Yes. I think by the time that they were formally organized with a name
and officers he may have been out of law school. He got out of law
school in '37 and they didn't have any formal outward organization until
perhaps '38 or '39. Several state senators, Lawrence Eustis was a member
of the group, Chuck Morrison, who became mayor and then ambassador to
the Organization of American States, was a member, as was his brother
Jake. Raymond Monroe, who was not a political officeholder but who, from
that time on, was very active in political organizations and all the
ensuing races for governor. Goodness, I should remember them all. They
were just an enormously effective group of young people who felt that
they couldn't identify especially with any particular faction in order
to do a job that they felt was necessary, and that was to establish a
feeling that the government could have integrity and could serve the
people well without having any monetary difficulties. They did very
effective work legally and they did, of course, talk with various
governmental agencies that should have been involved, Justice and Post
Office. They staged large rallies conducted by the People's League on
the White House steps. There was a grand jury investigation going on and
the grand jurors felt that the district attorney was not rewarding their efforts of justice with a thorough
investigation, and from that time on the People's League was identified
as a political entity, non-factional political entity, and they went on
to work effectively and affirmatively in the political organization.
The first major effort was the gubernatorial election of 1940. I suppose
the campaign started in the fall of 1939. They were able to elect the
governor of their choice, Sam Jones, and Sam has become a very
conservative person in the way that he is. He was the candidate of the
People's League and all of us went into very active ward-precinct
organizational politics. We had ward leaders and precinct captains and
poll watchers. We worked very hard on voter registration drives. At that
time you had to register every year and by the time you had cleansed the
rolls it was time to start all over. I think it gave all of us a sense
of responsibility at the precinct level, which is extremely helpful all
through your political life. If you go back to the essentials it is
there. The issues are explained and the votes registered and voters
translated into the polls and counted. So, it was a very valuable
lesson. Then, of course, there was no longer a need for a separate
organization. They had done their work in exposing scandal and trying to
reestablish integrity in government and to attract good people into
running parties, making themselves available as candidates and
officials. Then they went on. The various members of
the League were just absorbed into other factions which they felt
compatible with their political feelings. Of course, World War II came
along and disbursed a great many of them.