“Such Villainy”: How Utah's Newspapers Reflected—and Shaped—the 1916 Gubernatorial Race

“Fortunately, the voters cannot go far wrong by placing either candidate in office,” concluded the Ogden Standard on August 19, 1916. In just over two months, Utah's voters would be going to the polls to choose their next governor. The day before, Utah's Democrats had nominated Simon Bamberger, a mining magnate, railroad owner, businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the Lagoon resort, who had been a state senator and a president of Salt Lake City's Congregation B'nai Israel. A week earlier, Utah's Republicans had nominated Nephi L. Morris, a prominent businessman and president of the Salt Lake Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had been a surprisingly strong candidate for governor on the Progressive Party ticket in 1912. For its progressively inclined readers, the Standard's analysis rang true, as both candidates backed policies that centered on Prohibition, government reform, women's suffrage, legislation to protect workers, and high tariffs to protect businesses. In this way, the Standard reflected what historians Charles S. Peterson and Brian Q. Cannon have termed the “Progressive sentiment engulfing Utah” in that pivotal year.1Progressive optimism aside, Utah's main political parties were each gambling with their choice of candidate. In the twenty years since statehood, Utah's Democratic Party had nominated men similar to Bamberger—wealthy, likeable, well-known—who were also Latter-day Saints in good standing, and every time, they had lost. How could going with someone from outside the predominant faith make a candidate's chances better, especially when that person was a Jewish German immigrant?But the Republicans didn't necessarily have a winning hand either. In giving the nomination to Morris, they had tossed out the incumbent Republican governor, William Spry: He was admittedly unpopular, but he was still the incumbent. Along with him, the “standpat” Republicans and their policies had been forcibly sidelined. Despite Senator Reed Smoot's unification efforts, the stormy state convention had left Utah's Republicans pointing fingers at each other rather than rallying behind Morris.2In their coverage of this unpredictable and hard-fought election, Utah's newspapers gave voice to voter concerns as these newspapers simultaneously played a significant role in shaping those concerns. This process played out within wider contexts that included not only reform-minded Progressive Era politics but also concerns about the Great War in Europe, the revolution in Mexico, and the continued influx of immigrants, especially Jewish people from Eastern Europe. As David S. Koffman has noted, the sharp rise in America's Jewish population in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had a far-reaching impact: “Jewishness began to take up far greater space in the broader American cultural imagination as Americans fretted about the urbanization and industrialization that were transforming the nation.” This newfound attention led, as Hasia R. Diner and Eric L. Goldstein have discussed, to a rise in antisemitism that ran the gamut from caricatures in books and on stage to real-life exclusion from hotels, private clubs, schools, and neighborhoods—and to violence, including lynching.3Also at play was a decades-long acculturation process for Utah's Latter-day Saints, who found themselves caught between the pressure to assimilate into mainstream American culture and the desire to preserve their hard-won cultural independence as a “peculiar people.” As the campaign of 1916 progressed, a fault line in this “Americanization” emerged between the more cosmopolitan Wasatch Front and the state's rural communities. Utah's biggest cities had, by this time, experienced an influx of “Gentile” immigrants—including those who received the wholly unique designation of “Jewish Gentiles”—and these immigrants had made substantial, high-profile contributions to commerce and culture. As a result of this diversification, Utah culture and identity along the Wasatch Front was far from homogenous, even among members of the predominant faith. Reflecting the reality of their diverse communities (and concomitant tensions), readers along the Wasatch Front could choose from a variety of newspapers, including the well-established rivalry between the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Evening News, which the LDS church owned.4For many residents of Utah's rural communities, however, membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had forged a single cultural identity—one that unified European immigrants, some Native Americans, and the grandchildren of Mormon pioneers—specifically by rejecting and excluding “Gentiles.” Small-town newspapers in these areas typically reflected this monolithic culture by printing, for example, information about Relief Society, the Mutual Improvement Association for young people, and Sunday School, along with the sermons of visiting general authorities of the church, even though these papers were not church owned or church sponsored.5Highlighting this cultural fault line, rural newspapers published, in at least two cases in 1916, antisemitic songs from the Republican campaign trail that were not printed in newspapers in Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Provo. As further antisemitic material appeared late in the campaign, rural newspapers ignored it while the state's metropolitan newspapers reflected outrage: letters to the editor and advertisements with scathing