by Jim Newton
2 Oral history interview with Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family, p. 7.
3 Numerous sources, including Warren papers, state archives, DA files; also LOC, MD, Warren family file, memorandum of Biographical Material for Masonic Trestle Board.
4 Undated speech of Norman Chandler, Los Angeles Times History Center, folder identified as “Norman Chandler Speeches, 1950-1959.”
5 Estolv E. Ward, The Gentle Dynamiter, p. 69.
6 Kevin Starr, Endangered Dreams, p. 216-17.
7 Ibid., p. 217.
8 Ibid., p. 30.
9 Whitney v. People of State of California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927).
10 Oakland Tribune, June 17, 1920.
11 To the Beasts, Industrial Workers of the World pamphlet published by the California Branch of the General Defense Committee, San Francisco, April 1924, p. 22. For descriptions of Warren’s argument, see the Oakland Tribune trial coverage, April 15-20, 1920.
12 Memoirs, p. 62.
13 Amazingly, neither violence nor criminalization of advocacy brought the IWW to a halt. The apotheosis of mob response to the IWW occurred in 1924 in San Pedro, when a group set upon a Wobbly evening memorial service for two dead workers. The evening was planned as a celebration, with singing and dancing, for workers and their wives and children. As the entertainment unfolded inside a local hall, hundreds of armed men ringed the building. Then, on receiving a signal, they stormed inside, beating men and women and destroying the premises. Children were dipped in urns of hot coffee and scalded with IWW initials. Once the children had been tortured and the adults beaten, many of the Wobblies were hauled out of town, tarred and feathered, and forced to walk more than forty miles home. Kevin Starr, Endangered Dreams, p. 53.
14 Woodrow Carlton Whitten, “Criminal Syndicalism and the Law in California, 1919-1927,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. The information here comes from chapter 9.
15 Whitney v. People of State of California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) (Brandeis concurrence).
16 Oakland Tribune, June 18, 1920.
17 To the Beasts, p. 23.
18 Oral history interview with Helen MacGregor, A Career in Public Service with Earl Warren, p. 3.
19 John Weaver, Warren: The Man, the Court, the Era, p. 37.
20 Oral history interview with Mary Shaw, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, vol. 1, p. 11s.
21 Affidavit of Nina Warren in support of passport application, copy provided to author by Jeffrey Warren.
22 Author interview with Robert Warren, Dec. 11, 2003.
23 To Warren biographer Jack Harrison Pollack, Nina apparently described her stepmother favorably, as he says Nina had “warm memories” of her. To her children and grandchildren, Nina was more forthcoming.
24 Author interview with Judge James Lee Warren, Nov. 24, 2003. Also Robert Warren.
25 Affidavit of Nina Warren in support of passport application.
26 Nina Palmquist Warren’s letter to Amelia Fry, Feb. 13, 1979, oral history archives, Regional Oral History Office, BL (included in Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family).
27 Oral history interview with Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family, pp. 4-5.
28 John Weaver, Warren: The Man, the Court, the Era, p. 39.
29 Bill Severn, Mr. Chief Justice, p. 43.
30 Oral history interview with Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family, p. 6.
31 Memoirs, p. 68. See also oral history interviews with William Knowland, in which he notes that the Tribune supported Warren in every one of his campaigns.
32 Oral history interview with John Mullins, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, vol. 1, p. 2.
33 Oakland Tribune, Jan. 12, 1925.
34 Even decades later, Warren made a point of visiting Mullins when he returned to the Alameda area, and would introduce him to audiences as the man who had given him his first break.
35 Oral history interview with Frank J. Coakley, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office , vol. 3, p. 30.
36 Decoto and Warren correspondence, April 6, 1926, and Feb. 20, 1930, state archives, Warren pregubernatorial papers, correspondence files.
37 Memoirs, p. 65.
38 Author interview with Earl Warren, Jr., Nov. 25, 2003.
39 Interview with Drew Pearson, Aug. 23, 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.
40 Undated Warren note, LOC, MD, family file.
41 Ibid. interview with Drew Pearson, Aug. 23, 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.
42 Author interview with Robert Warren, Dec. 12, 2003. See also oral history interview with Nina “Honey Bear” Brien, The Governor’s Family, p. 25.
