Oral History Program Wendell Hansen Interviewed by Patricia Buchanan 22 July 1980 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Wendell Hansen Interviewed by Patricia Buchanan 22 July 1980 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Hansen, Wendell, an oral history by Patricia Buchanan, 22 July 1980, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Wendell Hansen. The interview was conducted on July 22, 1980, by Patricia Buchanan, in the municipal building of Weber County in Ogden, Utah. Hansen discusses his life and experiences involving Utah Politics. PB: This is a recording made on July 22 with Wendell Hansen, County Clerk, made in the municipal building of Weber County in Ogden, Utah with the Weber State College Oral History Project: History of the Democratic Party Collection. Good morning Mr. Hansen, can you tell me something about your early life and how you got involved in Weber County politics? WH: I suppose the beginning of my political life was in my early life. I remember as a young man living close into town we used to visit the various political headquarters around election time. We would try to get in on some of the campaigning they were conducting by way of getting a quarter or fifty cents and so forth to take out campaign literature and help in the campaign. So I did get some experience and have the opportunity to see a political campaign and know a little bit about candidates from working in this manner at headquarters and of course out on the campaign trail as we would distribute various material to the homes. I was born and raised here in Ogden and Weber County. I received my education here and then after having served almost three years in World War II, and then a two year mission for my church. Upon marriage I decided to locate here and settle down. I was fortunate in getting a job shortly after I was married in the County Assessor's office. I started the day after Christmas in 1948. That's very vivid in 1 my mind because of my recent marriage at that time and also it coming the day after Christmas. I started in the political office of the County Assessor who was George E. Brown at the time and also a Democrat. During the activity within the party of those two years, I had an opportunity to work out of headquarters getting out the vote so to speak as we would go around to various homes of the voting districts that we were assigned to check to see whether or not people were registered voters. We would conduct a canvass of that type urging those who weren't registered to become registered. Then on Election Day we were assigned districts to urge those who had not voted to get out and vote. After the election of 1950, at which time George E. Brown, who had had quite a number of years as County Assessor, decided not to run, I had the opportunity to come down and work for Lawrence Mayland who was the County Clerk and Auditor at that particular time and also interestingly Purchasing Agent. He wore three hats so to speak at that particular time. I had somewhat trained in knowing the descriptions, the legal descriptions, of property. I also had worked with the assessed valuation of homes and real estate and property as well as had worked with the mill levies. Having some-what learned some of the aspects of these categories, there was an opening in the auditor part of his office whereby I would portion taxes and audit the treasurer's books and arrive at the tax charge that was made against the treasurer's collection. So I started in the spring of 1951 after the 1950 election to work for Lawrence M. Mayland. Because of the aspect of this office whereby the county clerk is charged under the law with the conduct of elections, I became very much involved in the election process from the time that the candidate filed for office, through the mass meetings, and through the certification of delegates to the various party conventions. This office has to officially 2 certify the delegates to the various party conventions from the certifications that are made to the County Clerk as a result of the attendance at mass meetings. Then working with the various parties and also helping in the Democratic Party county convention, I became very acquainted with the grass roots of politics as well as the legal aspects of the County Clerk's office. And then as the election has to unfold, I was fortunate to learn all of the detail of conducting an election wherein your voter registration agents are appointed, their various materials are supplied them, and they are given instructions in schools of instruction that are conducted. Then as the County must prepare for the election itself, there are a lot of supplies that have to be put together so that when the election judges are appointed after they are recommended by the political parties to the board of county commissioners. Then the various things that are needed at the polls have to be packaged and have to be distributed to the judges of election and the polling places themselves arranged for. The clerk is charged with responsibility of actually putting together the ballot. He has to take the certifications that are made of all national and state offices from the Secretary of State as well as the local offices that have been filed upon. He puts together the names and the offices of all of the candidates and makes up the county-wide ballots so the public can vote on the ballot at the primary and general elections. So that is one of the major projects, the preparation of the ballot and of course there has to be poll books made up so that those that vote are properly recorded. After the ballots have been voted and the polls have closed, the judges then begin to count their ballots. There have to be tally books made up so that an accurate tally can be made as well as have all the other equipment so that not only the public can vote but also the judges themselves are able to quickly and accurately make a tally. 