Chapter 8 | Section 1
Red Scare and Oklahoma Politics
The first Red Scare took place in 1919 and 1920. During this time, US attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer focused much of his attention on arresting suspected radicals across the country.
He authorized numerous raids and was responsible for the arrests of hundreds of people, but he did not uncover any serious threats. Nevertheless, he insisted that Communists were infiltrating the country with plans to overthrow the government. Oklahomans were especially sensitive to such threats, and as it turned out, their worries had a direct impact on Oklahoma. The fear of suspected radicals or other subversives led to an attack on the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) offices in Tulsa. At the same time membership in the Socialist Party continued to decline.
In an effort to exact revenge on the Democratic Party for becoming the party in power, many former Socialists voted Republican in 1920 and 1922. In 1920, their votes helped the Oklahoma Republican Party take control of the State House of Representatives, but Democrats maintained control of the Senate. The increase in the number of Republicans in the state legislature and local offices did not last long, though. By the end of the decade former Socialists realized their revenge voting had given them no victory and so they went in search of new strategies.
The brief inroads made by the Republican Party in Oklahoma in the early 1920s also allowed for the first Oklahoman woman (and only the second in the whole country), Alice Mary Robertson, to be elected to the US House of Representatives. Robertson was a Republican, but she had also been strongly opposed to women getting the right to vote or running for office. When asked about this, she responded, “The men have thrust the vote on us and now I am going to see whether they mean it.” Robertson was a force of nature. She was fiercely loyal to her party and did not want to be seen as a female politician who was mostly concerned with women’s issues. And she was very vocal about this. While her time in office was short, her election as well as her opposition to voting rights for women together show the unusual and sometimes contradictory nature of Oklahoma politics.
Alice Mary Robertson, 1923. Robertson won her US congressional seat in 1920 as a Republican, despite being an outspoken opponent of women getting the right to vote. She served from 1921 to 1922. Oklahoma did not send another woman to Congress until Mary Fallin was elected to the House of Representatives more than eighty years later.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Oklahoma Politics
On the national level, Republicans dominated politics in the 1920s. All three presidents elected in the decade were Republicans and all shared similar ideas about the importance of keeping government small and the need to decrease regulation. For Oklahoma, these ideas marked a rejection of Progressivism and the Progressive ideals upon which the state constitution was built. Oklahoma was a largely Democratic state during this time, which also put the state out of step with national leadership. Even the brief increase in Republican election victories in the state was not enough to shift the balance of power. Oklahomans were often politically at war with themselves during this decade. Impeachment (when elected officials are charged with doing something wrong) and the use of martial law (which is when the military is put in charge) dominated the administrations of Oklahoma governors in the 1920s and overshadowed the accomplishments that took place. Oklahomans may have overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic Party, but that did not mean they were happy with their leaders.
Governor James Brooks Ayers Robertson. Robertson, who was a Democrat, served as governor of Oklahoma from 1919 to 1923 during a difficult period that included both the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Osage murders. He used martial law several times and was almost impeached.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Governor John C. Walton, 1923. Commonly known as “Our Jack,” Walton was a Democrat and served in office less than a year before he was impeached and removed from office. He angered a lot of people by making campaign promises that he did not keep, but his most visible conflict was with the KKK.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Governor James Brooks Ayers Robertson was in office at the start of the 1920s, having taken office the year before. He faced numerous challenges and repeatedly declared martial law. He used the National Guard to end strikes, including a coal strike in 1919 and a railway shopmen strike in 1922. He even threatened to use state prisoners to replace striking workers. Governor Robertson was also in office during the Tulsa Race Massacre, and as a result of local pressure from white leaders in Tulsa, he was slow to declare martial law and send the National Guard to the city. He later faced criticism for not acting sooner. He was also accused of accepting bribes and was almost impeached. Despite some of the turmoil in his administration, things went more smoothly for him than they did for the next governor.
In 1922, the state elected a new governor, John C. “Our Jack” Walton. He was a charismatic leader who made big promises. Walton claimed to support public education and the rules of law and order but failed on both counts. His 1923 inauguration was among the most extravagant of any in state history as he invited the entire state to celebrate. Orchestras and marching bands from high schools and colleges arrived from across the state to participate. Walton provided an enormous feast for those in attendance, including “289 cows, 70 hogs, 30 sheep, 3,540 rabbits, 4,000 chickens, 110 turkeys, 34 ducks, 25 squirrels, 15 deer, 135 possums, and three bears.” Even though drinking alcohol was illegal in Oklahoma, the inaugural feast included 42 cases of whiskey, which were then seized by federal agents. Walton was only in office a short time. He served about eight months before being impeached, convicted, and removed from office due to corruption charges. He declared martial law to stop the legislature from meeting to vote on his removal from office. When that did not work, he even threatened to release all of the state’s prisoners. Law and order were clearly not his top priority. For him, it was all about holding onto power.
Barbeque pits at Governor Walton’s inauguration, January 9, 1923. They covered a large part of the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. The inauguration feast was impressive, but Walton’s time in office proved short as he angered Oklahomans in both parties, leading to the legislature turning against him.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
During his brief administration, Walton went after the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), though his opposition to them had little to do with their racist and terrorizing tactics. He showed no opposition to them when they helped him win election to office, but he also did not like it when they threatened his authority. And like several governors who came before and after him, Walton relied heavily on declaring martial law and using the National Guard to restore peace. His bitter fight with the KKK ended when he was removed from office, but not before he dealt a final blow to the Klan. As his last stand against the KKK, Walton publicized many of the violent acts committed by the organization. This ultimately led to the legislature passing the Anti-Mask Law of 1923, which banned people from wearing masks and hoods in public. The “unmasking” of the KKK was an important step in ensuring that people could not commit crimes openly while concealing their identity. However, the KKK did a staggering amount of damage to the state, especially to its Jewish, Catholic, and African American citizens, before its downfall.
The rocky nature of politics persisted for the rest of the decade and by the end of the 1920s, Oklahoma had impeached and removed yet another governor from office. Several Oklahoma governors had been guilty of appointing their friends to important positions in the government, even when they were not qualified. Sometimes Oklahomans complained about this pattern and viewed it as corruption, and other times they seemed not to care. However, when Oklahomans learned that Governor Henry Johnston had hired a state astrologist to consult before he made decisions and that the astrologist was being paid with state tax dollars, they were none too happy. Johnston was impeached and removed from office in 1929 for “general incompetence.” For Oklahomans, this short phrase said it all.
The volatile nature of politics in Oklahoma did not just affect the state legislature and the governor’s office in the 1920s. Oklahoma consistently struggled with issues of law and order during this time. Understanding the dysfunctional political climate in the state helps us comprehend more clearly the lawlessness and violence that defined the decade.