Charles Hiram Randall
Encyclopedia
Charles Hiram Randall known as Charles Randall, was a member of the U.S. Congress, the California State Assembly
and the Los Angeles City Council
in the 20th Century.
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The son of the Rev. Elias J. Randall and Sarah F. Schooley, Randall was born on July 23, 1865, in Auburn, Nebraska
, where he was educated in the public schools. He published the Observer beginning in 1885 in Kimball
and edited a paper in Harrisburg
in that state, and various independent weeklies, from 1885 to 1892. He worked as a postal clerk with the United States Railway Service
, and in 1904, he moved to California, where he worked for two years for the Santa Fe Railroad and then founded the Highland Park Herald in that Los Angeles district, which he edited until 1915.
He was married first to May E. (or Ethel May) Stanley, in November 1885. They had a daughter, Mrs. Clyde Cassels. His wife died in November 1931, and he and Edith B. Leake then married in November 1932.
His addresses in Los Angeles were 1263 North Mariposa Avenue (near Pico and Normandie) and then 8973 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood. He was a Methodist. He died on February 18, 1951.
from 1911 to 1912. In 1914, Randall was elected to the United States Congress
as a member of the Prohibition Party
. Randall won 28,097 votes (30.9%), Congressman Charles W. Bell
won 27,560 votes (30.3%), Republican Frank C. Roberts won 25,176 (27.7%), and Socialist Henry Hart
won 10,084 votes (11.09%). Taking advantage of California election laws at the time, Randall was re-elected in 1916 as the nominee of the Prohibition, Democratic, Republican, and Progressive
parties defeating Charles W. Bell (running as an independent candidate) by the margin of 58,826 to 33,270 (57.8% to 32.7%) with 9,661 votes for the Socialist Party
candidate. Randall was re-elected by a 38,782 to 31,689 (55% to 45%) margin over a Republican in 1918. He is the only person designated as a member of the Prohibition Party to ever serve in the United States Congress. Randall was defeated for re-election in 1920 by a Republican, by margin of 62,952 votes (60%) to 36,675 votes.
Randall ran in 1922 (45,794 votes and 41%), 1924 (67,735 votes and 36% as a candidate of the Prohibition, Socialist, and Democratic parties), 1926 (61,719 votes and 38%), 1934 (18,760 votes and 14% as a Progressive), and 1940 (36,406 votes and 22% as a candidate of the Prohibition and Progressive parties).
In 1924 Randall was for a time the candidate for U.S. vice-president on the Ku Klux Klan-sponsored American Party ticket. He withdrew in August in order to concentrate on a race for Congress in California on both the American and Prohibition party tickets.
Randall was also an independent candidate for the United States Senate from California in 1928, receiving 5% of the vote. Republican incumbent Hiram Johnson
was re-elected overwhelmingly with 71% of the vote and Democrat Minor Moore received 23%.
Randall was the first person to represent the Los Angeles City Council District 1 under the new city charter of 1925. He served until 1933. The district in 1925 included all of the San Fernando Valley
, some of the Santa Monica Mountains
reaching south to include the Sherman district, the Cahuenga Pass
, the Hollywood Hills
, Griffith Park
, Atwater and the eastern part of the Los Feliz District south to approximately Santa Monica Boulevard. His activities were directed toward better roads, lighting systems and water and power improvements in the Valley.
1926 The council member faced a recall election in September, the first in the city under the new charter, but the attempt failed by a vote of 3,901 to 2,595. Names on the ballot to succeed him in case the recall succeeded were John W. Cooke, assistant city engineer stationed in Van Nuys, and Greeley Kolts.
1927 Opposition continued before the May primary election because of Randall's handling of a San Fernando Road
improvement district, his reputed delaying of the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge project and his changing of historic street names in the Valley. He was elected in the primary, the votes being Randall, 4,691; John E. Lambert, who had the Times endorsement, 2,598; Frank W. Berkshire, 1,676; and Clara L. McDonald, 233.
