John Calloway Walton (March 6, 1881 – November 25, 1949) was an American politician and the fifth

governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the '' ex of ...

. He served the shortest term of any Governor of Oklahoma, being the first Governor in the state's history to be removed from office. Following his removal from office, he entered the primary for a seat in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, winning the Democratic nomination, but losing to William B. Pine, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He was elected to the

Oklahoma Corporation Commission The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the public utilities commission of the U.S state of Oklahoma run by three statewide elected commissioners. Authorized to employ more than 400 employees, it regulates oil and gas drilling, utilities and teleph ...

in 1932 and served until 1939, running for governor again in 1934 and 1938. He died in 1949 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.

Early life

John Calloway Walton was born on March 6, 1881, in Greensboro, Indiana.Biographical Note John Walton

Oklahoma Department of Libraries
(accessed May 17, 2010). He spent six years in Indianapolis before his family moved to

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

. At the age of sixteen, Walton joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in 1897, and served for six years. Walton did not see combat service during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

; however he did serve at a post in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

for some time. Following his discharge from the Army in 1903, Walton traveled to Oklahoma Territory to make his life as a contractor in the field of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

. Walton set up his practice in the thriving metropolis of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. Walton lived in Oklahoma City when Oklahoma was officially admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907, and saw the capital moved from Guthrie, Oklahoma to Oklahoma City in 1910. Walton joined the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and became an active participant in the state's political matters. In 1917, under the Robert L. Williams administration, Walton was elected to his first political office.O'Dell, Larry,
Walton, John Calloway (1881–1949)
"
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
'' (accessed May 17, 2010). Due to his engineering experience, Walton easily won election to the office of Commissioner of Public Works of Oklahoma City. Due to his success in that office, two years later Walton was elected as the mayor of Oklahoma City, a post he served in until 1923. Before his term as mayor ended, Walton entered his name in the Democratic primary as a candidate for

Governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the '' ex of ...

to succeed

James B. A. Robertson James Brooks Ayres Robertson (March 15, 1871 – March 7, 1938), sometimes called J. B. A. Robertson, was an American lawyer, judge and the fourth governor of Oklahoma. Robertson was appointed by the state's first governor, Charles N. Haskell, ...

. After winning the Democratic nomination Walton travelled around the state giving the most colorful and liveliest speeches and campaign platforms in Oklahoma's history until that point. In the general election, Walton was successful in his bid (despite an advertising campaign by conservative Democrats accusing him of "Sovietism" and "state Socialism"), and his inauguration and inaugural ball were just as lively as his campaign.

Governor of Oklahoma

Walton was inaugurated as the fifth

on January 9, 1923. Walton represented the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and his policies reflected this. Despite this, many of the programs in his domestic policy (the Reconstruction League) were accepted by the

Oklahoma Legislature The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate are the two houses that make up the bicameral state legislature. There are 101 ...

and 1923 proved to be one of the most progressive legislative sessions in the state's history. Among Walton's reforms were an expanded farm cooperative program to aid troubled farms, a revision of the Workman's Compensation Law for improved benefits to employees, and stronger warehouse inspection laws to satisfy Oklahoma's cotton and wheat farmers. Walton looked to his predecessor Robertson for many ideas of his administration. Just as education had been a large part of Robertson's programs, so it became with Walton. Walton passed through the Legislature Oklahoma's first program to allow free text books to all students in Oklahoma's schools and a grant of over $1,000,000 in state funds to aid weak schools. In true progressive manner, Walton instituted harsher penalties for breaking state laws and regulations, increased spending on welfare programs, and instituted a farm stabilization program under the supervision of the State Board of Agriculture. Walton's troubles first began when he began to flip-flop between those progressives who supported his programs and those conservatives who did not. Walton began to lose control of the Legislature and by trying to appeal to both sides, lost all support. Hoping to regain his lost support, Walton attempted to gain factional support by making appointments of the faction leaders to the higher level government and educational positions. Though he would see minor success in this venture, in the long term this proved to be ineffective. By 1921, the white racist Ku Klux Klan had grown to dangerous levels of power, which resulted in the