rebuttals gave voice to public outrage and pushback.While Republican leaders clearly thought that both the “Americanized” Utahns of the Wasatch Front and the “Gentile”-excluding Utahns of rural areas would unite against a German-born Jew, they turned out to be entirely mistaken. Bamberger's surprising victory presented, therefore, not only a new era of “political and cultural maturity” in Utah but also a strong rebuke to the rising tide of American antisemitism.6Initially, the outcome of the 1916 election seemed to be a foregone conclusion. In April, the press reported on a surprise development at the convention of Utah's third largest political party, the Progressive Party, that seemed to set the stage for an easy Republican win. Four years earlier, the Progressive Party had split from the Republicans, following Theodore Roosevelt's lead and winning some local races. Their gubernatorial candidate, Nephi L. Morris, had made a strong showing, even if his 23,590 votes had put him in third place. But as he headlined the Progressive Party convention in 1916, Morris declared that Republicans and Progressives were actually united on principles and encouraged everyone in attendance to return to the Republican Party. As Goodwin's Weekly described the moment, it was a jaw-dropping about-face. But it played into a familiar Utah narrative: “The return of Mr. Morris and those who responded to his call . . . presages the speedy disintegration of the Progressive party. We even venture the prediction that it will spell the defeat of the Democratic party this year, for the Democrats cannot hope to cope with the reunited Republicans.” This conclusion—that Morris had just thrown the victory to the Republicans—seemed indisputable.7Yet by July, newspapers across the state had caught wind of the fact that many Progressives had ignored this call, that Republicans were far from united, and that their primaries would be hotly contested, especially because Morris had ambitions beyond the role of kingmaker—instead, he intended to be governor. Utah Valley's delegates supported Morris because he had a clean record on Prohibition, reported the press, while Salt Lake's delegates favored the incumbent Spry. The rural Vernal Express told its readers a fight was brewing: “Persons who have returned from Salt Lake during the past week declare that Governor Spry will make a desperate fight for the nomination for governor of the Republican Party. They also state that there is opposition to him such as never developed against a governor for Utah before.”8As a result of the infighting, the Republican convention in early August was indeed “the most spectacular in the history of Utah”—and not in a good way—according to Moab's Grand Valley Times. “Several of the nominations were bitterly contested,” this newspaper informed its readers. Salt Lake City's newspapers echoed this assessment. Calling the convention battle the “most fierce in state history,” the Salt Lake Telegram gave its readers a detailed breakdown of the gubernatorial nomination. While technically a race between seven contenders, the real question was whether it would go to Spry or Morris. The delegates cast their first vote, and no one had close to the majority needed to win the nomination—a far cry from the unanimous vote for Spry in 1912. Surprisingly, Morris had narrowly come in first. On the second ballot, Morris's lead widened but still fell short of the necessary majority. By the third round of voting, enough delegates had flipped their votes that Morris gained the nomination by an astonishingly narrow margin: two-thirds of a single vote.9The Ogden Standard editorialized that the fight for governor was now over. The real fight had been in securing the nomination; now the Republican Party had merely to marshal their “loyal army of believers,” as had been the case for almost twenty years, and Morris was as good as elected. “Even with the Progressives creating a schism, they were strong enough to claim Utah as their own,” noted the newspaper, observing that nothing seemed able to crack their ranks, even if Republican tactics had drained enthusiasm from supporters and ought to drive “the independent thinker to the opposition.”10Exactly who the opposition was had yet to be determined. Two days later (on August 10, 1916), three Wasatch Front newspapers ran articles announcing that Simon Bamberger had declared himself a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The Salt Lake Telegram was almost gleeful: “Simon Bamberger has jumped into the political fight in Utah with both feet.” The Telegram reminded its readers that Bamberger had announced his interest in running for the US Senate against Republican incumbent George Sutherland, but Bamberger had “changed his mind and said he would not get into that race.”11Unlike the breezy tone of the Telegram's coverage, the Ogden Standard and the Salt Lake Tribune printed Bamberger's election announcement in full for their readers. The announcement began with a personal note: I have spent forty-eight years of my life in Utah in various lines of business, assisting in the development of the resources and transportation facilities of the west. What I have been able to make and in this is and my in Utah and my and up in and announcement included a of that the of the Progressive to Prohibition, to a public to to the to and to the The candidate the of and to the Great War that from German in an or in or in no with what announcement with an to supporters beyond his party, or to his which he would be made into a campaign of the coverage of these three