1929 Candidates in the May primary were Randall; Truitt Hughes, 44, retired lawyer and rancher, the choice of the Times; Charles G. Young, 40, an attorney; William C. McColl, 34, purchasing agent and building engineer; and Estelle C. Holman, former employee of Randall and former member of the City Planning Commission. The primary results were Randall, 4,734; McColl, 2,247; Young, 1,346; Hughes, 1,025, and Holman, 384. In the June final, Randall won over McColl, 8,529 votes to 7,375.
1931 Randall won in the May primary, 5,856 against 3,732 for William C. McColl and 888 for Frank W. Rice.
1933 Randall came in second in the May primary. The results were: Jim Wilson, 4,958; Randall, 4,889; Mark C. Sutton, 3,653; Sterling Martin, 1,661; George C. Audet, 1,074; Ray A. Schafer, 950; George Mozee, 835; and George E. Menner, 728. In the June final, he lost by almost a 2–1 margin, 15,693 votes for Wilson to Randall's 8,375.
commissioners, the "power trust." the "patent paving trust" and the seven council members who voted against him.
1926 He was accused by Charles C. Grider, president of the First Councilmanic District Civic League of failing to keep his campaign promises to (1) immediately construct a 40-mile stretch of Riverside Drive and a "truck speedway," (2) begin construction of a high school in the district, (3) build bridges across the Los Angeles River
at Fletcher Avenue, Alessandro Street, Glendale Boulevard and Dayton Street, (4) secure "immediate removal of the Los Feliz Hospital and the dairy at the foot of Alessandro Street," (5) build a school in West Atwater and enlarge the school in East Atwater and (5) widen Glendale Boulevard, Alessandro and Riverside Drive to 100 feet.
1927 Charges were made that Randall used his official position to delay the paving of seven miles of San Fernando Road in order to have the highway graded to the same level as Radford Avenue, on which Randall owned property.
1927 Randall fought against the removal from the new five-member city Planning Commission of his secretary, Estelle C. Holman, who had been appointed by Mayor George Cryer but who was ruled ineligible because she had not been a member of the former 50-member commission under the old city charter.
1928 He was overruled by the council in his desire to install seven miles of ornamental lighting posts on San Fernando Road, a move that was endorsed by the Municipal Art Commission.
1931 Randall voted in favor of having the city attorney appeal a judge's decision ordering the city to stop the practice of segregating its swimming pools by race, a decision that was put into effect in summer 1931. Randall at first vigorously opposed the court ruling, stating that it was "so sweeping" that the Playground and Recreation Commission "will not be able to designate the days when Boy Scouts can go to the mountain camps. Why, the board can't even set separate days for men and women to bathe." But just the next week, he switched his vote, prompting Council Member Evan Lewis to ask the reason. Randall said that a Negro politician had "conferred" with him and "convinced" him of his error.
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
and the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
in the 20th Century.
Biography
The son of the Rev. Elias J. Randall and Sarah F. Schooley, Randall was born on July 23, 1865, in Auburn, Nebraska
Auburn, Nebraska
Auburn is a city in Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,350 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nemaha County. The City of Auburn is actually an incorporation of two towns. Calvert and Sheridan combined to form Auburn in 1882, in part to have the voting power to...
, where he was educated in the public schools. He published the Observer beginning in 1885 in Kimball
Kimball, Nebraska
Kimball is a city in Kimball County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,559 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Kimball County.-Geography:Kimball is located at , in the southwestern Panhandle....
and edited a paper in Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Nebraska
Harrisburg is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Banner County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Scottsbluff, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area...
in that state, and various independent weeklies, from 1885 to 1892. He worked as a postal clerk with the United States Railway Service
Railway Mail Service
The United States Postal Service's Railway Mail Service was a significant mail transportation service in the US during the time period from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. The RMS, or its successor the Postal Transportation Service , carried the vast majority of letters and...
, and in 1904, he moved to California, where he worked for two years for the Santa Fe Railroad and then founded the Highland Park Herald in that Los Angeles district, which he edited until 1915.
