1938 Los Angeles mayoral recall election
September 16, 1938 (1938-09-16)
Vote on recall
Results
Choice
 Votes  %
Yes 235,395 64.65%
No 128,727 35.35%
Valid votes 364,122 100.00%
Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00%
Total votes 364,122 100.00%
Mayoral election
 
Candidate Fletcher Bowron Frank L. Shaw
Popular vote 233,427 122,692
Percentage 64.33% 33.81%
Mayor before election

Frank L. Shaw

 Elected Mayor

Fletcher Bowron

The 1938 election for Mayor of Los Angeles took place on September 16, 1938 following the recall of incumbent Frank L. Shaw. Shaw was defeated by Fletcher Bowron in the election, making him the first recalled mayor in American history.[1]

Municipal elections in California, including Mayor of Los Angeles, are officially nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot.[2]

Election

Shaw had been accosted with corruption in City Hall which led to a recall movement against him and his close associates. Reformers who opposed Shaw and the Los Angeles Times both agreed that Shaw was "building the largest machine in the city's history," choosing Fletcher Bowron, a Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, to run against Shaw.[3][4] The reformers campaigned for Shaw's recall saying that he did not do enough to stop crime and that he had supposedly committeed arious crimes during his tenure.[5] The recall was approved by voters by a large margin, and Bowron defeated Shaw by a landslide.[6]

Results

Los Angeles mayoral recall election, September 16, 1938
Choice Votes  %
Referendum passed Yes 235,395 64.65
No 128,727 35.35
Total votes 364,122 100.00
Los Angeles mayoral recall election, September 16, 1938[7]
Candidate Votes  %
Fletcher Bowron 233,427 64.33
Frank L. Shaw (incumbent) 122,692 33.81
Alonzo J. Riggs 4,050 1.12
Albert F. Osterloh 2,706 0.75
Total votes 362,875 100.00

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ John R. Babcock, "When Los Angeles Was a World-Class City of Corruption," Los Angeles Herald-Examiner," May 12, 1989, page A-19
  2. ↑ "LOS ANGELES: STRUCTURE OF A CITY GOVERNMENT" (PDF). League of Women Voters.
  3. ↑ Viehe, Fred W. (1980). The Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw: A Revision. Vol. 59. University of California Press. pp. 290–305.
  4. ↑ "Judge Named on Reform Ticket". Imperial Valley Press. August 9, 1938.
  5. ↑ Sitton, Tom (1987). Another Generation of Urban Reformers: Los Angeles in the 1930s. Vol. 18. Oxford University Press.
  6. ↑ "Formidable Ofensiva del Japón La Primera Autoridad". La Opinión (in Spanish). October 13, 1938.
  7. ↑ "Los Angeles Mayor". Our Campaigns.
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