Frederick Francis Houser Papers, 1925-1975

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Summary

Creators:
Houser, Frederick Francis, 1904-
Abstract:
Frederick Francis Houser (1904- ) was a member of the California Republican State Central Committee (1930-40), a member of the California legislature for the 53rd Assembly District (1931-33,1939-43), Republican nominee for Congress (1932,1934, and 1936), served as lieutenant governor (1943-46), ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for California senator (1944) and became judge of the California Superior Court (1947). The collection consists of political and personal papers, material regarding his U.S. Senatorial campaign, the UCLA Alumni Association and the UCLA School of Law. The collection also contains business and real estate materials.
Extent:
115 boxes (57.5 linear ft.) 166 boxes (84.0 linear ft.)
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of political and personal papers related to former Los Angeles Superior Court judge and California lieutenant governor Frederick Francis Houser. Also includes material regarding his U.S. Senatorial campaign in 1944, the UCLA Alumni Association and the UCLA School of Law, 1947-59. Also contains business and real estate materials.

Expanded Scope and Content

The bulk of this collection of papers is correspondence and printed material relating to Judge Houser's campaign for the Senate, both in the primary and the November general election. One item of note about this campaign is that Murray Chotiner was Houser's secretary at the time; consequently, many of the letters, etc., are signed by Chotiner and written by him.

Biographical / historical:

Houser was born on November 14, 1904 in Los Angeles, California; AB, 1926, UCLA; served as UCLA student body president, 1925-26; taught government at Harvard University, 1926-29; LL.B, 1929, Harvard Law School; practiced law, 1930-46; member of the California Republican State Central Committee, 1930-40; member of the California legislature for the 53rd Assembly District, 1931-33,1939-43; Republican nominee for Congress in 1932,1934, and 1936; served as lieutenant governor, 1943-46; ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for California senator in 1944; became judge of the California Superior Court in 1947.

Biographical Narrative

Judge Frederick F. Houser has had a long career in California politics, serving as assemblyman from the 53rd district, 1931-33 and 1939-42, and as lieutenant-governor during Earl Warren's first gubernatorial term, 1943-46. Judge Houser has also served as a member of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee, 1926-40, and of the Republican State Central Committee, 1930-40. He was a Republican nominee for Congress, 1932, 1934, and 1936, and in 1944 ran for the United States Senate against incumbent Democrat Sheridan Downey.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Frederick Francis Houser, 1966 1969.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. 1944 U.S. Senate campaign (Boxes 1-14).
  2. UCLA-related correspondence (Boxes 15,47-59).
  3. Political (Boxes 16-36,48-53,56-61,67-70,73-74,76-78,89,94-96,103-42, 144,146,150-52).
  4. Real estate (Boxes 37-40).
  5. Correspondence (Boxes 41-44).
  6. Business (Boxes 45-47,74,89).
  7. Unknown (Boxes 54-56,79-88,145).
  8. Personal (Boxes 61-66,71-72,74-75,154-55,157-167).
  9. Court (Boxes 90-93,97-102,143).
  10. Miscellaneous (Boxes 147-49,153,156).

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website