He was married first to May E. (or Ethel May) Stanley, in November 1885. They had a daughter, Mrs. Clyde Cassels. His wife died in November 1931, and he and Edith B. Leake then married in November 1932.
His addresses in Los Angeles were 1263 North Mariposa Avenue (near Pico and Normandie) and then 8973 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood. He was a Methodist. He died on February 18, 1951.
State and national
Randall was a member of the California State AssemblyCalifornia State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
from 1911 to 1912. In 1914, Randall was elected to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as a member of the Prohibition Party
Prohibition Party
The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States best known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. It is the oldest existing third party in the US. The party was an integral part of the temperance movement...
. Randall won 28,097 votes (30.9%), Congressman Charles W. Bell
Charles W. Bell
Charles Webster Bell was a U.S. Representative from California.Born in Albany, New York, Bell attended public schools. He moved to California in 1877 and settled in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, where he engaged in fruit growing and the real estate business. Moreover, he also served as a county...
won 27,560 votes (30.3%), Republican Frank C. Roberts won 25,176 (27.7%), and Socialist Henry Hart
Henry Hart
Henry Hart lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he is a professor of English at the College of William and Mary. In addition to two books of poetry, The Ghost Ship and The Rooster Mask , he has written critical works on such poets as Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill and Robert Lowell...
won 10,084 votes (11.09%). Taking advantage of California election laws at the time, Randall was re-elected in 1916 as the nominee of the Prohibition, Democratic, Republican, and Progressive
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
parties defeating Charles W. Bell (running as an independent candidate) by the margin of 58,826 to 33,270 (57.8% to 32.7%) with 9,661 votes for the Socialist Party
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
candidate. Randall was re-elected by a 38,782 to 31,689 (55% to 45%) margin over a Republican in 1918. He is the only person designated as a member of the Prohibition Party to ever serve in the United States Congress. Randall was defeated for re-election in 1920 by a Republican, by margin of 62,952 votes (60%) to 36,675 votes.
Randall ran in 1922 (45,794 votes and 41%), 1924 (67,735 votes and 36% as a candidate of the Prohibition, Socialist, and Democratic parties), 1926 (61,719 votes and 38%), 1934 (18,760 votes and 14% as a Progressive), and 1940 (36,406 votes and 22% as a candidate of the Prohibition and Progressive parties).
In 1924 Randall was for a time the candidate for U.S. vice-president on the Ku Klux Klan-sponsored American Party ticket. He withdrew in August in order to concentrate on a race for Congress in California on both the American and Prohibition party tickets.
Randall was also an independent candidate for the United States Senate from California in 1928, receiving 5% of the vote. Republican incumbent Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
was re-elected overwhelmingly with 71% of the vote and Democrat Minor Moore received 23%.
Los Angeles City
Randall was on the Park Commission 1909–11 and the Planning Commission 1911–12.Randall was the first person to represent the Los Angeles City Council District 1 under the new city charter of 1925. He served until 1933. The district in 1925 included all of the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, some of the Santa Monica Mountains
Santa Monica Mountains
The Santa Monica Mountains are a Transverse Range in Southern California, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States.-Geography:...
reaching south to include the Sherman district, the Cahuenga Pass
Cahuenga Pass
The Cahuenga Pass is a mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood district of the City of Los Angeles, California....
, the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
, Griffith Park
Griffith Park
Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America...
, Atwater and the eastern part of the Los Feliz District south to approximately Santa Monica Boulevard. His activities were directed toward better roads, lighting systems and water and power improvements in the Valley.
Elections
1925 Randall ran against four other candidates in the primary election and came in second. The results were: Charles T. Wardlaw, 3,106; Randall, 2,851; Edgar Lampton, 1,593; Arthur M. Fellows, 627; and Clara L. McDonald, 328. Randall was elected in the June final vote, 4,292 votes against Wardlaw's 3,719.1926 The council member faced a recall election in September, the first in the city under the new charter, but the attempt failed by a vote of 3,901 to 2,595. Names on the ballot to succeed him in case the recall succeeded were John W. Cooke, assistant city engineer stationed in Van Nuys, and Greeley Kolts.