43 Undated Warren note, LOC, MD, family file.
44 Author interview with Robert Warren, Dec. 12, 2003.
45 Undated Warren note, LOC, MD, Warren papers, family file.
46 Ibid.
47 Oral history interview with Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family, p. 7.
48 Author interview with Earl Warren, Jr., Nov. 25, 2003. See also undated Warren note, LOC, MD, Warren papers, family file.
49 See, for instance, oral history interview with Adrian Kragen, Earl Warren: Views and Episodes, p. 29. Kragen’s observations are from Warren’s time as attorney general, but they are consistent with the impressions of those who worked for Warren as district attorney.
50 Oral history interview with Arthur Sherry, Arthur H. Sherry, p. 23.
51 Oral history interview with Clarence A. Severin, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, vol. 2, p. 13s.
52 See, for instance, oral history interview with Warren, Conversations with Earl Warren on California Government.
53 See oral history interviews with Lloyd Jester and Helen MacGregor.
54 Personal papers of Cecil Mosbacher, BL. Original copy of acceptance speech (undated, but accompanying newspaper clips place appointment at Jan. 19, 1951).
55 Oral history interview with Mildred Lillie, Nov. 20, 1989, Committee on the History of the Law in California of the California State Bar.
56 Oral history interview with Warren Olney III, Law Enforcement and Judicial Administration in the Earl Warren Era.
57 Letters from Oakland Baseball Club to Warren and Warren to Buddy Plank, April 14, 1933, state archives, Warren personal papers, correspondence files.
58 See, for instance, Jack Harrison Pollack, Earl Warren: The Judge Who Changed America, p. 50; also oral history interview with Warren, Conversations with Earl Warren on California Government, pp. 55-57.
59 Memoirs, p. 86.
60 Pollack, Earl Warren: The Judge Who Changed America, p. 50.
61 Franklin Hichborn, The System, As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution, p. 462.
62 Memoirs, p. 90.
63 Ibid., p. 91.
64 Ibid., p. 93. See also oral history interview with Frank J. Coakley, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, vol. 2, p. 36.
65 Oral history interview with Warren, Conversations with Earl Warren on California Government, p. 55.
66 Ibid., p. 56.
67 Lloyd Ray Henderson, “Earl Warren and California Politics” (unpublished dissertation), p. 13.
68 Memoirs, p. 98.
69 See Memoirs, as well as oral history interview with Coakley, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, and Henderson, “Earl Warren and California Politics,” p. 14.
70 Letters cited here are from the Earl Warren papers at the state archives, correspondence file. Welfare League letter dated March 13, 1930; Boosters’ Club dated March 4, 1930; Klan letter dated March 18, 1930. The pastor’s note was signed by R. H. Moon and dated Feb. 26, 1930.
71 Earl Warren papers, state archives, Sacramento, Alameda County District Attorney campaign papers file.
72 Higgins letter to the Rev. R. E. Brown, Aug. 2, 1926, state archives, Warren papers, Alameda County District Attorney campaign papers file.
73 W
arren letter, unaddressed but responding to Higgins, Aug. 20, 1926.
74 Oral history interview with Jim Warren, The Governor’s Family, p. 25.
75 See Nina Warren’s letter to Miriam Feingold, included in The Governor’s Family. In fact, Nina did make some appearances for Earl, especially during the war, when she christened a number of ships. But her obligations were overwhelmingly domestic and her public appearances generally limited to nonspeaking roles.
76 Drew Pearson diary entry, Feb. 7, 1966, LBJ Library, Drew Pearson papers, diaries.
77 New York Times, Aug. 30, 1931.
78 E. P. Guinane to Hoover, May 29, 1934, FBI document 62-31548-2, Charns, Warren files, Folder 85.
79 San Francisco Special Agent in Charge to Hoover, May 18, 1937, FBI document 62-35380-3, Charns, Warren files, Folder 85.
80 For the account of the Point Lobos case and trial, I am indebted to Miriam Feingold Stein, whose interviews through the oral history project on this topic are particularly pointed and well informed.
81 San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 1, 1936 (quoted in Henderson, “Earl Warren and California Politics,” p. 26).
82 Oral history interview with Aubrey Grossman, The Shipboard Murder Case: Labor, Radicalism and Earl Warren, 1936-1941, p. 20.
