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CoastLines by Fred Swegles months earlier. had been a boom- town, its shipyards winning lucrative govern- ment contracts. Workers poured in from all over, spurring a housing shortage, high rents, some unrest, a budding socialist movement. Hanson’s Shipyard workers, asked to forego wage increases even as the cost of living escalated, expected recompense when peace arrived in Legacy November 1918. Overseas in 1917, a revolution in Russia had ousted the Czar, substituting Vladimir Before he made San Lenin’s ruthless Bolshevik regime. As news- Clemente, paper headlines were touting daily in early 1919, insurrections and class warfare were made headlines as a spreading across violence-weary Europe. Radicals within the Seattle labor move- Seattle mayor in 1919 ment called upon workers to take over the shipyards. ne hundred years ago, Ole Hanson , described variously in was one of the most famous men in centennial accounts as “a firebrand socialist OAmerica. agitator” and “an early advocate of Com- “Fighting ,” The Oregonian munism,” published a call for striking union newspaper described him in . workers to shut down and reopen industries “Mayor Defies Bolsheviki in Great Strike,” under labor’s control—“starting on a road wrote the San Antonio Evening News. that leads ‘NO ONE KNOWS WHERE!’ ” “How Courageous Mayor Ole Hanson That line raised eyebrows—and alarm Broke the Big Strike at Seattle,” trumpeted bells. the newspaper in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Robert Friedheim, in his 1964 book, The “Seattle’s Mayor Saves City from Anarchist Seattle , wrote that “labor Rule,” proclaimed an Indiana headline. supporters of Russia’s experiment” held “Seattle Strike Was Attempt at Revolu- large-scale open-air rallies before the general tion,” wrote the Santa Ana Register. “Start strike that led to riots, declaring that work- There, Then Spread to Other Cities, Bolshe- ers “ought to take over, own and run the vists Planned.” machines of industry.” “Hang or Imprison all Reds, Declares Newspapers, Friedheim wrote, “began to Mayor Ole Hanson,” a Kansas newspaper suggest that Seattle might soon face a situ- quoted him. ation experienced by no other major city in “Bomb Sent to Mayor the United States.” He wrote that “newspa- Hanson of Seattle . . . At- per editors began to believe that none of the tempts Murder of Mayor Ole Hanson, circa 1928. Photo: Courtesy of San Clemente Historical Society real substantive issues in the dispute was Hanson,” other newspaper of sufficient importance to trigger a general headlines reported. strike . . . logically, then, they could only Hanson, who just six a musical titled Labor Will Feed the People, a the citizenry the government would protect conclude that the strike was the deliberate years later would hatch a republished and updated 1964 book and a life, business and property. He issued this beginning of an attempt to destroy estab- Southern real University of website commem- proclamation: COASTLINES orate the landmark . “The time has come for every person in lished society.” By Fred Swegles estate venture named San Clemente, achieved folk- There’s also renewed attention to a 1985 Seattle to show his Americanism. Go about hero status in 1919 across America. rock musical by The Fuse, Seattle 1919. your daily duties without fear. We will see to OLE’S RESPONSE The adulation he received as Seattle’s it that you have food, transportation, water, Mayor Hanson, elected in March 1918 strike-breaking mayor led him to resign GENESIS FOR A STRIKE light, gas and all necessities. The anarchists with a history of supporting workers’ causes, six months later to finish writing a book, From multiple accounts, it appears that in this community shall not rule its affairs. All raised the minimum wage of city employees Americanism vs. Bolshevism. He also is said to functions of daily life in Seattle were over- persons violating the laws will be dealt with early in his term. As the general strike took have earned more than a half-million dollars whelmingly unionized 100 years ago. When summarily.” shape, he seized upon public fears, denounc- (today’s dollars) giving speeches nationwide, 25,000 union workers ranging from garbage The Army from Camp Lewis was called ing the attempt to shut down Seattle as an calling for a recommitment to Americanism collectors to restaurant waitresses walked in, told to stand by. Hanson refused com- unfolding revolution. and for roundup and jailing or deportation of out on Feb. 6 in support of 35,000 shipyard promise, set a deadline to end the strike, The Seattle Times, in a 2019 retrospective, subversives. workers already striking over wages, the threatened martial law. says it wasn’t. “Some local union leaders All this led “Holy Ole,” as some called him, resulting blanket work stoppage virtually shut Soon, it became evident the strike wasn’t clearly were inspired by the 1917 Bolshevik to pursue the 1920 Republican nomination down the city. going to budge shipyard owners or the fed- Revolution and would have been happy for president. When that fizzled, Hanson Fearing violence, Seattle residents had eral shipping agency to hike wages held down to hasten a collectivist society,” The Times resettled in . emptied store shelves of necessities. Some during to assist the war effort. wrote. “But most local labor leaders, part of He took up real estate in the Slauson armed themselves. Some wealthy people left Little by little, sympathy strikers supporting the American Federation of Labor umbrella, Avenue district in Santa Barbara and then, town. Labor leaders decided which limited the shipyard workers returned to work. The were not revolutionaries, and the strike was most famously, on a patch of barren beach- functions to exempt from the stoppage. They general strike unraveled. not called to foment revolution.” front property halfway between L.A. and San organized a workforce to feed thousands, So why was this peaceful, aborted general Hanson claimed that sympathy strik- Diego. keep hospitals running, maintain essentials strike important? Why did it produce an ers were being duped by Seattle’s extreme Seattle’s memories of Mayor Ole Hanson and ensure public safety. explosion of headlines nationwide? radicals, the Industrial Workers of the World (1874-1940) have resurrected this year with On the other side, Mayor Hanson (IWW), known as “Wobblies,” intent on 1919 centennial observations. Then-and- deputized a civilian force to assist police, de- BOOMTOWN AND BOLSHEVIKS bringing down America’s form of government. now newspaper articles, magazine pieces, nounced anarchists and urged calm, assuring The World War had ended less than three (Cont. on page 34)

