Let 'em Holler - A Political Biography of J. Bracken Lee

Elections as Governor

3 Election as Governor Since Lee had come so close to victory in 1944, he sought the governorship again in 1948 when liquor was a crucial issue. In the past Lee had created the impression that he favored the sale of liquor by the drink and had supported a plan to place the issue on the ballot for referendum in 1946. By 1948, however, he was saying that he was primarily against the corruption that had surrounded the state liquor commission and that sale by the drink was an issue for the people to decide.1 Practical politics dictated that Lee tread gently on the liquor question because of the Mormon church's position. Apostle Joseph F. Merrill chaired a meeting with Lee and nine LDS gen­eral authorities to discuss it. The influential and assertive Merrill recalled an hour-and-twenty-minute discussion during which it was made clear to Lee that the church was unalterably opposed to liquor by the drink, "gambling in any form, and to the loosen­ing of the Utah moral laws relative to youth." After Lee left they decided that "there were insufficient reasons why any church committee should oppose the election of Mr. Lee."2 Lee's version of this meeting is different from Merrill's and outlines a role in Lee's political future for J. Reuben Clark, Jr., counselor in the First Presidency. When I ran for governor the Church was most interested in liquor. They wanted to know my stand on liquor. I was called up to the church offices one day, and there must have been 100 men there-General Authorities, bishops, stake presidents-all to question me on liquor. I couldn't quite get my point across. I said that I didn't approve of the present law, that I thought it was corrupt and unenforceable, and I wanted a better one, but I wasn't necessarily for liquor by the drink. 33 J . BRACKEN LEE Well, they wanted me to sign a statement saying that I would veto a liquor-by-the-drink law if it came across my desk. I wouldn't do it. Apostle Merrill read me the riot act. I said if that's what I have to do to be governor, then I don't want to be governor. . . . Well, I told him if I became gover­nor, and I probably wouldn't now, if he ever came to my office and I talked to him like he talked to me just now, I would consider myself insulted. And I walked out. And I told my campaign manager that I'd just lost the election because I'd lost church support. He said I'd better call Clark. So I called Clark. I went up to see him. I asked him if he knew about the meeting, and he did-he knew all about it. I asked him if he knew about Merrill telling me I wouldn't get church support. He didn't know that. He said, "Don't you worry." And that was the end of it. I got church support and was elected governor. If Merrill had had his way, he would have hurt me with that.3 Since Merrill was known to be a Democrat, he would have been more wary of Lee than Clark. If Lee's account is accurate the meeting with church authorities could have spelled his doom as a candidate instead of propelling him into the governor's chair. It would seem that Lee's friendship with President Clark overrode other considerations. Lee went so far as to conclude: I never could have been governor without J. Reuben Clark. They can say all they want to, but I am convinced that church leaders do talk over politics and that they do in most instances decide who they're gonna support.4 Lee remembered that his treatment from many delegates had been cool before Clark's endorsement but that afterward support was "amazing." After a meeting with Clark, one delegate, a stake president in the church who had withheld support, put his arm around Lee and said, "I've been in and talked to President Clark. You're all right." Before the election and numerous times after­ward, Lee sought what he always regarded as the best advice from Clark, whom he considered "one of the brightest men who ever lived in the whole country."5 Charges of liquor corruption in the Maw administration provided fuel for the campaign. After a grand jury investigated a liquor monopoly, Robert Harries, chief enforcement officer of 34 ELECTION AS GOVERNOR the liquor commission, was convicted of accepting a bribe and sentenced to jail.6 In another scandal the Brigham Street Pharm­acy liquor package agency was charged with selling liquor improperly.7 Both episodes caused Maw great embarrassment and subsequent loss of credibility. In a radio debate devoted to the liquor issue on October 27, Lee spoke for twelve minutes over KVNU in Logan; Maw replied for twelve minutes over KLO in Ogden; and each candidate took two minutes for rebuttal. Since he had preferred an old-fashioned platform debate with give and take, allowing an opportunity to discuss Lee's charges, Maw was disappointed with the format. Lee, on the offensive, had preferred the more structured format that allowed him to remain on the attack; so he had refused the platform debate. Maw suggested such a debate for the future, but Lee failed to respond to the challenge.8 Lee charged that Maw knew of irregularities in the liquor commission as early as 1945 but had purposely chosen to ignore them. Maw countered that he had first heard of the corruption when "two drunken people from Carbon County" came to his office charging a "hook-up" between Robert Harries and Cyrus V. Lack, operator of the Brigham Street Pharmacy package agency. Maw said that he immediately instructed the commis­sion to investigate, and that Lack's business "collapsed" and he announced a "fake robbery." In response to Lee's assertion that liquor could be better controlled locally, Maw claimed that the division had obtained 3,873 convictions where there were local officers and that state agents had confiscated the property of sixteen "dives" in Price during Lee's term as mayor. Instead of answering Maw's charges