Editing Upton Sinclair (section)

==Political career==
Sinclair's first campaign for public office came in [[1906 United States House of Representatives elections|1906]] when he ran for [[United States House of Representatives|Congress]] in [[New Jersey's 4th congressional district]], polling 3% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sinclair, Upton |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=15901 |website=ourcampaigns.com |access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref> He broke with the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] in 1917 and supported the war effort during [[World War I]]. By the 1920s, however, he had returned to the party.

In the 1920s, the Sinclairs moved to [[Monrovia, California]], (near [[Los Angeles]]), where Sinclair founded the state's chapter of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]. Wanting to pursue politics, he twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Socialist Party ticket: in [[1920 United States House of Representatives elections in California#District 10|1920]] for the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and in [[1922 United States Senate election in California|1922]] for the [[United States Senate|Senate]]. He was the party candidate for governor of California in [[1926 California gubernatorial election|1926]], winning nearly 46,000 votes, and in [[1930 California gubernatorial election|1930]], winning nearly 50,000 votes.

During this period, Sinclair was also active in radical politics in Los Angeles. For instance, in 1923, to support the challenged [[free speech]] rights of [[Industrial Workers of the World]], Sinclair spoke at a rally during the [[1923 San Pedro Maritime Strike|San Pedro Maritime Strike]], in a neighborhood now known as Liberty Hill. He began to read from the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] and was promptly arrested, along with hundreds of others, by the [[LAPD]]. The arresting officer proclaimed: "We'll have none of that Constitution stuff".<ref>{{cite book | title=The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City| url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780520240001| url-access=registration| first1= Robert | last1= Gottlieb| first2= Mark | last2= Vallianatos| first3= Regina M. | last3= Freer| first4= Peter | last4= Dreier | publisher=University of California Press|place=Berkeley, California| year=2005| edition = second | isbn=978-0-520-25009-3}}</ref> In the same year, Sinclair founded the Southern California chapter of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-18 |title=History {{!}} ACLU of Southern California |url=https://www.aclusocal.org/en/about/history |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=www.aclusocal.org |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:TIME Magazine October 22 1934.jpg|thumb|right|Sinclair on the cover of ''Time'' magazine, October 22, 1934]]

In 1934, Sinclair ran in the [[California gubernatorial election, 1934|California gubernatorial election]] as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]. Sinclair's platform, known as the [[End Poverty in California movement]] (EPIC), galvanized the support of the Democratic Party, and Sinclair gained its nomination.<ref>[[Katrina Vanden Heuvel]], ''[[The Nation]] 1865–1990'', p. 80, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1990 {{ISBN|1-56025-001-1}}</ref> Gaining 879,000 votes made this his most successful run for office, but incumbent Governor [[Frank Merriam]] defeated him by a sizable margin,<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/sinclair.html |last= Sinclair| first= Upton| title= End Poverty in California The EPIC Movement| work= The Literary Digest| date= 13 October 1934| via= sfmuseum.org}}</ref> gaining 1,138,000 votes.<ref>{{cite book| url= http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/pesotta/chap31.htm |title= Bread Upon The Waters| chapter= Chapter 31| via= pitzer.edu| first= Rose |last= Pesotta| year= 1945}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= Rob |last= Leicester Wagner| title= Hollywood Bohemia: The Roots of Progressive Politics in Rob Wagner's Script |publisher= Janaway Publishing| year= 2016 |isbn= 978-1-59641-369-6}}</ref> Hollywood studio bosses unanimously opposed Sinclair. They pressured their employees to assist and vote for Merriam's campaign, and made false propaganda films attacking Sinclair, giving him no opportunity to respond.<ref name="Cohen2015">{{cite journal |last1= Cohen| first1= Harvey G. |title=The Struggle to Fashion the NRA Code: The Triumph of Studio Power in 1933 Hollywood|journal=Journal of American Studies| volume= 50| issue= 4|year=2015|pages=1039–1066|issn=0021-8758|doi=10.1017/S002187581500122X| s2cid= 147499614 }}</ref> The [[negative campaigning|negative campaign tactics]] used against Sinclair are briefly depicted in the 2020 American [[biographical drama]] film ''[[Mank]]''.<ref>Mitchell, Greg
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/movies/mank-upton-sinclair.html {{"'}}Mank' and Politics: What Really Happened in 1934 California"]. ''The New York Times'', Dec. 7, 2020.</ref> Upton Sinclair later stated that there was a "campaign of lying" against him during the campaign which was "ordered by the biggest businessmen in California and paid for with millions of dollars" that was carried out by newspapers, politicians, advertisers, and the film industry.<ref name=licked />{{rp|p=99}}

