George Pardee
George Cooper Pardee (July 25, 1857 – September 1, 1941) was an American doctor of medicine and Republican politician. As the 21st Governor of California, holding office from January 7, 1903, to January 9, 1907, Pardee was the second native-born Californian to assume the governorship, after Romualdo Pacheco, and the first governor born in California after statehood.
George Cooper Pardee
Melvin C. Chapman
John L. Davie
July 25, 1857
San Francisco, California
September 1, 1941 (aged 84)
Oakland, California
Helen N. Pardee
4
Governorship[edit]
During the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904, Pardee's quick rise in East Bay politics was noticed by the state Republican leadership prior to the 1902 general elections. Deeply embarrassed and financially hurt by the denials of an ongoing bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco's Chinatown by Governor Henry Gage, Republicans withdrew their support of Gage during the state convention.[3] The party, divided by Railroad Republicans with the backing of the Southern Pacific Railroad and Reform Republicans of the growing Progressive movement, nominated Pardee, due to his municipal and medical background, as a compromise candidate.[4] Despite clashes in the past with their interests, Southern Pacific Republicans believed Pardee the better candidate against the Democratic contender Franklin K. Lane, a San Francisco City Attorney and an ardent anti-Southern Pacific campaigner.
In the 1902 general elections, Pardee faced a four-way race between the Democrats' Lane, Socialist Gideon Brower and Prohibitionist Theodore Kanouse. Pardee barely edged over Lane, winning the governorship with a plurality of 0.9%. Less than 3,000 votes separated the two leading candidates.
Family[edit]
Pardee met his future wife Helen N. Pardee at Oakland High School in the 1870s, graduating together in 1875. Helen was a school teacher, photographer, and art collector.
The Pardees had four daughters, Florence, Caroline, Madeline and Helen. Florence Pardee was killed in a car accident in 1910. Caroline Pardee died from the Spanish flu in 1920.[23] Surviving daughters Madeline and Helen would continue to own and live in the family's Pardee Home until Helen Pardee's death in 1981. The Pardee Home opened as a public museum in 1991.
Legacy[edit]
Unlike his predecessor Henry Gage and his successor James Gillett, Pardee's governorship has been generally well regarded amongst historians. His efforts of conservation and education have proved to be long standing, such as the creations of bodies that would later become UC Davis and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Despite their initial support of his nomination in 1902, Pardee's near-constant resistance to the Southern Pacific Railroad has spared his reputation of criticism for being too close to rail monopolies. State historians from the California Secretary of State's office wrote that between Gage, Pardee and Gillett, "only Pardee can be considered an honest earnest administrator."[24]
Environmental historian Philip L. Fradkin has cited Pardee as one of the unsung heroes of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. "Pardee lacked a glamorous frontline role, and he was criticized for not dashing in the flame-licked streets. With a large staff imported from Sacramento, the governor was the expediter of paper; in every great disaster there needs to be at least one such competent bureaucrat."[18]
Pardee was also the first governor to reside in the California Governor's Mansion. The mansion would continue to be lived in by the state executive until the governorship of Ronald Reagan.
The Pardee Home, located in downtown Oakland, remains a tourist attraction in the center of the city, hosting tours and speaking events.
The Pardee Dam and the adjacent Pardee Reservoir along the Mokelumne River are named after the governor.
The old Governor's Office within the California State Capitol is refurbished to appear as it did during the time of George Pardee's governorship in 1906.