Trivia

Out of his own pocket, he sent copies of his novel "The Jungle" to every member of the U.S. Congress and then-President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, a voracious speed-reader who read several books a day, read Sinclair's novel and was horrified by the descriptions of conditions in the meat packing industry. He was inspired to champion for the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which led to the founding of the Food and Drug Administration.

The Republican campaign against his Senate race forced them to spend $10 million, a record amount for the Depression.

In his 1934 senate race his Republilcan rival ran a successful smear campaign that discredited Sinclair. One of the tactics was to quote his written works out of context to make it appear that he was, for example, an opponent of the Boy Scouts and an advocate of "Free Love".

During the 1934 Senate race, phony newsreels designed to slander him were shown in California movie houses. The films had been produced by MGM chief Louis B. Mayer, who was also the California Republican party chairman.

The Republican campaign against Sinclair generated so much animosity that when a woman announced at a Hollywood cocktail party her intention to vote for him she was forcibly ejected.

Born at 9:00am-LMT

As a member of the Socialist Party he was twice a candidate for Congress, twice the socialist nominee for governor of California and once a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

In 1934 he changed his registration to the Democratic Party and ran in the primary for the gubernatorial nomination for the Senate.

Pulitzer-winning American writer, he was the Democratic nominee for California Governor in 1934. He ran for office on other occasions as a Socialist.

Biography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, volume 7, pages 451-457. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1982.

Biography in: "Dictionary of American Biography". Supplement Eight, 1966-1970, pages 593-595. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

Biography in: "Current Biography Yearbook 1962". Pages 389-391. The H.W. Wilson Company, 1963.