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{{short description|American politician}}
'''Frederick N. Howser''' (April 11, 1905 – April 26, 1987) was the 22nd [[Attorney General of California]].
 
{{Infobox officeholder
[[File:Fredrick N. Howser.jpg|200px|right]]
| name = Frederick N. Howser
| image = Frederick N. Howser, 1943.jpg
| caption = Howser in 1943
| office1 = 22nd [[Attorney General of California]]
| termstart1 = January 5, 1947
| termend1 = January 8, 1951
| predecessor1 = [[Robert W. Kenny]]
| successor1 = [[Pat Brown]]
| governor1 = [[Earl Warren]]
| office2 = 31st [[District Attorney of Los Angeles County]]
| term_start2 = 1943
| term_end2 = 1946
| predecessor2 = [[John F. Dockweiler]]
| successor2 = [[William E. Simpson]]
| state_assembly3 = California
| district3 = [[California's 71st State Assembly district|71st]]
| term3 = January 6, 1941 – February 2, 1943
| preceded3 = [[Paul Peek (politician)|Paul Peek]]
| succeeded3 = [[Carl Fletcher (politician)|Carl Fletcher]]
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| birth_name = Frederick Napoleon Howser
| birth_date = {{birth date|1905|4|11}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|4|26|1905|4|11}}
| birth_place = [[David City, Nebraska]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Laguna Hills, California]], U.S.
| spouse = Helen Sten
| children = 1
}}
 
'''Frederick Napoleon Howser''' (April 11, 1905 – April 26, 1987) was an American politician and attorney. From 1947 to 1951, he was the 22nd [[Attorney General of California]].
==Personal information==
Howser was born in Nebraska on April 11, 1905. Before Howser was elected [[Attorney General]], he served two terms as an assembly member for the [[California's 71st State Assembly district|71st District]]. After his terms as an assembly member, he was appointed [[District Attorney]] for [[Los Angeles County]]. During his term as Attorney General, in the midst of the [[Korean War]], Howser focused his efforts at improving communications between Washington and the West.<ref>{{cite web|title=Frederick N. Howser, 22nd Attorney General|url=http://oag.ca.gov/history/22howser|publisher=State of California Department of Justice|accessdate=29 July 2012}}</ref>
 
==Early career==
He made several other attempts running for political offices, including a run in the 1932 [[U.S. House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] election for the California 12th district running against [[John H. Hoeppel]] and losing 45.8% to 43.2%. Houser was also a [[Superior Court]] judge, and prior to this, he served in the [[California State Assembly]] from 1941–1945.
Howser was born in [[David City, Nebraska]] on April 11, 1905.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He attended [[USC Gould School of Law|USC Law School]] and worked as chief deputy city attorney for the city of [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] in the late 1930s.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
 
In 1940, Howser was elected to the first of two terms in the California State Assembly, representing Long Beach.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
 
As both District Attorney and a member of the Assembly, Howser maintained ties to powerful liquor lobbyist [[Arthur Samish]].<ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
 
In addition to his connection with Samish, Howser was also tied to gambling interests, including gambling boat operator [[Anthony Cornero|Tony Cornero]], who purportedly paid Howser $35,000 for help arranging the return of Cornero's gambling boats to Los Angeles.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{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}}</ref>
 
== Attorney General ==
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.<ref name=":0" /> 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]].<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name="1946 General Election">{{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}}</ref>
 
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 Harrison Standley|William H. Standley]] and directed by a close Warren ally, Warren Olney III.<ref name=":0" /> 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."<ref>{{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}}</ref>
 
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, California|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.<ref name=":0" />
 
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.<ref name=":0" />
 
== Later life ==
Following his reelection defeat, Howser engaged in a private law practice for 37 years. He died in [[Laguna Hills, California]], on April 26, 1987.
 
== Electoral history ==
{{Election box begin no change | title= California Attorney General Election, 1946<ref name="1946 General Election" />
}}
{{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<ref>[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).</ref>}}
{{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}}
 
==External links==
* [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]
 
==References==
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[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:MembersRepublican Party members of the California State Assembly]]
[[Category:California Attorneysattorneys Generalgeneral]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Americanmembers politiciansof the California State Legislature]]
 
 
{{US-law-bio-stub}}
{{California-politician-stub}}
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