Lee complained that Maw had not answered his.9 Unfortunately, neither candidate effectively replied to the other's accusations or spoke clearly about his own record. Although Maw remembered the Harries and Lack incidents, he believed these two cases alone were insufficient to label his administration as corrupt.10 Lee considered Maw to be likable, fine looking, and a "wonderful speaker," but with one weakness: "In fact, I think he would have been presidential material if he'd have been honest." Lee assumed that to be a key reason that 35 J. BRACKEN LEE Maw failed to receive church support-because the church could not rely on his word.11 Certainly the most explosive facet of the campaign was Governor Maw's famous "Dear Brother Letter" which he sent to fellow Mormons. In a direct plea for votes Maw insisted that he was not writing as governor of the state but "as an active and devoted member of our Church." To prove his activity he cited his service as a teacher, member of a ward bishopric, member of a stake high council, and various other positions. Equally important, he said, "I am still active in the church and speak in some ward nearly every Sunday night." Maw accused the "under­world" of opposing his reelection by launching a concerted effort to make Utah an "open state." Liquor by the drink would be obtained, he said, by "electing a governor who will eliminate the State Liquor Police Force and close his eyes to law enforce­ment." He implored fellow Mormons to oppose Lee and "sustain" Maw in this moral effort and signed the letter, "Sincerely Your Brother."12 Criticizing Maw for so blatantly using the church for votes, Lee said he did not believe that the church "endorses the solicita­tion of its membership for political purposes."13 He also promised to enforce all state laws, "including the liquor laws and those safeguarding the morals of the people."14 The GOP state chair­man, Vernon Romney, also an active Mormon, blasted Maw for "an act of desperation by one who realized the hopelessness of his cause and is willing to throw caution and discretion to the winds." Noting that the church had refrained from entering politics in the past, Romney predicted that most Mormons would resent this "smear" of a "splendid gentleman."15 Although he was heavily criticized, Maw stood by the letter, denying that it was intended for Mormons only. "Thousands of copies will be sent to members of all faiths, Democratic or Republican."10 But the careful choice of words used in the letter belied Maw's claim. The most important repercussion began with an editorial in the Mount Pleasant Pyramid written by Tom Judd, grandson of a former church president, Heber J. Grant. Judd said that Maw had reached "the lowest level of bigotry" by waving a banner of 36 ELECTION AS GOVERNOR virtue" in an obvious attempt to obscure the dirty hem of his own garment, soiled by his scandalous fumbling of proven bribery in the Maw-controlled state liquor commission." He concluded that "Governor Maw's record doesn't jibe with Brother Maw's letter." The editorial proved to be a political coup, since Ab Jenkins, a Mormon and noted speed driver, reproduced it as an advertise­ment and placed it in newspapers all over the state.17 Republicans also tried to use the Mormon church through a newspaper advertisement purportedly from the "Law Observance Committee" of the church in Salt Lake County. The committee had allegedly studied the positions of the candidates with respect to liquor by the drink, horse racing, slot machines, gambling, and "other vices." They gave their "approval" to Lee because his posi­tions were consistent with the "ideals of Utah citizenry."18 The Republican technique was actually similar to Maw's, and it was followed by a hasty Democratic retort, "Don't be Fooled! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has at no time endorsed J. Bracken Lee." Of course, that was technically true. The Democratic ad quoted a spokesman for President George Albert Smith: "No one can speak for the Church except over the signature of the First Presidency, and an action by a commit­tee of Church membership does not even imply action by the Church itself." The Democrats accused the Republicans of "sink­ing to a new low" in misleading the "saints" and "whitewashing" the record of Lee, who as recently as March 9, 1946, had headed a committee advocating liquor by the drink.19 It was even more misleading than most people realized. The law enforcement and observance committee had not really endorsed any candidate. They listed only those whose positions on liquor, horse racing, and so on appeared acceptable, includ­ing both Lee and Maw as well as candidates for other offices from both political parties.20 A negative endorsement at best, the list­ing merely suggested that there was no evidence to warrant oppo­sition. The Republican ad was not only inaccurate, it was an unconscionable distortion. In his final speech of the campaign, Lee accused Maw of excessive taxation and failure to provide adequate highways. 