CC Young

This article deals with the Governor of California, CC Young also stands for the Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian

CC Young

Clement Calhoun "CC" Young (born April 28, 1869 in Lisbon , Grafton County , New Hampshire , †  December 24, 1947 in Berkeley , California ) was an American politician and from 1927 to 1931 the 26th  Governor of California .

biography

youth

C. Young moved to California at an early age and studied at the University of California , where he graduated in 1892. Between 1893 and 1906 he was a teacher, first in Santa Rosa and from 1893 at Lowell High School in San Francisco . During this time he also built a property in Berkeley, which, with the exception of his term as governor, he was to live in until his death in 1947. At the same time he also became a partner in a real estate company, whose vice-president he was to become after his governorship.

Political rise

From around 1906 he began to be interested in politics. In 1908 he was elected to the California House of Representatives as a member of the Berkeley District , where he soon rose up the line. As early as 1913 he became speaker of the chamber. He became a close ally of Governor Hiram Johnson . Young belonged to the Progressive Party , but switched to the Republicans after its dissolution . Throughout his life, however, he remained connected to the ideas of the Progressive Party. In 1918 he was elected lieutenant governor of California and in 1922 he was confirmed in office for another four years. In the run-up to the 1926 election, there was great dissatisfaction in the Republican Party with incumbent Governor Friend Richardson . Its political course became more and more conservative and its austerity measures did not meet with the undivided approval of his party. For this reason, Richardson was no longer nominated, instead of him Lieutenant Governor Young was nominated as a Republican candidate for the gubernatorial election. Young then also won the election against the Democrat Justus S. Wardell and the Socialist Upton Sinclair .

Governor of California

Young's tenure as the 26th Governor of California began on January 4, 1927. One of his goals was to reorganize the administration and government organs to achieve greater efficiency. He also wanted to finance the expansion of California's road network through a mineral oil tax and not through government bonds. He campaigned for the construction of new penal institutions, especially for women, and launched the California national park system. In November 1927, there was a revolt in Folsom State Prison . Insurgent prisoners took guards hostage. Young responded with a large number of heavily armed police and national guards who marched in front of the prison. In view of this overwhelming power, the prisoners gave up without resistance.

In October 1929, Young and President Herbert Hoover founded a commission to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bridge . This bridge was then completed in 1936. A strike by Mexican farm workers in the Imperial Valley in 1928 led to a governor-appointed investigation into the working conditions of Mexicans. The result was terrifying. The most difficult jobs had poor pay and poor working conditions. The commission of inquiry came to the conclusion that this type of employment was illegal. By the next election in 1930, Young's popularity within his party had plummeted despite a $ 31 million budget surplus and he was no longer nominated for governor. The Republican candidate was instead James Rolph , who also won the subsequent election. On the one hand, this was due to the economic depression that had set in; on the other hand, he was accused of nepotism in connection with a bank merger that took place in 1929 .

Retirement

After leaving the office of governor in January 1931, he retired from politics, but continued to participate in public life. During the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles , he insisted on personally congratulating some medalists. In 1934, his attempt to return to governorship failed after Young was defeated by incumbent Frank Merriam in the Republican primary . Professionally, however, he rose to the position of Vice President of the real estate company, to which he had been a member for decades. He held this office until 1944.

He was married to Lyla Jeanette Vincent. The couple had two daughters.

Web links

• Biography of CC Young, Library of California (English)
• CC Young in the National Governors Association (English)

• CC Young in the database of Find a Grave (English)