Jack C. Walton

John Calloway “Jack” Walton (March 6, 1881 – November 25, 1949) was an American politician and the fifth Governor of Oklahoma. Walton would serve the shortest term of any Governor of Oklahoma,^[1] being the first Governor in the state’s history to be removed from office.^[2]

Early life

John Calloway Walton was born on March 6, 1881, in Indianapolis, Indiana.^[1] He spent six years in Indianapolis before his family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. At the age of sixteen, Walton joined the United States Army in 1897 where he spent the next six years. Despite his enlistment, Walton did not see active duty during the Spanish-American War; however he did serve at a post in Mexico for some time.

Following his discharge from the military in 1903, Walton traveled to Oklahoma Territory to make his life as a contractor in the field of civil engineering.^[1] Walton set up his practice in the thriving metropolis of Oklahoma City. Walton lived in Oklahoma City when Oklahoma was officially admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907, and saw the capital moved from Guthrie, Oklahoma to Oklahoma City in 1910.

Walton joined the Democratic Party and became an active participant in the state’s political matters. In 1917, under the Robert L. Williams administration, Walton was elected to his first political office.^[2] Due to his engineering experience, Walton easily won election to the office of Commissioner of Public Works of Oklahoma City. Due to his success in that office, two years later Walton was elected as the mayor of Oklahoma City, a post he served in until 1923.^[1]

Before his term as mayor ended, Walton entered his name in the Democratic primary as a candidate for Governor of Oklahoma to succeed James B. A. Robertson. After winning the Democratic nomination Walton travelled around the state giving the most colorful and liveliest speeches and campaign platforms in Oklahoma’s history until that point. In the general election, Walton was successful in his bid, and his inauguration and inaugural ball were just as lively as his campaign.^[1]

Governor of Oklahoma

Walton was inaugurated as the fifth Governor of Oklahoma on January 9, 1923. Walton represented the radical wing of the Democratic Party and his policies reflected this. Despite this, many of the programs in his domestic policy (the Reconstruction League) were accepted by the Oklahoma Legislature and 1923 proved to be one of the most progressive legislative sessions in the state’s history. Among Walton’s reforms was an expanded farm cooperative program to aid troubled farms, a revision of the Workman's Compensation Law for improved benefits to employees, and stronger warehouse inspection laws to satisfy Oklahoma’s cotton and wheat farmers.

Walton looked to his predecessor Robertson for many ideas of his administration. Just as education had been a large part of Robertson’s programs, so it became with Walton. Walton passed through the Legislature Oklahoma’s first program to allow free text books to all students in Oklahoma’s schools and a grant of over $1,000,000 in state funds to aid weak schools. In true progressive manner, Walton instituted harsher penalties for breaking state laws and regulations, increased spending on welfare programs, and instituted a farm stabilization program under the supervision of the State Board of Agriculture.

Walton's troubles first began when he began to flip-flop between those progressives who supported his programs and those conservatives who did not. Walton began to lose control of the Legislature and by trying to appeal to both sides, lost all support. Hoping to regain his lost support, Walton attempted to gain factional support by making appointments of the faction leaders to the higher level government and educational positions. Though he would see minor success in this venture, in the long term this proved to be ineffective.

Due to the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, the Ku Klux Klan had grown to dangerous levels of power, a pattern which continued during Walton’s administration. In order to crack down on the racist group, Walton declared martial law in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma and Tulsa County, Oklahoma, with the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Tulsa County. However, the Oklahoma Constitution strictly forbids any member of the government of Oklahoma from suspending this writ.

Impeachment

The Legislature was outraged by Governor Walton’s blatant disregard of the Oklahoma Constitution. In response, a Grand Jury was established in Oklahoma City with the charge of investigating the Governor’s office. Following the announcement of the creation of the grand jury, on September 15, 1923, Walton declared “absolute martial law” for the entire State of Oklahoma. Impeachment demands filled the Oklahoma State Capitol and the leaders of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate acted by calling a special session on October 2.

Hoping to prevent the impeachment charges from being carried out, Walton called the Legislature into a special session of his own on October 11 with the topic being the KKK. The Legislature refused and recessed until October 17 when impeachment charges could be organized. Under the supervision of the Oklahoma Speaker of the House W. D. McBee, the Oklahoma House laid twenty-two charges against Walton, and voted for impeachment. Soon after, on October 23, Walton was suspended in his office as Governor and the Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Martin E. Trapp became acting Governor.

Wesley E. Disney, a House Representative representining Tulsa, acted as the prosecutor in the Oklahoma Senate in its function as the Court of Impeachment, which was presided over by the Chief Justice of Oklahoma. Of the House’s twenty-two charges, eleven were sustained, including "illegal collection of campaign funds, padding the public payroll, suspension of habeas corpus, excessive use of the pardon power, and general incompetence." On November 19, 1923, Walton was convicted and removed from office. Lt Governor Trapp succeeded Walton and became the sixth Governor of Oklahoma on the same day.

The impeachment is said to have "frightened" the state "into a system of preferential voting as an escape from minority nominations." In his own nomination, Walton received only "an extremely small per cent of the total votes cast," yet was still selected as the Democratic Party candidate, and this perceived injustice led to the Oklahoma Legislature resolving to adopt a different electoral system; eventually, they created the Oklahoma primary electoral system.^[3]

Later politics and death

The year following Walton’s removal from office, U.S. Senator Robert L. Owen announced his retirement and that he would not be seeking reelection. Owen had represented Oklahoma in the United States Senate since it became a state in 1907, and Walton seized the opportunity to replace the popular Senator by receiving the Democratic nomination. One reason it is believed that Walton received the nomination so soon after his removal from office is that he was the only Democratic candidate to publicly criticize the KKK [1]. However, Walton lost in the general election in a landslide 62% to 35%) to the Republican candidate, William B. Pine.

Even though Walton did not win the election, he served on the Corporation Commission from 1933 to 1939. After his service as Commissioner, Walton retired from political office to practice law. However, during his tenure as Commissioner, Walton ran in the Democratic primary for Governor in 1934 to replace William H. Murray and again in 1938 to replace Ernest W. Marland. Both efforts ended in failure with Walton not receiving the party’s nomination. Walton spent his remaining years practicing law in Oklahoma City where he died at the age of 68 on November 25, 1949. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.

State of the State Speech

• First and only State of the State Speech

References

Further reading

• Brad L. Duren, "'Klanspiracy' or Despotism? The Rise and Fall of Governor Jack Walton, Featuring W. D. McBee," Chronicles of Oklahoma 2002–03 80(4): 468–485.