Around Town: Election turmoil is nothing new

If you’re worried about political discussions during Thanksgiving dinner, consider the plight of La Cañada’s own Elias Manchester Boddy.

Boddy was a rags-to-riches newspaper publisher. He owned the L.A. Daily News and was the creator of what is now Descanso Gardens.

Throughout the 1940s, the California Democratic Central Committee begged Boddy to run for public office. He kept saying no.

In 1950, Boddy finally decided to run for Congress. His timing could not have been worse. Boddy walked into what is considered to be the most vicious, vituperative, dishonest and downright dirty election in the history of California.

The incumbent senator was Sheridan Downey, a Wyoming-born lawyer and a Democrat who had settled in Sacramento. Downey was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1939. Downey’s political positions evolved. He began as an advocate for racial equality and labor rights, but by 1949 he had become more conservative. This made Downey vulnerable when he attempted to run for a third term.

His fellow Democrat, Helen Gahagan Douglas, a progressive, gave up her seat in the House to run against Downey in the Democratic primary. (It is generally recognized that Douglas, a former actress turned politician, was the mistress of LBJ.)

Smelling blood, a Republican congressman, Richard Nixon, decided to run for Senate. Like Douglas, Nixon gave up his seat in Congress to run against Downey.

Our Manchester Boddy did not care for Helen Gahagan Douglas. She was too progressive, so Boddy decided to throw his hat into the ring.

Boddy had the gift of gab. He dubbed Douglas, “the pink lady,” and accused her of being a Communist sympathizer. He also turned his sights on Richard Nixon; calling him “tricky Dick.” That’s right. La Cañada’s own Manchester Boddy invented the ultimate Nixonian sobriquet.

That’s when Downey decided to drop out on the grounds of bad health, although the claim has been discredited in view of his subsequent active career as a lawyer and a lobbyist.

Once Downey left the race, the lead candidates were Douglas, Nixon and our own Manchester Boddy.

All three candidates could read the fine print. Each candidate, Douglas, Nixon and Boddy, entered both the primaries. They “cross-filed” so that their names would be on the ballot in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.

Confused? Imagine how the voters felt.

The results came in as predicted. Manchester Boddy finished in second place in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Nixon finished first in the Republican primary and third in the Democratic primary. Douglas finished first in the Democratic primary and third in the Republican primary.

The result: Nixon and Douglas would be on the ballot for the general election, but Manchester Boddy was out of the race.

There’s an old saying in politics, “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.” Manchester Boddy was not a good loser. He decided to throw his support behind Richard Nixon. Boddy formally endorsed Nixon in the general election.

Nixon tried to copy that undefinable Boddy style. Boddy had called Douglas a leftist, so Nixon called her a leftist. Nixon implied that she was a Communist.

In response, Douglas called her opponent, “tricky Dick” and implied that he was a “black shirt” or Nazi.

In 1990 our mother ship, the L.A. Times, noted, “That 1950 race still ranks as one of the most hate-filled in California — and U.S. — political history. Nixon’s charges against Douglas purposely strayed toward character assassination. He questioned her loyalty, her ‘communist sympathies,’ her Jewish husband’s loyalty and her votes in Congress ... Nixon’s campaign strategist, Murray Chotiner, explained his campaign philosophy this way: ‘The purpose of an election is not to defeat your opponent, but to destroy him.’ In those frigid days of the Cold War, Nixon not only impugned Douglas’ loyalty, but called her the Pink Lady, ‘Pink right down to her underwear.’ Press editorials dubbed Douglas ‘the darling of the Hollywood Parlour Pinks and Reds.’”

Despite the smears, then-Sen. John F. Kennedy quietly began to support Nixon. JFK couldn’t endorse Nixon, but he delivered a family check for Nixon’s campaign against Douglas.

Humphrey Bogart, however, campaigned for Douglas.

The ending to the story is well-known. Nixon won. Douglas retired from political life. As for Manchester Boddy, within a few years, he sold his ranch to the County of Los Angeles and lost his newspaper.

This all happened before the Internet. Right here in La Cañada, which goes to show that Thanksgiving isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

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ANITA S. BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with the Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner and Facebook/Twitter @anitabrenner.