metropolitan newspapers, Bamberger's announcement received A day City's ran a short that Bamberger, “the Salt Lake had announced he was the Democratic nomination for governor. The newspaper that Bamberger had to the state and that he would make a governor. Goodwin's the newspaper reminded its readers that “the for Democratic this over a week the Democrats for their state convention in the as had the Republicans, and the of Bamberger's nomination in a of detailed coverage across the sharp to the which their Republican at the only days the informed its readers, “the Democrats were a is to they in and their were not by that and which was clearly in the other political the coverage in the Ogden Standard declared that the Democratic state convention new in Utah The Standard to the of Progressive Party candidates into the of and of policies into the But it the of the that only a of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could be governor of noted in the coverage, on this was to the the by a prominent Latter-day and The for example, that “the of in of the also his to make the case for Bamberger as the American someone who had on America's as a young and and had and for the of had a against I to and rebuke those who in a political the of race and against my of were in early or its from the of their the of my candidate were in and to the and commerce the there was and what even to this a had to be of it is the the second round of voting, Bamberger had come out on and the Democrats behind As the for a rising vote, and the delegates for the Bamberger's though newspapers on the Wasatch Front noted that he his every on of the party and for up and the to that I hope and that will never have to for this he to the Ogden which that he concluded with some of his go on to I of it that if to the line, I into Utah years early the candidates had the Bamberger and Morris both at a by over one people in on to the Ogden Standard's Bamberger's was but his were with which the in good Morris, on the other was as he Utah's the Salt Lake Tribune that David a businessman from had declared while he and his favored Republicans for far as the gubernatorial in Utah is made of party strong for the Tribune informed its readers, had to with Bamberger's and as a businessman, and he it up in a what Senator Bamberger and that he for he will go to that Bamberger's some articles the between the “Jewish and the identity of the majority of Utah's In the most prominent of the Salt Lake Tribune Bamberger's to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it reported on the of L. a US Senator from in a to the Democratic I in Senator was a on to and church among the first letters I received in with this was one from Mr. Bamberger in which he against such and himself on record against to the of Utah and following this coverage, were in including on the of the the candidates the the press their and reported on their that and Progressive Era concerns. the stage with US Senate candidate William Bamberger at and A week he appeared with of candidate in Vernal and in at the Democratic In these Bamberger by the following August and a that would and the for an Morris gave in Salt and to he Prohibition, but he also began to Bamberger's the to Republicans behind Morris, on the Salt Lake Tribune reported on a at the Salt Lake that Governor Spry Morris. But the Tribune noted while they Republican and Utahns to Republican principles and both men most of their to the Governor Spry even out at to the life of the Spry had the Tribune found it that the governor had up the which had turned many voters and their against him, as a campaign with the of him to campaign, Republican leaders to Bamberger with on his and in the and him as a and this seemed a good the Democrats the high and ran with a of their candidate, with an to the people of have from personal and of in this Bamberger in the this “The people that of They it and will rebuke it at the set the record he declared his for the significant of the and against Democratic for the Bamberger's the Republican campaign continued to his and their on his This second the of two of which were printed in rural Utah The first was reported to be a by a that the at the Republican convention in A to the of a to the at Bamberger for even though he had a at and it that Governor in as as be a and not a The played on Bamberger's to to if he didn't a to a to a to Simon will not and a to my up in the Bamberger to was an that on the were thrown the Saints would be the up in second behind a by a Jew, was an and a second and more antisemitic campaign appeared in just one week the “The one that will and of state to will be the placing of a in of transforming the of of the to editorialized the as they the We was a of We the state that for in Utah's to the on not to take for or of the Jewish . . . the years, . . . its to and “Simon and the further of Jewish Bamberger's record of and a antisemitic just days the election, Republicans what appeared to be a of But the had been to make him the of Jewish Republican leaders later that the had been up at their Utah their the was far and this Republican leaders that they could the votes of “Americanized” Utahns who would be familiar with the rising tide of antisemitism in and the public in cities on the and simultaneously in rural Latter-day Saints cultural identity including Jewish of rallying the antisemitic however, some and Wasatch Front newspapers were their continued to campaign on Bamberger's and to a that with and for Nephi L. Morris American said a in the Deseret Evening appeared