accused Smith of profiting personally from this corruption and tied Smith's toleration of corruption to his toleration of a growing budget deficit. Among the remedies he proposed were a fixed term for police chiefs, making the chief more independent of the mayor (and thereby separating the mayor from any system of police payoffs).
Carried away by their success in Seattle and the interest in forming other chapters around the state, the NOOC contested the statewide November elections. Among their candidates were William J. Wilkins for U. S. Senate, Cecil R. Fuller for the 1st District congressional seat, and John W. Day for King County Prosecutor. Running with great enthusiasm but very little budget, they did not elect anyone, but did have the best third-party results of any slate since the Bull Moosers
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
in 1912.
1935
In the 1935 election, the NOOC ran only two candidates for the three available city council seats, endorsing former PTAParent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
president Mildred Powell for the third seat. Originally the two NOOC candidates were to be Frederick Hamley and Leo Mortland, but the latter was a bit too enthusiastic in identifying as a Republican. When he gleefully announced his endorsement by the 36th District Republican Club, the NOOC decided he was no longer their candidate and replaced him with Arthur Langlie (although Langlie was never an official member of the NOOC).
Incumbents William Gaines, Frank Fitts, and David Levine
David Levine (Seattle)
David Levine was a Seattle, Washington politician. He served on the Seattle City Council from 1931 to 1962 including several stints as council president. On retirement, he received the title of Council President Emeritus, unique in the city's history.-Life:Born in Kiev in 1883, Levine came to...
chose to campaign jointly, with the backing of the Central Labor Council and the newly formed Washington Commonwealth Federation. They accused the NOOC of being a "secret organization" and intending to impose a "fascist dictatorship". Nonetheless, Langlie and Frederick Hamley led in the primaries, followed by the incumbents; the sixth candidate was the NOOC-endorsed Powell. This time, Langlie and Hamley gained the endorsements of all three major dailies. Of the incumbents, only Levine secured any such endorsement, from the Seattle Star
Seattle Star
The Seattle Star was a daily newspaper that ran from February 25, 1899, to August 13, 1947. It was owned by E.W. Scripps and in 1920 was transferred to Scripps McRae League of Newspapers , after a falling-out within the Scripps family...
. Langlie and Hamley came in as the top two in the general election. Powell was also elected. It was Levine's only defeat in a political career lasting more than three decades. Because of some resignations, Langlie and Hamley took office immediately after the election.
Secure in the knowledge that they needed only one other council vote to override any mayoral veto, the three NOOC council members used these council positions to investigate corruption and to reduce city spending. Lockwood updated proposals he already had for a central purchasing office and a central garage; he also framed a response to municipally owned Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electrical power to Seattle, Washington and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and parts of unincorporated King County, Burien, Normandy Park, Seatac, Renton, and Tukwila...
's proposal to buy out the Seattle operations of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company, which the NOOC opposed. Hamlie and Langlie were assigned to investigate the city's street railway system, which was in chronic financial trouble, and the police department. As they turned up substantial evidence of police corruption, it became clear that Powell would also be interested in proposals to reform the police. The council voted 5 to 4 for a budget that would cut 120 city jobs, mainly in the police and fire departments and public schools. Mayor Smith vetoed this, and his veto was sustained because Powell opposed the school cuts. The city budget was put on hold until September.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
attacked Mayor Smith for running a "wide open" city, for refusing to make cuts in the departments controlled by the mayor's office, for being associated with a corrupt police-based political machine
Political machine
A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...
, and for a recent upsurge in illegal gambling, prostitution, and Sunday liquor sales. The P-I was not alone in these views: The Argus
The Argus (Seattle)
The Argus was a longstanding Seattle, Washington weekly newspaper. Founded in February 1894 and published until November 1983, it had a satiric bent and was aligned with the Republican Party. The paper was founded by A. T. Ambrose; six weeks later, Henry Chadwick bought a half interest...
compared Smith to the legendarily corrupt Hiram Gill
Hiram Gill
Hiram C. Gill was an American lawyer and two-time Seattle mayor, identified with the "open city" politics that advocated toleration of prostitution, alcohol, and gambling.-Rise:...
and the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
made it known that they were considering placing the entire city of Seattle off limits for sailors on leave. Further condemnations of this state of affairs came from the Clean Government League, the Morals Committee of the Council of Churches, and the Philippine-American Chronicle, which published detailed exposes of the "Chinese Gambling Syndicate" and the police's policy of closing down only the "small fry".
