http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2r29n6db No online items Guide to the Robert Walker Kenny Papers, 1920-1947 Processed by Herman Schein and the Manuscripts Division The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu © 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Guide to the Robert Walker BANC MSS C-B 510 1 Kenny Papers, 1920-1947 Guide to the Robert Walker Kenny Papers, 1920-1947 Collection number: BANC MSS C-B 510 The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Contact Information: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu Processed by: Herman Schein and the Manuscripts Division Date Completed: August 24, 1955; revised 1957 Encoded by: Charlotte Gerstein © 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: Robert Walker Kenny Papers, Date (inclusive): 1920-1947 Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 510 Creator: Kenny, Robert Walker, 1901- Extent: Number of containers: 41 boxes and 16 cartons Repository: The Bancroft Library. Berkeley, California 94720-6000 Abstract: Chiefly his papers as Attorney General of California, 1942-1946; some material pertaining to his offices and judgeships, Los Angeles; State Senatorship; Prohibition repeal; legal problems of World War II, including Japanese evacuation and war industry reconversion; control of venereal diseases; U.S.-Mexican water negotiations; Indian claims; National and International Lawyers Guilds; minority groups and civil rights; United Nations Conference, San Francisco, 1945; the Nuremberg trials; support of Henry A. Wallace as Presidential candidate; private law practice. Languages Represented: English Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. Access Collection is open for research. Guide to the Robert Walker BANC MSS C-B 510 2 Kenny Papers, 1920-1947 Publication Rights All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html . Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Robert Walker Kenny papers, BANC MSS C-B 510, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Separated Material A collection of portraits and photographs of Kenny and his colleagues, political campaign rallies, photographs of California sheriffs, etc. were removed to portrait drawer 2406-2544. Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. Wallace, Henry A. (Henry Agard), 1888-1965 California. Legislature. Senate Republican Party (Calif.) Democratic Party (Calif.) National Lawyers Guild California. Office of the Attorney General Judges--California Lawyers--California Prohibition World War, 1939-1945--Evacuation of civilians Japanese--California Water-supply--California Indians of North America--California Sexually transmitted diseases Civil rights--California Minorities--California California--Politics and government Los Angeles (Calif.)--Politics and government California--Economic conditions United States--Foreign relations--Mexico Biographical Information Robert Walker Kenny was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 21, 1901. His father was Robert W. Kenny, Sr., (1863-1914) a prominent banker and civic leader in Los Angeles and Berkeley, California. The elder Kenny's father, George Kenny, arrived in San Francisco in the early 1850s with his brothers-in-law A. L. Bancroft and Hubert Howe Bancroft. The three men formed a partnership and established the first bookstore in San Francisco. R. W. Kenny's maternal grandfather, George Carleton, was a pioneer orange grower in Riverside County, California, and a leader in the Methodist Church in Southern California. Kenny was educated at Harvard Military Academy and the University of Southern California Preparatory School, both in Los Angeles. He received his A.B. degree from Stanford University in 1921. He later studied law at the University of Southern California and was admitted to the State of California bar in 1926. From 1921 to 1927 Kenny worked as a newspaper reporter in the United States and Europe for various publication and press services, including the United Press in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London, the Chicago Tribune in Paris, France, and for the following Los Angeles newspapers: Los Angeles Evening Herald, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Examiner. Guide to the Robert Walker BANC MSS C-B 510 3 Kenny Papers, 1920-1947 After his admittance to the Bar in 1926, Kenny was appointed in 1927 on the basis of a competitive civil service examination, to the position of Deputy Counsel for Los Angeles County in which capacity he served until 1931. While Deputy County Counsel, Kenny was assigned to attend sessions of the California Legislature at Sacramento under the auspices of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to handle bills affecting Los Angeles County. After working actively in the 1930 campaign for the election of James Rolph, Republican, as Governor, Kenny was appointed by Rolph to the Municipal Court of Los Angeles on September 14, 1931, and in 1932 he was elevated to the Superior Court. At this stage of his career Kenny considered himself a "liberal" Republican and in this role worked actively as a "wet" for the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1932 under the banner of the Crusaders, a Los Angeles organization dedicated to the repeal of the Prohibition Amendment. Kenny's anti-Prohibition attitudes also found expression in his work with the Liberal League, another Los Angeles non-partisan political organization which, in addition to its "wet" orientation vigorously sought to defeat the incumbent Los Angeles mayor, John C. Porter. In the hotly contested mayoralty election of 1933 Kenny worked with the Liberal League on behalf of candidate Frank L. Shaw who defeated Porter decisively. In 1934 Kenny sought his first elective office, his position on the Superior Court bench to which he had been appointed originally by Governor Rolph. In this campaign Kenny received support from broad segments of the area and won easily. In 1938 Kenny ran as a Democrat for the State Senate. He won both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the primary election and went on to defeat his Progressive Party opponent in the general election by an overwhelming margin. In the same campaign he served as Chairman of the State Democratic Central Finance Committee for the election of Culbert L. Olson to the office of Governor. While in the State Senate Kenny became the Administration's floor leader but soon disaffected from Governor Olson's program on a number of major issues. In 1940 Kenny participated in an unsuccessful attempt to recall Governor Olson. In this effort he offered himself as a candidate for the Governor's post in case a recall attempt against Olson succeeded. In November 1942 Kenny running as a Democrat was elected Attorney General for the State of California for a four year term. In this election he quietly supported Republican candidate Earl Warren against Governor Olson who ran for a second term. Both Warren and Kenny won their contests by substantial margins. Among major developments or events occurring during Kenny's incumbency as Attorney General, January 1, 1943, to December 31, 1946, as reflected in this collection are: Kenny's interest in civil rights problems growing out of the return of wartime Japanese evacuees to California; his attendance of and reporting on the Nuremberg trials of German war criminals in March 1946; his activities in promoting a favorable solution of the problem of post-war reconversion of West Coast war industries; his reorganization of the Attorney General's Office; his efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to cause the defeat of a proposed U.S.-Mexican Water Treaty which Kenny believed was contrary to the best interests of the people of California; his activities to bring to a successful conclusion several decades of effort by the Indians of California to obtain a cash settlement of their claims against the United States Government based on treaties signed by representatives of the Government with the tribes in the 1850s; his participation in two dramatic criminal cases, which involved members of racial minority groups — the so-called Sleepy Lagoon Case and the Turner Case; his active intervention in the "Zoot Suit" riots of Los Angeles during World War II; his vigorous fight against the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in California in 1946; and his efforts to establish an international organization of lawyers with a liberal-oriented point of view during the organizing sessions of the United Nations Organization in San Francisco in 1945. In May 1946 Kenny announced that he would run for governor. His opponent was Earl Warren, who was seeking his second term. Kenny and Warren cross-filed and thereby appeared in opposition to each other on the ballots of both major parties in the primary election of June 1946. Warren defeated Kenny on both ballots, to retain his governorship for 4 more years. Kenny completed his term as Attorney General in December 1946 and thereafter returned to private law practice in Los Angeles. Selected List of Public and Private Offices held by Robert W. Kenny 1. Deputy County Counsel of Los Angeles County, 1927-1931 2.