\"Big Daddy Unruh\" Jesse M. Unruh Hand Signed 5X3 Card For Sale

Up for sale "Big Daddy Unruh" Jesse M. Unruh Hand Signed 5X3 Card. 

ES-7454E

Jesse

Marvin Unruh (/ˈʌnru/;September 30, 1922 – August 4, 1987), also known

as Big Daddy Unruh, was an American politician who served as a

member of the California State Assembly and

as the California State Treasurer.

Born 1922 in Newton, Kansas, Unruh served in the United

States Navy during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at the University of Southern

California, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and journalism during 1948. Unruh's political career began as

an unsuccessful candidate for the California State Assembly during

1950 and 1952. He was elected as a member of the Assembly on his third attempt

during 1954. During 1956, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Presidential elector for

California as a Democrat. During 1959, he wrote California's Unruh Civil Rights Act,

which outlawed discrimination by businesses that offer services to the public

and was a model for later reforms enacted nationally during the 1960s and

1970s. Unruh was Speaker of the California State Assembly from

1961 to 1969 and a delegate to Democratic National

Convention from California in 1960 and 1968. As a national

official of the Democratic Party, he often feuded with Governor of California Pat Brown (1959–67), a fellow Democrat, and was a

case-study of James Q. Wilson's treatise

on machine politics, The Amateur Democrat. Unruh was California

campaign manager for John F. Kennedy in 1960 and a close Kennedy associate

throughout his presidency. He helped convince Senator Robert F. Kennedy to enter the 1968 presidential race and

managed his California campaign. Kennedy won the California primary, but was

assassinated shortly after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los

Angeles. U.S. President Lyndon

Johnson once described Unruh as "probably one of the most

selfish men" he had met in politics. After an unsuccessful

effort, managed by Unruh and Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, to draft Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Unruh released California delegates to vote

their conscience and announced that he would support Eugene McCarthy at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Unruh

left the legislature to campaign unsuccessfully for governor against Ronald

Reagan during 1970. One of his campaign workers was Timothy Kraft, who a decade later was the campaign manager for the unsuccessful reelection offer of

President Jimmy Carter. In

1973, Unruh ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Los Angeles. When

he campaigned for state treasurer during 1974, the post was radio advertisements assured voters, "Make no

mistake about it, I really want this job." Once elected, Unruh politicized

the office. The Wall Street Journal noted he became "the

most politically powerful public finance officer outside the pension funds were a major source of

revenue for Wall Street underwriting companies, and Unruh secured campaign

contributions in exchange for doing business with them. The New York Times said

he had gained control of "an obscure post whose duties had long emphasized

bookkeeping. In characteristic fashion, he soon transformed the job into a

source of financial and political power that reached from California to Wall

Street." Because as Treasurer he was ex officio member

of many California boards and commissions, Unruh supervised "the raising

and expenditure of virtually all the state's money and consolidated his

influence over billions of dollars in public investments and pension

funds". He

served as state treasurer from 1975 until his death from prostate cancer on August 4, 1987, 8 months into his 4th

term as treasurer. Unruh remains the second longest-serving California State

Treasurer behind only Charles G. Johnson (who

served 33 years between 1923 and 1956). The University of Southern California Department of Political

Science includes the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics.