28 Facts About Culbert Olson

Culbert Levy Olson was an American lawyer and politician.

Culbert Olson was elected to both the Utah State Senate and California State Senate serving one term in each.

Culbert Olson supported the internment and removal of Japanese Americans from California after the United States entered World War Two.

Culbert Olson was the first atheist governor of an American state.

Culbert Olson was born in Fillmore, Utah, the son of Delilah Cornelia and George Daniel Culbert Olson, on November 7,1876.

Culbert Olson's mother was a suffragette and became the first female elected official in Utah.

However, Culbert Olson was unconvinced of the existence of God, and became an atheist at the age of ten.

Culbert Olson moved back to Utah in 1901, settling in Salt Lake City to join a law practice.

Culbert Olson declined to run again for the State Senate in the 1920 general election.

Culbert Olson campaigned openly for Progressive Party candidate Robert La Follette in 1924, and for Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

In 1934, in the middle of the Great Depression, Culbert Olson ran as a Democrat for the California State Senate, representing Los Angeles.

Culbert Olson was the first Democrat to win the governorship since James Budd's election in 1894, breaking the 40-year Democrat isolation from the governorship.

Culbert Olson was inaugurated as California's twenty-ninth executive on January 2,1939, and was the first Democrat to serve as governor of California in 40 years.

Culbert Olson collapsed four days after his inauguration, and doctors discovered that he was suffering from an ailing heart.

Culbert Olson cited scant evidence against Mooney as the reason for his pardon.

The next month, Culbert Olson pardoned Mooney's alleged accomplice, Warren Billings.

Culbert Olson installed a telephone hotline to the Legislature to get immediate word of lawmakers' positions on bills in committee or on the floor for a vote.

Culbert Olson signed the first bill into law, later citing the enormous pressure of the Catholic Church on his office and on state lawmakers, but he vetoed the second bill.

Culbert Olson attempted to revoke the business licenses of "enemy alien" Japanese in California.

However, despite his preference for excluding Japanese Americans only from "coastal California", and allowing adult men to work in labor camps as an alternative to incarceration, Culbert Olson wholeheartedly supported the eviction.

Warren, a centrist Republican, campaigned as a moderate who would appeal to both liberals and conservatives during a time of war, where California was considered as a possible front line, while accusing Culbert Olson of being an uncompromising left-wing Democrat.

In later years, Culbert Olson blamed "the active hostility of a certain privately owned power corporation and the Roman Catholic Church in California" for his defeat.

Culbert Olson regained the public spotlight again in the 1950s, when the Legislature voted to exempt Catholic schools from real estate taxes.

Culbert Olson filed an amicus curiae brief to the state Supreme Court, asking the court to explain how the state's exemption of a religious organization from civil taxes was constitutional.

In 1957, Culbert Olson became president of the United Secularists of America, a body of secularists, atheists, and freethinkers.

Culbert Olson was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.

Culbert Olson died in Los Angeles on April 13,1962, aged 85.

Culbert Olson is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.