Frederick N. Howser

Howser was born in David City, Nebraska on April 11, 1905.{{cite web|url=http://oag.ca.gov/history/22howser|title=Frederick N. Howser, 22nd Attorney General|publisher=State of California Department of Justice|access-date=29 July 2012}} He attended USC Law School and worked as chief deputy city attorney for the city of Long Beach in the late 1930s.{{Cite web|url=http://da.lacounty.gov/about/history?page=3|title=Office History {{!}} Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office|website=da.lacounty.gov|access-date=2020-02-08}}

In 1940, Howser was elected to the first of two terms in the California State Assembly, representing Long Beach.{{Cite book|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.a0006354690?urlappend=%3Bseq=789|title=Journals of the Legislature of the State of California, 1943, Vol. 2|publisher=California Legislature|year=1943|location=Sacramento|pages=781|hdl=2027/uc1.a0006354690?urlappend=%3Bseq=789}}{{Cite book|url=https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/FinalHistory/1941/41_ah_54s.PDF|title=Assembly Final History, Fifty-Fourth Session|publisher=California Legislature|year=1941|location=Sacramento|pages=10}} Howser was appointed Los Angeles County District Attorney in 1943, following the death of John F. Dockweiler. Howser was elected for a full term as District Attorney in 1944.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-29-mn-1302-story.html|title=Fred Howser, Fiery, Controversial Ex-Prosecutor, Dies|date=1987-04-29|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-02}}

As both District Attorney and a member of the Assembly, Howser maintained ties to powerful liquor lobbyist Arthur Samish.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2oS_DhU7zfkC&dq=fred+howser&pg=PA180|title=Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren|last=Cray|first=Ed|date=1997|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-80852-9|language=en}} Samish would later claim to have "maneuvered" Howser into the chairmanship of the Assembly's Public Morals Committee before later steering his appointment as District Attorney.{{Cite book|url=http://ccturner.yourweb.csuchico.edu/syllabi/SecretBoss.pdf|title=The Secret Boss of California: The Life and High Times of Art Samish|last1=Samish|first1=Arthur|last2=Thomas|first2=Robert|publisher=Crown Publishers|year=1971|location=New York|pages=124–125}}

In addition to his connection with Samish, Howser was also tied to gambling interests, including gambling boat operator Tony Cornero, who purportedly paid Howser $35,000 for help arranging the return of Cornero's gambling boats to Los Angeles.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkJRtyJ4xR0C&dq=Tony+cornero+%22howser%22&pg=PA228|title=Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made|last=Newton|first=Jim|date=2007-10-02|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4406-1980-9|language=en}}

Howser ran for California Attorney General in 1946 after incumbent Attorney General Robert W. Kenny opted to forgo reelection to challenge Republican Governor Earl Warren. He received a $170,000 contribution from gambler Elmer "Bones" Remmer, owner of the Oaks Card Room in Emeryville and the Menlo Club on Turk Street in San Francisco. Howser's connections to gambling, however, attracted the scrutiny of Warren, who refused to support Howser's campaign. Howser was nonetheless able to capitalize on the Republican wave of Warren's reelection and the similarity of his name to the outgoing lieutenant governor, Frederick F. Houser. Winning election with 55 percent of the vote, Howser defeated opponent Pat Brown, a future governor, in what would be Brown's first run at statewide office.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/stateofcaliforn194050cali/page/n341/mode/2up|title=State of California Statement of Vote, General Election, November 5, 1946|publisher=California Secretary of State|year=1946|location=Sacramento|pages=9}}

Howser's ties to gambling interests followed him into office as Attorney General. Seeking to limit his exposure to Howser, Warren formed the California Crime Commission in 1947, purportedly to investigate organized crime in California, chaired by Admiral William H. Standley and directed by a close Warren ally, Warren Olney III. Olney and the Commission subsequently released a series of reports alleging an attempt to create a "state-wide plan for racket protection under the cloak of the Attorney General's Office."{{Cite book|title=Final report of the Special Crime Study Commission on Organized Crime|publisher=State of California|year=1950|location=Sacramento|pages=10–22|hdl = 2027/osu.32437121670562}}

The investigations circling Howser's office pushed him into direct conflict with Warren, who Howser claimed was attacking him because "he thinks I am a threat to his domination of the Republican Party." Undeterred, the Crime Commission established the most direct link between gambling and Howser's office following the arrest of Fred Grange, an associate of Tony Cornero, for the attempted bribery of the Mendocino County Sheriff. Grange subsequently identified Wiley Caddel, an appointee to Howser's office, as a collector in the slot machine protection racket Grange had been attempting to establish. Grange claimed Howser's monthly take was $100,000.

Holding on to his office despite being implicated in gambling rackets, Howser ran for reelection as Attorney General in 1950 but was defeated in the Republican primary. The winner, Edward S. Shattuck, went on to lose the general election to Pat Brown.

Following his reelection defeat, Howser engaged in a private law practice for 37 years. He died in Laguna Hills, California, on April 26, 1987.

{{Election box begin no change | title= California Attorney General Election, 1946

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Frederick N. Howser

|votes = 1,414,744

|percentage = 55.0

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Pat Brown

|votes = 1,070,364

|percentage = 41.6

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Prohibition Party (United States)

|candidate = Claude A. Watson

|votes = 85,688

|percentage = 2.75

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change | title= California Attorney General Republican Primary Election, 1950[https://archive.org/details/stateofcaliforn194050cali/page/n461/mode/2up] "State of California Statement of Vote, Primary Election, June 6, 1950" (retrieved on February 4, 2020).}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Edward S. Shattuck

|votes = 551,934

|percentage = 47.5

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Frederick N. Howser

|votes = 276,843

|percentage = 24.0

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Pat Brown

|votes = 248,648

|percentage = 21.5

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Claude A. Watson

|votes = 36,624

|percentage = 3.2

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Patrick J. Cooney

|votes = 20,788

|percentage = 1.8

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Marshall Abbott

|votes = 19,319

|percentage = 1.7

}}

{{Election box end}}

• [http://ag.ca.gov/ag/history/22howser.htm Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514092152/http://www.ag.ca.gov/ag/history/22howser.htm |date=2006-05-14 }}
• [http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/110 Join California Frederick N. Howser]

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{{succession box |

before= Robert W. Kenny| |

title= California Attorney General |

years= 1947–1951 |

after= Pat Brown}}

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{{Attorneys General of California}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howser, Frederick N.}}

Category:1905 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:Republican Party members of the California State Assembly

Category:California attorneys general

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century members of the California State Legislature