Sinclair's plan to end poverty quickly became a controversial issue under the pressure of numerous migrants to California fleeing the [[Dust Bowl]]. Conservatives considered his proposal an attempted [[communist]] takeover of their state and quickly opposed him, using propaganda to portray Sinclair as a staunch communist. Sinclair had been a member of the Socialist Party from 1902 to 1934, when he became a Democrat, though always considering himself a socialist in spirit.<ref name="Whitman">{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0920.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20001017193542/https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0920.html| archive-date= 17 October 2000| date= November 26, 1968| author-link= Alden Whitman| first= Alden |last= Whitman| title= Rebel With a Cause| work= [[The New York Times]]| access-date= May 11, 2020}}</ref> The [[Socialist Party of California|Socialist Party in California]] and nationwide refused to allow its members to be active in any other party including the Democratic Party and expelled him, along with socialists who supported his California campaign. The expulsions destroyed the Socialist Party in California.<ref>{{cite journal| first= James N.| last= Gregory| title= Upton Sinclair's 1934 EPIC Campaign: Anatomy of a Political Movement| journal= [[Labor (journal)|Labor]] |volume= 12| number= 4 |year= 2015| pages= 51–81| doi= 10.1215/15476715-3155152}}</ref>

At the same time, American and [[Soviet]] communists disassociated themselves from him, considering him a capitalist.<ref>{{cite book| author-link= Greg Mitchell| first= Greg| last= Mitchell| title= The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair and the EPIC Campaign in California| publisher= [[Atlantic Monthly Press]]| year= 1991}}</ref> In later writings, such as his anti-alcohol book ''The Cup of Fury'', Sinclair scathingly censured communism. Science-fiction author [[Robert A. Heinlein]] was deeply involved in Sinclair's campaign, although he attempted to move away from the stance later in his life.<ref>Patterson, William H. ''Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907–1948): Learning Curve''. New York: Tor Books, 2010; pp. 187–205, 527–530, and ''passim''</ref> In the 21st century, Sinclair is considered an early American [[democratic socialist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-wittner/democratic-socialism-has-_b_8448136.html|title=Democratic Socialism Has Deep Roots in American Life|date=November 3, 2015 |first= Lawrence| last= Wittner|work=[[HuffPost]]|access-date=September 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://prospect.org/article/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-and-resurgence-democratic-socialism-america|title=Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Resurgence of Democratic Socialism in America|date=July 3, 2018|first=Peter|last=Dreier|journal=[[The American Prospect]] |access-date= September 7, 2018}}</ref>

After his loss to Merriam, Sinclair abandoned EPIC and politics to return to writing. In 1935, he published ''I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked'',<ref name=licked /> in which he described the techniques employed by Merriam's supporters, including the then popular [[Aimee Semple McPherson]], who vehemently opposed socialism and what she perceived as Sinclair's [[modernism]]. Sinclair's line from this book "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" has become well known and was for example quoted by [[Al Gore]] in ''[[An Inconvenient Truth]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Turkey and the Eagle: The Struggle for America's Global Role|first=Caleb S.|last=Rossiter|page=207}}</ref>

Of his gubernatorial bid, Sinclair remarked in 1951:

<blockquote>The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsocialismP.htm |title= Socialist Party of America: Letter to Norman Thomas| first= Upton |last= Sinclair| work= Spartacus Educational |date= 25 September 1951| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061231173012/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsocialismP.htm |archive-date= 2006-12-31 |access-date= June 10, 2010}}</ref></blockquote>