Sheridan Downey

Senator Sheridan Downey

Sheridan Downey (March 11, 1884 - October 25, 1961) was a lawyer and Democratic Senator from California.

He was born in Laramie, Wyoming, the son of Evangeline Victoria (Owen) and Stephen Wheeler Downey. He was educated in public schools and graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1907, and from the University of Michigan Law School. He practiced law in Laramie and later in Sacramento, California, where he moved in 1913. He unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor of California in 1934 as Upton Sinclair's running mate (opponents called the ticket "Uppie and Downey"). He was first elected to the Senate in 1938 after defeating William G. McAdoo in the Democratic primary and then defeating Republican Philip Bancroft in the general election with 54% of the vote. He served two terms, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950, who in turn was defeated by Republican Representative Richard M. Nixon in one of Nixon's notoriously dirty smear campaigns. After leaving office, Downey practiced law in Washington, D.C. until his death in San Francisco in 1961. After his death, he donated his body to University of California Medical Center.

Sheridan Downey's papers are archived at the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, California.

[edit] Works

Onward America, 1933.
Courage America, 1933.
Why I Believe in the Townsend Plan, 1936.
Pensions or Penury?, 1939. - An early book of New Deal advocacy.
Highways to Prosperity, 1940.
They Would Rule the Valley, 1947. - A book written to inform Californians about the Federal Government's efforts to impose undue economic restrictions on agriculture via the Reclamation Bureau.