If you’re ever inside the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale and hear laughter, it’s probably me visiting the tomb of Culbert Olson.
Olson is perhaps the most anomalous figure in California political history. During our long era of Republican dominance (1896-1958), he was the only Democrat to serve as governor. And he was an unapologetic atheist in our god-crazy country, refusing to say “So help me God” while taking the oath of office in 1939. After an ineffective four-year term, he was defeated for re-election by Earl Warren.
In this century, Olson is forgotten by all but the kookiest connoisseurs of Californiana, like your columnist, who cracks up every time he encounters our late, great God-denying governor in that cathedral-like mausoleum, just steps from a stained-glass reproduction of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Culbert Olson is almost never quoted, much less invoked, by powerful Californians today.
Which is what made Gov. Gavin Newsom’s June 25 state-of-the-state speech shocking for anyone whos know Olson’s story.
Newsom started his speech by invoking Olson’s Jan. 2, 1939, inaugural address and its opening call for California to stand up “in the face of ‘the destruction of democracy.’” Back then, with Europe sliding into war, Olson said:
As we witness destruction of democracy elsewhere in the world, accompanied by denial of civil liberties and inhuman persecutions, under the rule of despots and dictators, so extreme as to shock the moral sense of mankind, it seems appropriate that we Californians, on this occasion, should announce to the world that despotism shall not take root in our State; that the preservation of our American civil liberties and democratic institutions shall be the first duty and firm determination of our government.
Though he only directly quoted one Olson line, Newsom argued that in 2024 we face the same choice. Then Newsom pivoted to a partisan speech mixing criticism of Republicans with lists of progressive policies.
What Newsom didn’t mention — or, more likely, didn’t know — is that Culbert Olson is a good model of how not to behave when democracy is under attack. Newsom isn’t an Olson clone. He is Catholic, for starters. But he has enough in common with Olson — each was the most progressive governor of his respective era — that he might reflect on this predecessor’s failures.
Olson, like Newsom, had a massive agenda (including public pensions, universal healthcare, and government takeover of the utilities), and was unusually strident in pursuing it. Like Newsom, Olson had a taste for public feuds. But while Newsom has wisely made enemies of non-Californian politicians (like red state governors), Olson got into self-destructive fights with Republican and Democratic legislators, and the Catholic archbishops in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Olson, like Newsom, was criticized for pursuing so many progressive ambitions that it was unclear what his priorities were. Olson’s many legislative enemies in both parties blocked his broad agenda. Newsom, instead, often finds his grand ambitions foiled by a complicated, restrictive state governing system.
Newsom, like Olson, has made warnings about democratic decline a major talking point. What should be sobering for him is Olson’s utter failure to protect liberties and democratic practice.
Notably, when World War II came, the governor failed to defend civil liberties — most obviously, with the incarceration of Californians of Japanese heritage.
Olson knew this was wrong, and warned against it publicly. He wrote President Roosevelt to defend Japanese Americans as loyal citizens, and lobbied General John DeWitt against the internment. But when DeWitt imposed the policy, Olson, as governor, stopped fighting, and embraced it.
Similarly, Newsom, after years of pursuing pro-immigrant policies, has bowed to the political winds and supported President Biden’s rights-violating restrictions on immigration and asylum.
Olson’s protect-democracy rhetoric accomplished little. We are learning this lesson again now. When elected officials claim they are defending democracy — as Newsom and Democrats now — they make democracy look like just another talking point. When elected officials issue warnings, they spread not hope but fear, and fear is an ally of authoritarians.
Purity, progressivism, and strong faith (or lack thereof) are not nearly as convincing as affection and hope. Political rhetoric that taps our fears doesn’t encourage democracy nearly as much as the hard work of building solidarity with our opponents.
And nothing is healthier for democracy than granting everyday people the power to make decisions themselves. In other words, keeping our democracy is not up to governors, but to the people.
Heaven help us.
Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square, an Arizona State University media enterprise.
