Author: Rachael Wright

Sixty Years Ago This Week: Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Byron Johnson, CD-2, addressed the Denver Democratic Party’s Monday Forum, saying that he was optimistic about the prospect for world peace after years of mounting tensions around the globe.  Johnson called himself “an itinerant member” of the staff of the Economic and Social Council of the…

Sixty Years Ago This Week: In a surprise move, Denver City Councilman Joe Ciancio Jr. announced he was withdrawing from the Democratic primary for Secretary of State, leaving Deputy Secretary of State F.J. Serafini without a challenger in the lead up to the general election. Ciancio told reporters he had withdrawn his candidacy “for the…

Sixty Years Ago This Week: Democratic U.S. Sen. John Carroll decried what he called an “insidious carpet bagging” strategy by the Republicans to oust him from his U.S. Senate seat. In an interviewed by The Colorado Democrat, a partisan publication that was later succeeded by the non-partisan Colorado Statesman, Carroll said the GOP in 1956…

Sixty-Five Years Ago This Week: State Rep. Bob Allen, D-Denver, was sponsoring House Bill 57-1039 which would repeal Colorado’s anti-miscegenation law. The law stated, “All marriages between Negroes or mulattoes of either sex and white persons are declared to be absolutely void.” Fifteen years previously Colorado’s Supreme Court had ruled in Jackson v. Denver that…

Fifty Years Ago This Week: Speaking at the National Education Association’s 100th convention at Denver City Auditorium, NEA President Ewald Turner said that the key problem facing education was the persistent theme of financing. “Many non-teacher groups favor good education but will not face up to the costs,” Turner said, “Can we create in the…

Fifty Years Ago This Week: At an informal talk in Denver, former U.S. District Attorney Charles Vigil, who served as Colorado’s U.S. attorney during the Truman administration (1949-1953), expatiated on the state of party politics in Colorado. “You’d better not say ‘Democrat’ too loudly in Colorado,” Vigil said, “or ‘Republican’ either for all that.” Vigil…

Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Wellington Webb’s election to Denver auditor, defeating opponent Bill Schroeder, came as a shock to few. The candidate had long been considered the favorite for victory and after claiming nearly 64% of the vote, Webb said his hopefulness had been rewarded. “I was always optimistic that I had a great…

Sixty Years Ago This Week: Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Fred M. Betz Sr. spoke at the Colorado Young Democrats’ annual convention in Pueblo, warning his young colleagues that “the fallout from the carping, creeping conservatism of Republican Party oratory can cause hardening of the political arteries.” Betz urged the Young Dems to be on the…