Frank Shaw, Mayor of Los Angeles, 1933-37

It has been almost sixty years since the recall of Frank Shaw, and it is still possible to disagree over whether his administration was corrupt, or as corrupt as charged. Most people who are familiar with the facts, however, probably believe that this was the most corrupt administration in the city's history. Both points of view are represented in the References below.

Prior to his election as mayor in 1933,Shaw had previously been chairman of the board of supervisors of the county. When John Anson Ford took over as chairman, he began an investigation into the rumored corruption in the food services division at the Los Angeles County General Hospital. He appointed Clifford Clinton (founder of the Clifton Cafeterias) to head the investigation. The investigation quickly led to Shaw when he was supervisor.

Soon things began to happen to Clinton: police spying, numerous code violations in his cafeterias, and finally the dynamiting of the car of his investigator.

Undaunted by the harassment, Clinton was then named to the grand jury by Judge Fletcher Bowren to obtain concrete results. He found little or no coperation with the other members of the jury, yet issued a report saying he had found evidence of 1800 bookies, 600 brothels, and 200 gambling dens -- all protected by payoffs to the city administration, and especially His Honor.

Although hotly denied by Shaw, the evidence of corruption seemed overwhelming to the shocked citizens of L.A. They proceded to recall Shaw, and replaced him with the reform candidate who had named Clinton to the grand jury: Fletcher Bowren. Shaw was the first mayor of Los Angeles to be recalled, and probably the first of a major city in the entire country.

References:

Henstell, Bruce, "When the Lid Blew Off Los Angeles," Westways 69November, 1977, 32-35.

Sitton, Tom, " Another Generation of Urban Reformers: Los Angeles in the 1930s," Western Historical Quarterly 18(3), 315-32.

Sitton, Tom, "Urban Politics and Reform in New Deal Los Angeles: The Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw," unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Riverside, 1983.

Viehe, Fred W., "The Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw: A Revision," California History 59(4), 290-305.