Frank Finley Merriam (22 December 1865-25 April 1955) was the Republican Governor of California from 2 June 1934 to 2 January 1939, succeeding James Rolph and preceding Culbert Olson.
Biography[]
Frank Finley Merriam was born in Hopkinton, Iowa in 1865, and he worked as a school principal before serving as superintendent of schools for Postville for a year and editor of the Hopkinton Leader; he also entered politics as a Republican, serving in the State House from 1896 to 1898 and as State Auditor from 1899 to 1903. He moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1904 and owned and published the Muskogee Evening Times, and he moved to Long Beach, California in 1910. Merriam served in the State Assembly from 1917 to 1927, in the State Senate from 1929 to 1931, as Lieutenant Governor from 1931 to 1934, and as Governor from 1934 to 1939, succeeding James Rolph on his death, and defeating the Democrat Upton Sinclair for re-election in 1934. As Governor, Merriam faced labor agitation from the International Longshoremen's Association in San Francisco, suppressing it with the US National Guard in "Bloody Thursday". An ever-shrinking state budget and growing deficit forced Merriam to raise taxes, angering many of his fellow conservatives, and he lost re-election to the Democrat Culbert Olson, the first Democratic Governor of California in 40 years. He died in Long Beach in 1955.