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(Cont. from page 16) side of the country.” hero,” Trevor Williams wrote. “His 15 minutes Ole’s San Clemente sales tent opened on Dec. The mayor sent “several bombastic Ole, in his 1920 book, Americanism vs. were long gone.” 6, 1925, enormously successful from the outset. telegrams” to during the Bolshevism, relates how Wobblie-inspired rad- Ole remains an icon of San Clemente. In Feb. 6-11 general strike, spreading alarm, re- icals committed acts of sabotage and spread LEGACY OF OLE 1976, the city council proclaimed Dec. 6 to searcher Trevor Williams recalled in a 1999 anti-government propaganda during the war. Mayor Hanson was a convincing orator, forever be Ole Hanson Day. essay titled “Ole Hanson’s Fifteen Minutes He tells how he clashed with Wobblies from historian James Gregory wrote. “A political of Fame.” Overnight, Ole became a media the time he was elected mayor in 1918, right associate of Hanson’s said years later, ‘He LEARN MORE darling. up to and during the strike. Citing other IWW just seemed to be wound up tight. I never For a retrospective of 1919 Seattle, read “He seemed to be the manly leader activities elsewhere, Ole wrote, “There was a heard anything like old Ole until Hitler came Friedheim’s The Seattle General Strike, Centen- America needed to pull it out of its postwar widespread conspiracy throughout the Union along,’ ” Gregory wrote. “ ‘He’d get so worked nial Edition. For a lively firsthand look into mess,” Williams wrote. “Newspapers liked to establish Bolshevism.” up, he’d almost be screaming. He sure Ole’s 1919 mindset, read Americanism vs. him.” The Seattle strike helped inspire workers to sounded sincere.’ ” Bolshevism, with Ole’s personal account of “He refused to be bluffed by Bolsheviki or launch a wave of 1919 strikes in other cities. A century later, it’s clear that Communism the strike, the evolution of Bolshevism and intimidated by threats,” the Washington Post America experienced a Red Scare. Dozens of was an overpowering, enduring 20th-century his prescription for America, confronting the wrote as the general strike was implod- mail bombs were sent to prominent public fear that America survived. issues of his time. ing. “He had the judgment to discriminate figures to coincide with May 1, International Six years after his stint as mayor, Ole “We must cooperate and conquer igno- between a labor dispute and a revolution. If Workers Day. No one died, but a message would switch gears, mellowing his oratory rance, poverty and injustice,” he wrote. “We every American will stand as firmly for law was sent. into flowery descriptions of the idyllic Span- must build on the foundations laid down by and order, the attempts of Bolshevism to get One package arrived at Mayor Hanson’s ish Village by the Sea he planned to create for our ancestral fathers. Our great experiment in a foothold in America will fail utterly.” office while he was away. “Fortunately, Han- lot purchasers at San Clemente. government must not be allowed to fail.” son’s clerk, who opened the parcel, held it the “I vision a place where people can live WAS HE A HERO? wrong way up,” Time magazine reported, “and together more pleasantly than in any other Fred Swegles is a longtime San Clemente Williams suggests that America needed the bomb failed to detonate.” place in America,” Ole wrote. “This will be resident with nearly five decades of reporting a hero, and Ole “was handy and loud and he By the 1920 Republican National Con- a place where a man can breathe! I have a experience in the city. Fred can be reached at looked just like one, if you didn’t scrutinize vention, America had grown tired of Ole’s clean canvas, and I am determined to paint a [email protected]. SC him too closely. He made a good story . . . oft-repeated rants. Warren G. Harding was clean picture.” PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide va- nominated for president and won. riety of opinions from our community, the SC Times provides Guest it was easier for the writers and the readers It sounded remarkably like heavenly sales Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions to write and read about one man’s fight “Less than a year later, he was hailed for pitches he had written for his first waterfront are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely breaking the Seattle strike, and Ole Hanson those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the SC against anarchists than to try to dissect the hamlet, Lake Forest Park, which he founded Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this complexities of a labor dispute on the other was looked on as more of a crank than a north of Seattle before his election as mayor. column, please email us at [email protected]

Adoptable Pet of the Week: Ginger

SAN CLEMENTE TIMES his little critter is not, in fact, a baked potato, but rather an ador- T able guinea pig named Ginger. Ginger is a well-behaved guinea pig and coos and squeals when she is happy. She would make a great pet for some- one lacking in space but still looking for Ginger. Photo: Courtesy of San Clemente/Dana Point a furry companion. Animal Shelter If you would like to know more about Ginger, please call the San Clem- 949.492.1617 or visit with her at 221 Avenida ente/Dana Point Animal Shelter at Fabricante, San Clemente. SC

Sudoku BY MYLES MELLOR Last week’s solution: Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9x9 Contributor: The San Clemente Historical Society grid that has been subdivided into nine FROM THE ARCHIVES Ole Hanson, shown here in his younger days, smaller grids of 3x3 served as mayor of Seattle before coming to international fame as a squares. To solve the result of labor unrest in that city. He later made his way to Califor- puzzle, each row, nia to fulfill a dream of creating a “Spanish Village by the Sea.” column and box must contain each of the Every week, the San Clemente Times will showcase a historical photo from around the city. If you have a photo you would like to submit for consideration, send the photo, your name for credit as well as the date and location of the photo to numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: [email protected]. easy, medium and difficult. Level: Medium See the solution in next week’s issue.

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