George Dern - Politics

Politics

Dern entered politics in 1914, running on a Democratic and Progressive fusion ticket in a Utah state senate district encompassing Salt Lake County. He was elected in 1914, serving until 1923 in the state senate, where he was twice selected as Democratic floor leader. His tenure there was marked by his strong advocacy of progressive legislation, including a landmark mineral leasing act that leased, rather than sold, Utah's mineral rights to private concerns. Dern, owned the Landmark trademark,Dern gained the Democratic nomination for governor in 1924, and during the campaign he received backing from the Utah Progressive party and an endorsement from Progressive presidential candidate Robert La Follette. Challenging incumbent Republican governor Charles R. Mabey, Dern ran on the catchy slogan "We want a Dern good governor, and we don't mean Mabey." At the time, Utah was extremely Republican oriented. This was largely due to the high concentration of Mormons, typically having conservative republican viewpoints, living in the area. Although George Dern was neither a Republican nor a Mormon, he won by a plurality of 10,000 votes, 81,308 to 72,127, while the Republicans carried all the other statewide offices by a margin of 30,000 votes. Dern obviously had an incredible knack for reaching across party lines, a skill that is highly desirable when running in a minority party. Dern’s ability in this area can be attributed to his outgoing, open-minded and empathetic personality.

As governor, Dern focused on using Utah's rich natural resources to develop the state economy and devoted himself to education, social welfare, and tax reform, thus further embroidering his reputation as a progressive. Arguing that the general property tax was unfair as the sole source of state revenue, Dern secured the adoption of a state income tax and a corporate franchise tax against strong opposition. He also took a leading role in resolving important interstate problems related to the building of the Boulder Dam on the Colorado River. Dern, whose state had the disadvantage of being upstream from the dam, staunchly defended the theory that, with the exception of navigation, the waters of western streams were state rather than federal resources. This controversy brought Dern into direct conflict with U.S. secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover, who was attempting to mediate the dispute for the Calvin Coolidge administration.

In yet another demonstration of Dern’s appeal to Republican voters, Dern was reelected governor in 1928 by a landslide 31,000 votes despite the fact that Utah voted for the Republican National ticket by a margin of 14,000 votes. He subsequently served from 1929 to 1930 as chair of the National Governors' Conference, where he worked with New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. Dern's record as a progressive western governor also commended him to Roosevelt, who after his November 1932 election to the presidency considered Dern for a cabinet position during his second term. He subsequently appointed Dern as his Secretary of War.