Charles Norris Poulson (July 23, 1895 – September 25, 1982) was an American politician who represented

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

in public office at the local, state, and federal levels. He served as the 36th

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

from 1953 to 1961, after having been a California State Assemblyman and then a member of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. He was 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 ...

though the office of mayor is officially nonpartisan.

Early life and career

Charles Norris Poulson was born in

Baker County, Oregon Baker County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,668. The county seat and largest city is Baker City. The county was organized on September 22, 1862, when a portion of Wasco Co ...

. He was the son of Peter Skovo Poulson (1843-1928) who was an immigrant from

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Poulson attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

in Corvallis for two years before he wed Erna June Loennig on December 25, 1916. The couple arrived in Los Angeles in 1923. Poulson became a certified public accountant through correspondence classes and night school at

Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School is a Private university, private Law school in the United States, law school in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bulloc ...

, which at that time had a business school.

Political career

California State Assembly and U.S. Congress

In 1938, he was elected to the 56th District seat of the California State Assembly. He won a congressional seat four years later. After losing the seat in the 1944 election, he returned to the

following the 1946 elections, remaining there until his election as mayor of Los Angeles. During his years as a congressman, Poulson helped lead California in its fight against

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

over

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

water. At the time of his departure from Congress, he was the chairman of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Los Angeles mayor

Poulson's victory in the Los Angeles mayoral race came after a contentious battle in which his opponent, incumbent mayor Fletcher Bowron, claimed that the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wanted to control city government and, by endorsing Poulson, would have a puppet in the mayor's office. Poulson, for his part, challenged Bowron's support for public housing, in particular a project in the area known as

Chavez Ravine Chavez Ravine is a shallow L-shaped canyon in Los Angeles, California. It sits in a large promontory of hills north of downtown Los Angeles, next to Major League Baseball's Dodger Stadium. Chavez Ravine was named for Julian Chavez, a Los Angele ...

in Elysian Park Heights (a site on which

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

would one day be built). With the support of the group Citizens Against Socialist Housing (CASH) and drawing on the anti-communist atmosphere of the time, Poulson promised to end support for such "un-American" housing projects and to fire city employees who were communists or who refused to answer questions about their political activities. During his eight years as mayor, Los Angeles became the third largest city in the United States, with Poulson instrumental in leading the construction of the Los Angeles International Airport and expanding the Los Angeles Harbor. Most notably, he led the drive to lure baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. This led to what became known as the Battle of Chavez Ravine which resulted in the removal of Hispanic residents from land on which Dodger Stadium was later constructed. He helped integrate the city's fire and police departments and initiated a garbage recycling program that proved to be a factor in his defeat in 1961. In 1958 and 1959, Paulson served as president of the

United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded i ...

. Perhaps the most memorable image of his mayoral career came on September 21, 1959, when he addressed Soviet premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

during a public ceremony. The comments came after Khrushchev had constantly touted Soviet superiority during his tour of the city by Poulson. Citing Khrushchev's phrase, " We will bury you," Poulson responded, "You shall not bury us and we shall not bury you. We tell you in the friendliest terms possible we are planning no funerals, yours or our own." Poulson received over 3,600 letters following the incident, many of them praising him for his comments. He lost a reelection campaign in 1961 to

Sam Yorty Samuel William Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was an American radio host, attorney, and politician from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, ...

, partly due to having to explain the expenses incurred by the Dodgers' franchise shift. Efforts to blunt such criticism were limited due to a severe case of laryngitis, which prevented him from responding to the invitation from local television personality George Putnam to debate Yorty on his show. Poulson never recovered from the laryngitis and his campaign never recovered from the setback. Following the defeat, Poulson briefly returned to accounting before moving to La Jolla, California in 1962. He died in 1982.''C. Norris Poulson''
(New York Times)

References

External links

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Norris Poulson papers Join California Norris Poulson