3 They then phone the results to the County Clerk's office who then gives the totals to the news media and now with television and radio so that these returns and reports can go out over the air so that as soon as possible election night, the results of the election can be made. So having somewhat learned the procedures of conducting an election, after having worked here several years, and having helped in the conduct of the County-wide elections, upon Mr. Mayland deciding not to run .... I think he had had seven terms, seven 4-year terms. He had been Clerk 28 years. He was around if I remember correctly about 78 years of age when he decided to retire. At that time I was then Chief Deputy to him and worked my way up through the various positions of the office, and so I was in a very favorable place to throw my hat in the ring as they say to run for the office. So I did announce, I did have his support and backing as well as that of the Democratic Party and I was very fortunate to be able to run without any opposition within my own party. In the election of 1962, that's when I first ran for office, I did have a Republican opponent that year. But I've been very fortunate in not having any opposition either within my own party or the Republican Party since the election of 1962. I don't know whether it's because nobody wants the job or whether maybe there are some technicalities of it that maybe some are steering away from. So that briefly and very basically is my political career to this point—to this date. I have been very fortunate to have met a lot of prominent national figures. I was in on a group that was privileged to see John F. Kennedy in the upper part of the Hotel Utah after he gave his famous "Tabernacle Talk" in early November or maybe it was late October of the year of his assassination. I also was able to see Vice President Lyndon Johnson on an occasion. I have also been fortunate to see other national candidates for the Senate as 4 well as the Presidency. I have also been able to see President Carter when he spoke in Kansas City a year ago. Some of the other candidates and office holders of the Democratic Party range from Senator Elbert Thomas who ran for re-election and was defeated in 1950 through to Sam Rayburn who was Speaker of the House of Representatives. I have seen such other men as Vice President Nixon, candidate Nixon, before he was elected President also Hubert Humphrey when he was Vice President and Nelson Rockefeller, George Washington, not George Washington but George Wallis whom I saw and shook hands with in Washington prior to his being shot and crippled, and I guess a host of others along the campaign trail. Of course I'm very well acquainted with practically all of the state office holders. I helped Governor Rampton in his campaign when he was first elected. I have also helped Senator Moss who has since then helped Gunn McKay who has helped Senator . . . local senators in their running for political office, and also Governor Scott Matheson and Lynn Baker who is presently State Treasurer. I hope to continue my Democratic political activities. PB: How has politics in Weber County changed, do you think, since you've taken office? Do they have different rules at the polling places? I understand they used to have poll watchers and things like that that we don't have any more. WH: The law would still provide for those persons but more and more it's becoming more difficult to get not only Election Day workers such as registration agents but also judges of elections. But the political parties are allowed a watcher, each of the two major parties, to watch the voting process as well as the counting procedure to see that the counting is going properly in accordance to law. Political parties are even allowed checkers so that they can come in and check to see who has voted during the day so 5 that they can go out and urge those who haven't voted by way of telephone or personal contact to get out and vote. More and more we see less interest to be an election-day worker at the polls as well as a campaign volunteer. A few districts do have watchers, and a few districts have checkers but I have seen a decrease in that. When I started in 1948 and 1950 and the years through there, they had an awfully lot of volunteer workers that would get out and help get the vote out, those who would also watch the count. But I guess due to the increase of the size of the county, and they are experiencing this all over, it's a constant struggle to keep on top of your election by way of the newly created subdivisions. We have a shifting population so that people are constantly on the move. They then have to re-register so I have seen much more activity by way of keeping track of the registered voter. They have to be taken off of their old district voter registration books when they move and upon re-registration have to be entered on the new books. We have virtually thousands and thousands of voter registration slips being sent through the mail and of course being hand recorded and computer recorded which is a lot different than some of the old laws where they used to have to go to their old district, get a transfer, take a transfer slip to the new district, and so forth. Some of these activities are made easier, but others are a little more difficult because the law is more complex, there is more paper work that is involved now. In years past when a person went to register, they only signed one old form. Now when a person registers there are four old forms that have to be handled. So we do sort of call ourselves paper shufflers at this particular time. It is easier for people to become registered now than it used to be. They now can register by mail, and there are the so called "roving registration agents" that can go anywhere within a county and sign up anybody, anyplace that is eligible. 6 Then the old forms for those persons are turned in and we have to process them. There is an awfully lot of mailing that goes on because those original slips have to end up in the neighborhood registration office to be recorded on the books there so that when the person walks into the polls on election day to vote, their name is on the books. So that's a constant battle to see to the detail of recording the names of the registered voters. PB: Tell me about the absentee ballot. WH: Well there are various ways a person can vote. If they are unable to vote personally, inside the polling place, the law has been liberalized somewhat in so far as no longer do they have to have the acknowledgements or certifications of their signature that they used to have to have. Now all a person needs to do is certify either they are disabled, unable to get to the polls, or they are going to be out of town or away from the polls on Election Day. Their signature only underneath such a statement as that will en-able them to get their ballot so they can vote. We still have the safeguard where there must be a written application or a signed application in applying for the ballot. After the ballot has been voted, the person who voted the ballot signs that they did receive the ballot and had voted it. There must be a signature comparison so that the same person who requested the ballot is the same person who got the ballot and signed that they had voted and certified to the facts of voting their ballot. So that safeguard is still there. PB: If you