Tulsa Race Massacre The Tulsa race massacre, also known as the Tulsa race riot or the Black Wall Street massacre, was a two-day-long massacre that took place between May 31 – June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been appointed as deput ...

in which angry whites raged through black neighborhoods, beating and killing. As many as ten thousand were left homeless with "the official count of 36" dead. The violence continued during Walton's administration. In order to crack down on the Klan, Walton declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in Okmulgee and

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

counties, and the suspended the

writ of habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

in Tulsa County.

Impeachment and removal

Walton's main opponents in Oklahoma politics were "disappointed office-seekers, the klan, and the school bloc" according to a 1930 study. The Oklahoma Constitution strictly forbade any member of the state government from suspending this writ and the legislature was outraged by Governor Walton's action. In response, a grand jury was established in Oklahoma City and charged with investigating. Following the announcement of the creation of the grand jury, on September 15, 1923, Walton declared "absolute martial law" for the entire state. Impeachment demands filled the State Capitol and the leaders of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and Senate acted by calling a special session on October 2. Hoping to prevent the impeachment charges from being carried out, Walton called the Legislature into a special session of his own on October 11 with the topic being the KKK. The Legislature refused to meet and recessed until October 17 when impeachment charges could be organized. Under the supervision of the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

William Dalton McBee, the House brought twenty-two charges against Walton, and voted for impeachment. Soon after, on October 23, Walton was suspended in his office as Governor and Lieutenant Governor Martin E. Trapp became acting Governor. Representative Wesley E. Disney (D-

), acted as the prosecutor in the Senate, which oversaw his

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment, but differ as to when in the impeachment process trials take place and how ...

its function as the Court of Impeachment. His impeachment trial in the Senate was presided over by the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Of the House's twenty-two charges, eleven were sustained, including "illegal collection of campaign funds, padding the public payroll, suspension of habeas corpus, excessive use of the pardon power, and general incompetence." On November 19, 1923, Walton was convicted and removed from office. Lieutenant Governor Trapp succeeded Walton and became the sixth Governor of Oklahoma on the same day. The impeachment is said to have "frightened" the state "into a system of preferential voting as an escape from minority nominations." Walton received only "an extremely small per cent of the total votes cast" in the Democratic primary, yet was still selected as the Democratic candidate. This perceived injustice induced the Legislature to adopt a different electoral system. Eventually, they created the primary electoral system in the state.

Later political activity and death

In 1924, the year after Walton's removal from office, U.S. Senator Robert L. Owen retired; he had represented Oklahoma in the Senate since it became a state in 1907. Walton promptly entered the primary for Senator and won the Democratic nomination with just 30% of the vote, narrowly defeating Rep. E. B. Howard. Walton may have won the nomination so soon after his removal from office because he was the only Democratic candidate to criticize the Klan publicl

However, Walton lost in the general election in a landslide (62% to 35%) to Republican Party (United States), Republican William B. Pine. Leading Democrats in the state responded by enacting a ranked-choice voting scheme that required voters to support second and third choices in order for their ballots to count, a provision that resulted in the primary electoral system being ruled unconstitutional. After that legislation was passed to implement the run-off system that is in place in the state today. In 1932, Walton was elected to the

, and served from 1933 to 1939. In 1934, and again in 1938, he ran for Governor, losing both times in Democratic primary. After his service as Commissioner, Walton retired from political office. He spent his remaining years practicing law in Oklahoma City, where he died at the age of 68 on November 25, 1949. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.

State of the State Speech

First and only State of the State Speech

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, John C. 1881 births 1949 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians Democratic Party governors of Oklahoma Impeached United States officials removed from office by state or territorial governments Lawyers from Oklahoma City Oklahoma lawyers Politicians from Indianapolis Politicians from Oklahoma City Impeached governors removed from office