California

C

Progressive Era and World War I

In Los Angeles the boom peaked in 1887, and by 1889 the city’s economy began to decline; in 1892 that of San Francisco followed suit. The Panic of 1893 led to a serious depression in California, characterized by bank and business failures and labour violence, and corruption existed at all levels of government. The Lincoln-Roosevelt League, organized in 1907 by liberal Republicans, became the spearhead of the Progressives, who elected Hiram W. Johnson as governor in 1910, ushering in an era of significant economic and political reforms. World War I stimulated an expansion of agriculture and industry.

D

Inter-War Period

Although demobilization initially caused a decline in jobs, California quickly boomed again. In the 1920s, 2 million newcomers poured into the state. By 1924 the population of Los Angeles reached 1 million. With the advent of the motor car, oil became a major industry, and in 1925 more than one fifth of the world’s oil was produced in California. The film industry, centring on Hollywood, prospered, as did the citrus industry of southern California.

Following the 1929 stock market crash, the Great Depression hit California hard as farm income dropped and unemployment spread.

E

World War II and After

During World War II, prosperity returned to the state as the aircraft plants of southern California and the shipyards of the San Francisco Bay area expanded to meet the production demands of a global war. The steel, oil, machinery, rubber, and electrical equipment industries also advanced, and farm income more than doubled. An influx of war workers caused the state’s population to increase by almost 2 million between 1940 and 1945. For fear of their possible disloyalty, however, some 100,000 residents of Japanese descent were placed in “relocation centres”—actually detention camps—during the war.

When peace came, many war workers and returning veterans remained in the state. The population explosion continued, resulting in temporary shortages in housing and schools. The aerospace and electronics industries provided jobs. Earl Warren, governor from 1943 to 1953, created a “rainy-day fund” from surplus state revenue during the war for a later expansion of motorways and public higher education. By 1962 California was the most populous state.

California’s national economic and political power continued to expand between 1950 and 1990, as the state’s population nearly tripled. In 1966 Ronald Reagan was elected governor, and in his two terms he reduced state funding of such items as higher education and mental health. In 1968, Richard Nixon became the first native-born Californian to win the US presidency. Later, Reagan served two terms as president in the 1980s.

F

California in the 1990s and Beyond

Many parts of California were buffeted by serious natural disasters in the late 1980s and 1990s. Earthquakes caused major damage in the San Francisco area in 1989 as well as east of Los Angeles in 1992, and again in the Los Angeles area in 1994. Brush fires destroyed more than 1,000 homes in southern California in 1993. By early 1995 winter storms had caused flood damage throughout the state. Extensive flooding and mud slides also resulted from above-average rainfall in the winter of 1998 caused by El Niño, a warming of the atmosphere and oceans that periodically disturbs weather patterns. Further severe fires in the autumn of 2003 laid waste to over 300,000 hectares (750,000 acres) of land and caused over 20 deaths.

Racial tensions also increased in the 1990s. In 1991 white Los Angeles police officers were videotaped while beating a black motorist named Rodney King. When the officers were found not guilty during their criminal trial in 1992, news of the acquittal set off another riot in south-central Los Angeles. Some 58 people were killed and many homes and businesses were destroyed or looted. In April 1993 two of the police officers were convicted by a court for violating Rodney King's civil rights.

Illegal immigration from Mexico became a major political issue in California in the 1990s. In November 1994 Californian voters approved the controversial Proposition 187, which would revoke the rights of illegal immigrants to state education, welfare, and health services. In November 1995 a US District judge overturned major parts of the proposition, but anti-immigration forces continued to push for limitations on the rights of illegal immigrants.

The past few decades have been California's most complicated historical period. The rapid construction of roads, airports, new factories, and new schools symbolized a continuing shift away from an agricultural society and towards an industrial one. As the state moved from a rural to an urban culture, grape vineyards and orange groves gave way to urban sprawl, and much of the quiet grace and beauty of the past seemed to vanish. Nonetheless, California's warm climate and outdoor way of life continue to attract many new residents.

California was the first state to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to reduce global warming caused by the increased volume of traffic in the state. The California Clean Air Act was introduced in 1999, stipulating that, by 2003, 10 per cent of all new cars sold in that state must have zero exhaust emissions. The Act, amended in July 2002, requires all manufacturers of new cars and light-duty vehicles to achieve the maximum feasible reductions to carbon dioxide emission levels by 2009.