83 Los Angeles Times, Oct. 31, 1936.
84 Ibid.
85 Ed Cray, Chief Justice, pp. 88-89 (quoting Miriam Feingold, “The King-Ramsay-Connor Case,” p. 488).
86 Ibid., p. 89 (quoting Feingold, “The King-Ramsay-Connor Case,” pp. 489-90).
87 Los Angeles Times, Jan. 6, 1937.
88 Oral history interview with Beverly R. Heinrichs, Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, vol. 2, p. 13b.
89 Oral history interview with Oscar Jahnsen, Enforcing the Law Against Gambling, Bootlegging, Graft, Fraud and Subversion, 1922-1942, pp. 106-8.
90 Ibid., p. 110.
91 Warren’s personal calendar, entries for Jan. 27, April 8, and May 20, 1937, state archives, Warren papers.
92 Oral history interview with Aubrey Grossman, The Shipboard Murder Case: Labor, Radicalism and Earl Warren, 1936-1941, p. 26.
93 G. Edward White, Earl Warren: A Public Life, p. 40 (attributed to San Francisco Examiner, Nov. 28, 1941).
94 Life, May 10, 1948.
95 White, Earl Warren, p. 43.
96 Oral history interview with Myron Harris, The Shipboard Murder Case: Labor, Radicalism and Earl Warren, 1936-1941, p. 6.
CHAPTER 4. POLITICIAN
1 Memoirs, p. 123.
2 Author interview with Ira Michael Heyman, Oct. 21, 2003.
3 New York Times obituary of Warren, July 10, 1974.
4 Warren statement, Oct. 16, 1934, state archives, Warren papers, Republican State Central Committee files, news releases.
5 “Suggestions of Earl Warren, District Attorney of Alameda County, California,” Aug. 18, 1933, Hoover Institution Archives, Moley papers, FDR file, Schedule B, Box 214, Folder 4.
6 Ibid.
7 Decoto letter to Warren, June 10, 1930, state archives, Warren personal papers, correspondence files.
8 Warren speech to American Legion, Aug. 12, 1940, state archives, gubernatorial papers, speeches file.
9 Leo Katcher, Earl Warren: A Political Biography, p. 66.
10 Masons’ official biography of Earl Warren, Grand Master, provided to the author by Al Donnici, executive assistant to the Grand Secretary, on Nov. 17, 2003.
11 Memoirs, p. 123.
12 Jim Riley, Grand Secretary of the Native Sons of the Golden West, e-mail to the author, Oct. 15, 2003.
13 G. Edward White, Earl Warren: A Public Life, p. 19.
14 Carey McWilliams, Prejudice: Japanese-Americans, Symbol of Racial Intolerance, p. 59.
15 Ibid.
16 Grizzly Bear, May 1926.
17 Grizzly Bear, May 1942.
18 Grizzly Bear, June 1942.
19 Oakland Tribune, May 20, 1942.
20 Knowland letter to Warren, May 20, 1942, state archives, William Knowland file.
21 Oakland Tribune, May 20, 1942 (at state archives, copy of story attached to Knowland’s letter to Warren of same date).
22 Grizzly Bear, October 1942.
23 Oral history interview with Joseph R. Knowland, Conservation and Politics, p. 13.
24 Warren letter to Joseph Knowland, Feb. 15, 1927, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, Joseph Knowland file.
25 Warren letter and file to Joseph Knowland, Feb. 17, 1927, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, Joseph Knowland file.
26 Warren letter Joseph Knowland, Feb. 20, 1933, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, Joseph Knowland file.
27 Warren letter Joseph Knowland, March 26, 1935, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, Joseph Knowland file.
28 Oral history interview with Warren, Conversations with Earl Warren on California Government, p. 58.
29 Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (originally published by Upton Sinclair in 1934; edition used here is University of California Press).
30 Background for the Sinclair campaign comes from a number of sources, most notably Sinclair’s own account of the race and Gregg Mitchell’s Campaign of the Century, a superb reconstruction of the closing week of the campaign.