37 J. BRACKEN LEE He expressed dissatisfaction that "an expensive grand jury inves­tigation" had been necessary to prove charges of bribery and abuses in the administration of liquor laws. He was sure that an efficient executive could have corrected the "deplorable condi­tions" earlier without a grand jury. He charged that these condi­tions had been "tacitly condoned" by inaction, proof of which was the fact that no one to date had been dismissed. In his own final speech, Maw invited voters to make a serious economic comparison between his administration and Lee's record in Price, stressing the fact that Utah was free of bonded indebtedness while Price was not. Finally, he charged Lee with resisting the enforcement of the state's liquor laws.21 Although Lee was the clear favorite, so was Thomas E. Dewey in his race for the presidency. News accounts indicated strong sentiment throughout the state for Lee, even in Demo­cratic areas such as Utah County. The predictions proved accur­ate, for Lee was elected governor with 151,253 votes to Maw's 123,814, a plurality of 27,439. Conversely, Truman defeated Dewey in Utah, 149,046 to 124,359, a difference of 24,687 votes. Not only did Lee run ahead of Truman in Utah, but he was the only Republican elected to state office and the first Republican governor in twenty-four years. In fact, the only other Republican governor to win election that year was Arthur Langlie of Washington. A Democratic House of Representatives was elected, and the Utah State Senate was composed of twelve Democrats and eleven Republicans. In an otherwise Democratic year, voters had been careful to discriminate and choose Lee for the governorship in preference to the unpopular Maw. Conceding that a governor makes many enemies in two terms, Maw claimed that he was pressured into the third-term bid. State employees were allegedly so insecure in their jobs because of the spoils system that they desperately wanted him to run. Actually, he felt that he had accomplished what he set out to do in bringing industry to the state, breaking the power of the large interests such as Utah Power and Light Company, and freeing the state of debt.22 Reluctant to take credit, Lee believed that he was simply the "beneficiary of an unpopular man."23 38 ELECTION AS GOVERNOR The Deseret News made a more positive appraisal and lauded Lee as one who "demonstrated a great ability to get along with people," a quality they termed "his own great personal popu­larity." In a year when the common qualities of Truman were popular, it was not surprising that Lee would find a niche. According to the News, Lee was no orator and his English was not reminiscent of Oxford, but he could "hold an audience as few men can." He was not seen as a polished statesman but a "hard worker, a good student and a man gifted with quite a share of that uncommon thing called 'common sense'!" He was even praised as a successful "family man" and "just about as good a neighbor."24 Lee's success was also observed with interest by the national press, as exemplified by Newsweek's splash story asserting that he looked like "what he is-a small-town insurance and real estate man." There was said to be "nothing outstanding about his gray stetson, or his graying thatch of close-cropped hair, or his rimless glasses, and nobody would notice him in a Salt Lake City crowd." Remembering his "businesslike though hardly blue-nosed administration in Price," the editors quoted his campaign promise that he intended to run Utah "just like my own business, on a sound basis, for the benefit of all the people."25 Though not by official endorsement, the Mormon church undoubtedly helped to elect Lee governor in 1948. Moreover, in the ensuing eight years, he and the church would establish a mutually beneficial relationship that was essential to the success of his governorship. 39 J. BRACKEN LEE JIn discussing a proposed debate with Maw on the liquor issue, Lee prom­ised to confine it "to the true issues of the campaign, and I do not consider the sale of liquor over the bar as a major issue. I do not necessarily advocate such sale. My opposition is primarily to the way the present liquor laws are adminis­tered." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 20, 1948.) Another statement was much more direct: "I do not, nor did I four years ago, advocate sale by the drink. I do not do so for the reason that I feel this is a matter that should be sub­mitted to a vote of the people and should never be left to the thoughts of any one individual." (Lee to Jonas, October 3, 1948, quoted in "J. Bracken Lee," p. 117.) 2Joseph F. Merrill to Jonas, November 6, 1948, quoted in ibid. 3Lee interview. 4Ibid. 5Ibid. aNew York Times, October 24, 1948. 7Maw interview. ^Deseret News, October 28, 1948. The debate was also carried over KALL in Salt Lake City, KOVO in Provo, and KOAL in Price. 9Ibid. 10Maw interview. In Maw's opinion of his own administration, "There wasn't any corruption." 11Lee interview. Ironically, corroboration for this charge came from a long-time Lee opponent and well-known Democrat, former Sen. Frank E. Moss, who con­sidered Maw "an affable but weak governor." Further, he commented: "I don't believe that Maw was dishonest, in the sense that he tried to feather his own nest or reward his friends illegally or improperly. I think Maw's biggest failure was his lack as an administrator and failing to keep his word. In an attempt to please people with whom he was dealing, he gave them favorable answers, or at least left the impression that his answer was favorable, and then he very often did something different. And, of course, those who felt he had misled them were very upset and charged him with being dishonest." Moss to author, September 13, 1972. 12Salt Lake Tribune, November 1, 1948. lsSalt Lake Tribune, October 15, 1948. 14Deseret News, October 15, 1948. 45Salt Lake Tribune, October 14, 1948. lnSalt Lake Tribune, October 15, 1948. 17Monnt Pleasant Pyramid, October 15, 1948. lsDeseret News, November 1, 1948. 19Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 1948. 20Salt Lake Tribune, October 30, 1948. 21Deseret News, October 31, 1948. 22Maw interview. 23Lee interview. Moss agreed that Lee's election was due to Maw's unpopu­larity. Maw's scandals caused Lee to "back into the governorship." Moss to author. 24Deserel News, January 4, 1949, editorial. 2r,"GoP: The Utah Strong Man," Newsweek, January 3, 1949, pp. 19, 20. "Lee, a 32nd degree Mason, was a 'Gentile' himself. Quite a few Utahns plumped for Lee 'because he's not against folks who smoke or take a nip.' Lee made no secret that he did both occasionally-although he refused to be photo­graphed doing either." 40