were unable to sign the ballot, if you had a witness that it was you, if you could only mark "X", would that be valid? WH: Yes, right. A person still is in many instances, in other legal areas, if they make their mark, which is usually an "X" or a mark of that type, then if it's properly witnessed, then 7 that is sufficient. If it appears to be clear to the official that processes it that it looks like it was done properly and without intent to fraud or anything of that nature, then of course, it is processed. One particular change that I have noted through the years in regards to political candidates running for office, when two or more have filed for political office they then are somewhat obligated to contact delegates to their respective county or state convention to acquaint the delegates to those conventions of their intent to run and certain things that they would like to do if they were elected. If they are successful under the old law, it was interesting they had to have 80% of the delegate vote in attendance to eliminate their opponent or opponents within the same party to avoid a primary election. The first year that law went into effect, I think, I saw at least two candidates that were successful and persuasive in getting their 80% so they eliminated their opponents within the party so that they didn't have to face a primary. It was felt, I suppose by the legislature and the political parties, that perhaps that was requiring a little too large a percentage so they amended the law, dropping it down to 70%. So during convention time it's quite interesting to get a feel of the delegates to the various candidates and the manner or method in which they campaign to see if they are successful in getting a 70% majority of the delegates present. Each year we see that this is very effective and it is very possible to obtain that percentage. It does save the candidate for political office from the expense and the time and trouble of going into a primary election. Of course it helps the County Clerks because the fewer they have on the ballot, the less they have to worry about by way of printed material and having all of the names accurately on the ballot and there to tally the vote on the night of the election. 8 PB: Tell me about your first campaign in the 1950’s that involved Albert B. Thomas. WH: That was a very interesting campaign being just a young man and somewhat beginning to get within the inner circle of county and state politics. I can remember how dignified Senator Thomas was. He was beginning to be quite elderly at that time but as I reflect back he was one of the most powerful senators in the United States Senate. I think history records that he was very close to Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Roosevelt used him on many occasions to help with legislation to get through some of their programs. Well, that particular year I guess the Republicans were determined that they were going to try to get that Senate seat, and of course, they ended up winning it. Their candidate that year was Wallace F. Bennett. The campaign was quite rough especially against Senator Thomas. He was accused of being a Socialist and probably other things too. I can remember that part of his defense was that he had helped to probably enact social legislation but it was a type of legislation that gave lunch programs to school children all over the United States. But he defended himself on the basis that "Where was there any harm in providing milk for school children?" and so forth. But he was constantly on the defense. He had a record of spending many years ... Wallace F. Bennett was a younger man. His party was very determined to win that seat. There was an awfully lot of money spent as I remember in that campaign and as a consequence, they were successful at that particular time in defeating a very able and powerful senator in the United States Senate. PB: These days, by us looking at it, we wouldn’t think that that school lunch program as being socialistic or anywhere near that. Just the whole thing has changed since 1950 9 WH: And probably we witnessed the same thing in our attitude toward Social Security. At the time that Social Security was enacted, it was also labeled a similar type of socialistic program but now of course it is very widely and generally accepted by office holders and by the two party system. I suppose the unfortunate thing is that they spent the money. They should have left the money in its own fund and then investing that money at the current interest rates through all those years so that the Social Security fund was intact, was solvent, procuring interest and so forth, the same as our Utah State Retirement monies are very much safe-guarded in their own funds. Nobody can get to those funds to borrow them, or to invest them in other areas other than for the purpose in which they are designed for, that of retirement and getting interest on the investment of that money. PB: You said that Ted Moss got elected almost sort of by accident. WH: Yes, in the election of 19... . Another interesting Senate election that I participated in and campaigned.... I have known Frank E. Moss, when he was president of the State Association of Counties. I think that he was a County Attorney at the time, and then used that as a springboard to run for the United States Senate in 1958. He had a primary election that year against V. H. Roberts who was successful in becoming the party's nominee to face Senator Watkins in the November 1958 election. At that particular time, J. Bradken Lee, who had been governor, made an attempt to become the Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate against Watkins. He failed in that so he ran as an independent. In the general election of that year, Frank E. Moss was a Democratic candidate against Senator Watkins, a Republican, with J. Bradken Lee, the independent, who was also going for the same office. I think that it was somewhat 10 observed that J. Bradken Lee became the spoiler in that race as far as Senator Watkins was concerned because he drained off enough state votes and they would be Republican votes, generally, so that Frank E. Moss became the winner in the election of that year. PB: That's really interesting. Then he was Senator for.... How many years was Frank E. Moss Senator? WH: He was just defeated two years ago in the 1978 election. So he had held it consecutively since 1956. Right, since 1956—'58, '59, right. PB: So he had held it consecutively since 1956? WH: Right, since 1956—’58, ’59, right. PB: This concludes the interview with Wendell Hansen. I want to thank Mr. Hansen for his time and consideration in helping me. 11