Knowledge Bank

Despite being a source of serious political activity and controversy in twentieth-century American politics, John Bricker has been the subject of little scholarly attention. One biography exists about his entire life, and it has been nearly three decades since its publication. The life of John Bricker – former Ohio governor and Senator, and the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee in the 1944 presidential election – is a truly American story. Born in a log cabin near rural Mount Sterling, Ohio, on September 6, 1893, Bricker was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. He funded himself through college and law school at The Ohio State University by working several jobs, all of which helped to launch him to some of the highest elected ranks of American politics. Though Bricker enjoyed much political success, he became an increasingly inflammatory politician and drifted from a moderate conservative to a fervent anti-communist on the far Right. This thesis examines how and why Bricker came to focus on communism as much as he did. It locates his transition between 1938 and 1944 in key events that involved communist endorsements of his political opponents and communist activity within the Democratic Party. That transition painted Bricker as an unbending politician who, once in line with Ohioans' needs during the Great Depression, became a leading representative of a bygone era in American politics.