In hearings, Chief W. B. Kirtley argued that the police were expending a great deal of effort dealing with numerous labor strikes and could hardly stand staff cuts. He acknowledged that the police made a "liberal construction" of city ordinances but said that he opposed "fanatical enforcement of the laws". He hinted broadly that some of the pillars of the church who opposed gambling actually profited from it as landlords, and might not be pleased with zealous enforcement. When talked of the material difficulty of raiding gambling dens (which usually had effective routes of escape), the Cincinnatans insisted on his accompanying them out of the hearing room to the openly operating Battersby and Smith's card room near First Avenue and Madison Street. Kirtley could hardly deny the evidence in front of his eyes: he ordered police to trash the establishment and to confiscate the money. None of the confiscated money ever made it to the police evidence room.
1936 and after
All of this was dramatic, but had few concrete results. A five-year term was established for the position of police chief. Token arrests were made in gambling and vice, but the wave soon passed. In January 1936, 60 positions were cut from the department and three precinct stations closed, but the cuts were overturned in the spring elections, which did not go well for the NOOC. In a complicated mayoral election amidst shifting alliances, Langlie lost the general election to former mayor John Dore, whom Smith had bested in 1934. Although Dore in his previous term had responded to the onset of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
by cutting many city jobs and reduced wages, he now promised a reversal of these policies. This and other promises gained him the backing of organized labor in general and Dave Beck
Dave Beck
Dave Beck was an American labor leader, and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1952 to 1957...
of the Teamsters Union in particular. The all-round labor victory also returned David Levine to the city council. Dore announced, "This election means the end of fascist, semi-military organizations and of dictatorship in Seattle." Conversely, it brought to power a labor-based political machine.
Lockwood lost his council seat in the 1937 elections. Langlie, meanwhile, set his sights again on the mayoralty. Amidst a city fiscal crisis and a complete lack of aid from the state government of Governor Clarence D. Martin
Clarence D. Martin
Clarence Daniel Martin was the 11th Governor of the state of Washington. A Democrat, he served two terms from 1933 to 1941....
, The chaotic election of 1938 saw Langlie faced off against an ailing Dore (who spent most of the campaign period in the hospital, with his son John, Jr. acting as campaign spokesman) and the flamboyant Vic Meyers, a locally famous jazz musician and bandleader who had backed into politics as a joke candidate in 1932, but who after becoming increasingly serious about the matter had become lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Washington
The Lieutenant Governor of Washington is an elected office in the U.S. state of Washington. The current incumbent is Brad Owen, a Democrat who has served since 1997...
. Meyers, allied with the industrial unionists
Industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
, including the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO), opposed Dore from the left, Langlie from the right. Initially the main thrust of his campaign was an attack on the Dore/Beck alliance, which he accused of amounting to "racketeering
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
". This "'racket' talk" did not go over well with the Argus or the city's business community, who were in general happy with the collaborationist truce that had suspended Seattle's long labor war, and who also saw this rhetoric as bad for the city's image in the eyes of the rest of the country. Courting their support, Langlie toned down this rhetoric and re-focused on NOOC's tax-cutting agenda and the city's agenda. Meanwhile, he plotted with the Municipal League against Meyers: their intent was to disqualify Meyers by showing that he had not paid Seattle city taxes during his stint in Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
(the state capital), but to hold back this attack until such time as it would be too late for another candidate of the same faction to enter the race. Dore attacked Meyers as well, red-baiting
Red-baiting
Red-baiting is the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist, socialist, or anarchist, or sympathetic toward communism, socialism, or anarchism. The word "red" in "red-baiting" is derived from the red flag signifying radical left-wing politics. In the...
him and the CIO by tying them to the Communist Party
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
(CPUSA). In the primary Langlie won big and Dore lost big: Langlie garnered 51,175 votes, Meyers 27,436, Dore 21,480; an additional candidate, William Norton, took 10,457 votes, leaving Langlie to face Meyers in the general election.