31 Sinclair, I, Governor of California, cover.
32 Walton Bean, California: An Interpretive History, p. 409.
33 John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, p. 363.
34 Kevin Starr, Endangered Dreams, p. 96.
35 Bean, California: An Interpretive History, p. 415.
36 Starr, Endangered Dreams, p. 108.
37 Ibid., p. 114.
38 San Francisco Call-Bulletin, July 20, 1934.
39 Lorena Hickok, One Third of a Nation, p. 298.
40 Ibid., p. 302.
41 Ibid., pp. 312-13.
42 Upton Sinclair, Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox.
43 Ibid., p. 146.
44 Oliver Carlson, A Mirror for Californians, p. 299.
45 Sinclair, I, Governor of California, p. 139.
46 Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 1934.
47 Greg Mitchell, The Campaign of the Century, p. 238.
48 Ibid., p. 306 (cited to Los Angeles Times, Oct. 6, 1934).
49 Republican Party press release, Oct. 15, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign files.
50 Warren radio address, Oct. 21, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign file.
51 Wilson telegram to Warren telegram, Nov. 6, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign file.
52 Republican State Central Committee statement, Oct. 25, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign file.
53 Republican State Central Committee statement, Oct. 26, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign file.
54 Warren telegram to Henry Fletcher, National Republican Committee, Oct. 29, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, 1934 campaign files.
55 Mitchell, The Campaign of the Century, pp. 533-34.
56 Statement of Nov. 7, 1934, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, Republican State Central Committee file, news releases.
57 Katcher, Earl Warren: A Political Biography, p. 86.
58 Drew Pearson diary, entry for Feb. 6, 1966, LBJ Library, Pearson papers, diaries.
59 Memoirs, p. 112.
60 Undated campaign flyer from the personal collection of Justice Richard Mosk, Los Angeles.
61 Oral history interview with Warren Olney III, Law Enforcement and Judicial Administration in the Earl Warren Era, pp. 150-52.
62 Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18, 1938.
CHAPTER 5. MURDER
1 Reed telegram to Warren, May 15, 1938, quoted in Bakersfield Californian, May 17, 1938.
2 Earl Warren’s personal calendar, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, daily calendars for those days.
3 Newspaper accounts placed the watch under the
bed. Oscar Jahnsen recalled it being next to the body, on the bed.
4 This re-creation of the scene is drawn largely from the press accounts at the time, especially those carried in the Bakersfield Californian. Some details come from author interviews with Robert Warren, and oral history interviews with Oscar Jahnsen and Robert Powers.
5 Bakersfield Californian, May 17, 1938.
6 Leo Katcher, Earl Warren: A Political Biography, p. 101.
7 In its initial story on the murder, the Californian noted, without explanation, that the Warrens had lived apart for twelve years. Although he cannot confirm those dates, Robert Warren, in an interview with the author, said the separation was a long one and had become permanent by the time of Methias’s murder. After that early mention, stories about the murder omitted reference to the separation between the Warrens.
8 Memoirs, p. 125; John Weaver, Warren: The Man, the Court, the Era, p. 49.
9 Bakersfield Californian, May 16, 1938.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Hoover letter to Warren, May 21, 1938, FBI document 62-51247-2. (The early correspondence between Hoover and Warren was formal, and this letter was addressed to “Dear Mr. Warren.” Later they would move to “Earl” and “Edgar” in addressing each another.) In 1943, with authorities still searching for Methias’s killer, the FBI agreed to run a fingerprint check on a suspect.
13 Oral history interview with Ralph Kreiser, Earl Warren’s Bakersfield, pp. 27-28.
14 Oral history interview with Robert B. Powers, Law Enforcement, Race Relations: 1930-1960, p. 4.
15 Ibid., pp. 11-12.
16 Ibid., p. 12.
17 Ibid., p. 16.
18 Oral history interview with Oscar Jahnsen, Enforcing the Law Against Gambling, Bootlegging, Graft, Fraud, and Subversion, 1922-1942, pp. 150-58. The Californian reported Regan’s name as “Reagan,” but Jahnsen corrected that in his oral history interview.
19 Ibid., p. 165.
20 Oral history interview with Robert B. Powers, Law Enforcement, Race Relations: 1930-1960, p. 20.
21 Powers letter to Warren, May 28, 1938, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, correspondence files.
22 Various notes, state archives, pregubernatorial papers, letters of condolence file.
