http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf4b69n6gc Online items available Inventory of the Earl Warren Papers, 1924-53 Processed by The California State Archives staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Brooke Dykman Dockter. California State Archives 1020 "O" Street Sacramento, California 95814 Phone: (916) 653-2246 Fax: (916) 653-7363 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/ © 2000 California Secretary of State. All rights reserved. Inventory of the Earl Warren F3640 1 Papers, 1924-53 Inventory of the Earl Warren Papers, 1924-53 Inventory: F3640 California State Archives Office of the Secretary of State Sacramento, California Contact Information: California State Archives 1020 "O" Street Sacramento, California 95814 Phone: (916) 653-2246 Fax: (916) 653-7363 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/ Compiled by: David L. Snyder © 2000 California Secretary of State. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Earl Warren Papers, Date (inclusive): 1924-53 Inventory: F3640 Creator: Warren, Earl Extent: See Series List Repository: California State Archives Sacramento, California Language: English. Publication Rights For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives collections. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Earl Warren Papers, F3640, California State Archives. Alternative Form of Materials Available Selected audio recordings from this collection were digitized as part of the "California Light and Sound" collection through the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP). To learn more about how this material was digitized, please visit the CAVPP website . Foreword EARL WARREN, GOVERNOR by Merrell F. Small Secretary, 1946-53 Office of Governor Earl Warren That researcher will be disappointed who delves into the Warren Papers with any expectation of discovering things politically sensational to write about. Intrigue was alien to Earl Warren's nature. In all his dealings he was open, aboveboard and non-partisan. Republican in national politics, in the state he was literally apolitical. Why not? The election laws of his era permitted the registrants of all parties to choose him as their nominee, which they did in primary elections including one even for the high office of Inventory of the Earl Warren F3640 2 Papers, 1924-53 governor. And on his part Warren never questioned whether a citizen looking to him as Alameda County's district attorney, the attorney general of California, or governor, was Republican or Democrat or the member of any other party or none. His instruction to his staff was that all were to be "dealt with courteously and considerately." Similarly in matters of gubernatorial patronage. His sole interest was in finding that person best qualified for the job he was filling. "I will surround myself with good people" was his creed. He persuaded attorneys of prosperous private practice to serve as judges at greatly lessened income. He made not a politician but a renowned engineer responsible for the state highway system. Many appointees were Democrats, although Warren actually did not realize this sometimes. On one occasion (which I witnessed!) he was taken quite by surprise when a newsman asked him the party affiliation of the man he had just appointed to head the Public Utilities Commission. His second Director of Social Welfare, Charles I. Schottland, commented at the conclusion of his interview with the governor, "You have not asked me about my politics or my religion: I am a Jew and a Democrat." Warren replied that it was not for this that he was "hiring" Schottland, "but for your qualifications for the job." The fact that his Executive Secretary, William T. Sweigert (later a distinguished Federal Judge in San Francisco), was a Democrat, was well known. I was a Republican, and I believe the majority of the other staff members were also, but to this day I do not know. The subject simply didn't come up. The governor's interest was in whether we had enough solid experience in the fields from which he drew us to enable each to help advance his purpose of administering the state government efficiently and honorably. To be part of such an administration was to know the meaning of pride in one's job. There has never been in public office a finer man than Earl Warren. His public ethics and personal integrity, his kindliness and compassion, his dignity and great respect for the office he occupied for nearly 11 years, elevated the public's confidence in government to a degree that has not been surpassed in the history of California, and inspired his staff to their utmost efforts. There was in Sacramento and the state an "era of good feeling" while he was governor. He would not tolerate the solicitation of state employees for financial support of his political campaigns. He put an immediate stop, upon taking office, to the practice of ordering goods and services from supporters as such; they could get the business only by competing successfully for it. In office, he was a magnificent administrator. His personal magnetism, the genuineness of his ability to inspire loyalty and enthusiasm, accounted for this in great measure. He had the confidence in his department heads and staff that enabled him to delegate responsibility. He did not clutter his mind or his desk with details. But with his uncanny faculty for absorbing and retaining facts, he was a thoroughly informed chief executive. The office was as a carefully planned and organized, smooth-running business. The mail was meticulously catalogued-a fact which the researcher will appreciate-and expeditiously dealt with. Form letters had to be used to an extent, but much of the correspondence was given individual treatment, necessitating long hours and six-day weeks on the part of the staff. Warren answered some letters himself (and originated considerable correspondence), but most replies were drafted by assistants. Often he made changes to adapt these totally to his style and thinking, and he did so invariably with speeches. Indeed, so much did he work on speech drafts that he could honestly say that he wrote his own speeches. One of his assistants had the title of "research secretary," but none that of "speech writer." His addresses were not exciting. It used to be said of his oratory that "he never got listeners to stamp their feet and cheer-but neither did anyone ever walk out on him." He did not tell funny stories, but his speeches bore fruit-as when, after telling his audiences for two years that he intended taking California "out of the asylum age into the age of hospital treatment," the legislature appropriated money to replace the ancient institutions with new. From the standpoint of administrative theory, this governor would be said to have had "blind spots" in handling a staff. He was a demanding taskmaster. He expected perfection, or at least the effort. He himself often procrastinated, as with preparing legislative messages, and we had to mollify deadline-haunted reporters as best we could. He never praised publicly, but let a member of the staff earn his displeasure-the occasionally inevitable consequence of any high-pressure job-and he'd say so without regard to the presence of others. But neither did he carry a grudge ever. Minutes after a bawling-out, he'd speak of plans for other work or a similarly agreeable subject. And so entire was our admiration that there was not one of us who would not have gone to any length to serve him. His pay scale was certainly not a factor in the enthusiasm we had for our jobs; no one knew better than his employees how careful Earl Warren was with public funds! Unlike other governors, who add members to their staff at the legally maximum salary, Warren would "dicker" when he hired us and then at the end of each year give us a little raise. Maybe the idea was to give us an "incentive," but I think it was as much his habit of frugality. When district attorney and attorney general, Warren held regular staff meetings, but none while he was governor. One or two times weekly he'd ask a secretary or several to lunch. (His staff assistants bore the title of "secretary," causing a certain amount of confusion for the public.) It was then that we had good access to Warren's mind. It was a pleasant procedure: sharing a meal usually assures the absence of tensions! Inventory of the Earl Warren F3640 3 Papers, 1924-53 Once I made the remark that the governor didn't furnish us with many "signals" about our duties. His answer was, "I hired you because I believed you were someone of good character and that you have ability, so if you study the problem you're faced with and discuss it with the department involved when you need additional information, and then do what you think is right and fair, you won't have any trouble with me." Another way of keeping abreast of the governor's thinking was to attend his press conferences. These were not haphazard. Warren's press secretary, Verne Scoggins, scheduled them twice weekly, one timed for the advantage of morning newspapers and the other giving a lead to the evening papers They didn't always produce front-page headlines, but they were pleasant occasions. The reporters had to work hard at being objective with this hearty, friendly man. As with the speeches, Warren could use his press conferences effectively on occasion.