1927 Opposition continued before the May primary election because of Randall's handling of a San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, whereupon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State and the Antelope Valley Freeways, it...
improvement district, his reputed delaying of the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge project and his changing of historic street names in the Valley. He was elected in the primary, the votes being Randall, 4,691; John E. Lambert, who had the Times endorsement, 2,598; Frank W. Berkshire, 1,676; and Clara L. McDonald, 233.
1929 Candidates in the May primary were Randall; Truitt Hughes, 44, retired lawyer and rancher, the choice of the Times; Charles G. Young, 40, an attorney; William C. McColl, 34, purchasing agent and building engineer; and Estelle C. Holman, former employee of Randall and former member of the City Planning Commission. The primary results were Randall, 4,734; McColl, 2,247; Young, 1,346; Hughes, 1,025, and Holman, 384. In the June final, Randall won over McColl, 8,529 votes to 7,375.
1931 Randall won in the May primary, 5,856 against 3,732 for William C. McColl and 888 for Frank W. Rice.
1933 Randall came in second in the May primary. The results were: Jim Wilson, 4,958; Randall, 4,889; Mark C. Sutton, 3,653; Sterling Martin, 1,661; George C. Audet, 1,074; Ray A. Schafer, 950; George Mozee, 835; and George E. Menner, 728. In the June final, he lost by almost a 2–1 margin, 15,693 votes for Wilson to Randall's 8,375.
Council presidency
Randall was elected council president on July 1, 1931, by a bare majority, and promptly "declared war in no uncertain terms" upon Mayor Porter, three Water and PowerLos Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving over four million residents. It was founded in 1902 to supply water and electricity to residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities...
commissioners, the "power trust." the "patent paving trust" and the seven council members who voted against him.
Controversies
1925 Angry Valley residents verbally attacked Randall when he withdrew funds that had been set aside for (1) paving and improvement of Canoga, Devonshire and Chatsworth Streets and (2) building a new road from the Valley through Beverly Glen to the main part of Los Angeles. He said he wanted the adjoining property owners, not the city, to pay for the work.1926 He was accused by Charles C. Grider, president of the First Councilmanic District Civic League of failing to keep his campaign promises to (1) immediately construct a 40-mile stretch of Riverside Drive and a "truck speedway," (2) begin construction of a high school in the district, (3) build bridges across the Los Angeles River
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
at Fletcher Avenue, Alessandro Street, Glendale Boulevard and Dayton Street, (4) secure "immediate removal of the Los Feliz Hospital and the dairy at the foot of Alessandro Street," (5) build a school in West Atwater and enlarge the school in East Atwater and (5) widen Glendale Boulevard, Alessandro and Riverside Drive to 100 feet.
1927 Charges were made that Randall used his official position to delay the paving of seven miles of San Fernando Road in order to have the highway graded to the same level as Radford Avenue, on which Randall owned property.
1927 Randall fought against the removal from the new five-member city Planning Commission of his secretary, Estelle C. Holman, who had been appointed by Mayor George Cryer but who was ruled ineligible because she had not been a member of the former 50-member commission under the old city charter.
1928 He was overruled by the council in his desire to install seven miles of ornamental lighting posts on San Fernando Road, a move that was endorsed by the Municipal Art Commission.
1931 Randall voted in favor of having the city attorney appeal a judge's decision ordering the city to stop the practice of segregating its swimming pools by race, a decision that was put into effect in summer 1931. Randall at first vigorously opposed the court ruling, stating that it was "so sweeping" that the Playground and Recreation Commission "will not be able to designate the days when Boy Scouts can go to the mountain camps. Why, the board can't even set separate days for men and women to bathe." But just the next week, he switched his vote, prompting Council Member Evan Lewis to ask the reason. Randall said that a Negro politician had "conferred" with him and "convinced" him of his error.