A resounding, unsolicited Communist endorsement for Meyers in the general election as the "New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
candidate" running against a "reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
" entirely backfired against Meyers and even Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and left the CIO and the Washington Commonwealth Federation (WCF) looking like communist fronts
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
. Langlie won 80,149 to 48,563. The gravely ill Dore was relieved of his office by the city council on April 13, 1938 (and died five days later); Langlie began his term early. In the wake of Langlie's election, Governor Martin finally came to the city's financial aid, so Langlie expected to face a lesser fiscal crisis than his predecessor. This was, however, balanced or overbalanced by state Social Security Board administrator Charles F. Ernst cutting the relief rolls by 20%, removing over 12,000 Seattleites (and at least 8,000 elsewhere in King County) during one of the harshest periods of the Depression. In office, Langlie immediately overturned a rule that garbage collectors would be paid the prevailing wage
Prevailing wage
In government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. Prevailing wages are established by regulatory agencies for each trade and occupation employed in the...
. This was the first of a series of Seattle wage cuts (and strikes), most won by employers including the city government. Over the next year, Langlie continued to fight against the power of labor in general and the Teamsters in particular and also revived the NOOC's fight against police corruption, but had to focus mainly on solving Seattle's financial crisis. Among his successes was the resolution of the longstanding crisis over the city's streetcar system: he obtained a US$10.2 million federal grant to pay off the debts and replace the entire system with a network of buses and trackless trolleybus
Trolleybuses in Seattle
The Seattle trolleybus system forms part of the public transportation network serving Seattle, in the state of Washington, United States. Opened on April 28, 1940, it presently comprises 14 lines, and is operated with 159 trolleybuses by the King County Metro, commonly known as Metro.Of the five...
es. He had the good fortune that the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe led to a rise in defense production, from which Seattle benefitted greatly. He also obtained federal funding to build the Ballard Bridge
Ballard Bridge
The Ballard Bridge, also known as the 15th Avenue Bridge, is a double-leaf bascule bridge in Seattle, Washington, United States. It carries 15th Avenue NW over Seattle's Salmon Bay between Ballard and Interbay. Built in 1917, it has an opening span of and a total length of . It was added to the...
and West Seattle Viaduct
West Seattle Bridge
The high-level West Seattle Bridge is a cantilevered segmental bridge that serves as the primary connection between West Seattle and the rest of the city. It was built between 1981 and 1984 after the previous bascule bridge was deemed inoperable as a result of being struck by the Chavez freighter...
and to repair recreational facilities. In short, he succeeded in running his fiscally conservative administration by obtaining funds from the liberal Democratic federal government.
By 1939 the NOOC had disbanded and Langlie formally identified as Republican. He easily won re-election as mayor in spring 1940, and, as the Republican candidate, won the state governorship in the November 1940 election.
The San Francisco chapter
The San Francisco chapter of the NOOC was founded by Pat BrownPat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
, later Democratic Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, in 1935. It completely lacked the Seattle chapter's militaristic tendencies, but shared its call for an end to "partisan bickering". It quickly gained over 500 members and established a headquarters on Market Street
Market Street (San Francisco)
Market Street is an important thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. It begins at The Embarcadero in front of the Ferry Building at the northeastern edge of the city and runs southwest through downtown, passing the Civic Center and the Castro District, to the intersection with Corbett Avenue in...
. The San Francisco chapter soon launched an effort towards the ousting of incumbent members on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
, seeking to root out the corruption of those on the Board. After offering enforcement and assistance to a group of rival candidates, the chapter was successful in deposing four of the bureaucrats on the Board and in placing one of their own candidates (Dewey Meade) on the Board. Its main long-term political effect was to bring Brown to prominence.
Other chapters
In addition to Seattle and San Francisco, among the towns and cities that had Cincinnatus chapters were BellinghamBellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
, Bremerton
Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
, Chehalis
Chehalis, Washington
Chehalis is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 7,259 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lewis County.-History:...
, Everett
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
, Kirkland
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
, Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, and Wenatchee
Wenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925...
, all in Washington; and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
Cincinnatus' platform
According to Ralph Potts writing in 1955, Cincinnatus' platform was:- To bring about a renaissance in politics and to promote a Spartan-like devotion to honesty, cleanliness, efficiency, and economy in government.
- To clean out graft, corruption, and hypocrisy in our public offices.
- To modernize state, county, and local government and to eliminate all duplicating phases thereof.
- To eliminate waste in governmental machinery and to work for a substantial reduction in the tax burden the average taxpayer is forced to bear.