with Bamberger at the a that people, the Ogden Standard reported that out Senator for personal on Bamberger and Republicans for on Bamberger's following the Ogden Standard printed a to the editor by prominent Latter-day Charles that out in the sentiment against the Jewish against Bamberger, first reminded readers that Latter-day Saints had been only years He Bamberger's as a has been by his the past and within that Bamberger was and a with the of the who had the their to Salt Lake But was most in out Latter-day Saints to be as were not against by they needed to the to including no race or into this Mr. Bamberger as the to Mormon candidates for appeared the day the election, when Wasatch Front newspapers an The both the and the the out the Republican to a and to both and against Bamberger, a made by William a businessman and prominent Latter-day himself as Bamberger's for more than years, the of the to Bamberger is a Jew, but he is first of an American and is of as to to a question into a political to Bamberger's history of contributions to his hope that Utahns would the of against Bamberger he to the race of voters to Bamberger's and is and I he will out to the every of his united the two of his I to and to everyone who good government to rebuke the that and to vote for this who what he and who will what he centered the the antisemitic The what the Republican campaign had both in the and in an and In his readers to the that to and good This also gave the vote as not only the choice but also the necessary of the the a into the was with voters in Salt Lake and made no to to a The was entirely on the desire to and against an at as and the of now at The for such as the were greater than which party win the into Wasatch Front newspapers the antisemitism that the Republican campaign to have to out of the metropolitan it and about Bamberger's as to into Two days a for Morris in the Deseret Evening News, with its of the candidate, a campaign with the for a Utah for Utah's A at Bamberger's to Prohibition, reminded readers of the Ogden Standard that Morris was of the Salt Lake though this not to Bamberger's it clearly that Bamberger a real the day of the election, to the Salt Lake both thought they were set to win. In a that noted the Democrats at the and the Republicans at the Salt Lake the Tribune informed readers that Republican Party that was in to Utah the Republican years that the Republican Party would win across the state as voters their to it and their Democratic state was of to the He the of women's clubs, the of three of campaign and the enthusiasm of men who been in twenty “The Democratic party has been to a campaign which will be he While that the party leaders be for in a noted that the other had and into the he In he has a in a that has him to the of the it was to voter the Tribune “The prediction of and for an call from both for an of to be in voters to and from the for the they noted, would be to each campaign their the the the next said a in Democrats announced the Grand Valley Times. Republican declared the that of the party either the The that Democratic leaders that it the Salt Lake Telegram reported that the an of a the made by the Democrats also the the newspaper and that he further by to everyone in Salt Lake City's and the were over that following Utah's newspapers made it that the Democratic was nothing short of a The had been as Goodwin's Weekly The Democratic clean that Democrats had every single one of the and three The Utah of had as many Republican as one In the state the Democrats while Republicans only the in the Utah it with a Democratic as they Utah's newspapers and Goodwin's was of Salt Lake City's press, the and the Democratic party its City's reported that they nothing but about Bamberger's election to his and his were but no “The voters have said what they and to the of this and they have a to and what they the reminded its the and as the of the Utah's political began with A the that Bamberger's had the and the Salt Lake Tribune readers that Bamberger would be most The Salt Lake was that voters were in of that they a Democratic Calling for a the also Governor Spry and his of not Weekly the Republicans and especially for a campaign that party members to the that they not for and their at the Goodwin's even that the campaign Utah's Republicans a about their to the people have a for independent thought and Goodwin's “The political Goodwin's leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for what in the of its short of the Salt Lake at one in Senator Reed “The that within his church there an sentiment against the of a in politics and in with the Tribune further and have with the they they Simon Bamberger and or Senator and Salt Lake City's on the single biggest of the the of Bamberger with its of and Jewish of “Americanized” metropolitan Utahns they clearly were not on with the of while some rural Saints as many more a with their membership in the of that this were also by the The which the Salt Lake Telegram a . . . of political turned if not of voters to Bamberger, the Salt Lake who concluded that Republican leaders it “The of that were of the with which and people received the the the Salt Lake Telegram that the was an of the many of that had at Jewish people over the The election was about than the of the two “The people of in to a campaign with such were on themselves to a As the Telegram noted for its readers and as as an election to be about the actually about the Utahns politics and For the gubernatorial election of 1916, the was a their it be said that they gave the in no