Governor Upton Sinclair

what if Upton Sinclair had been elected Governor of California in 1934 and had instuted his "EPIC" plan there? Would he have challenged FDR in 1936.? Would he have been reelected in 1938?
 
Hollywood would be in New York.

Hollywood was already firmly established in California before 1934, when Sinclair ran for Governor. I doubt it's going to jump ship because a lefty like Sinclair gets elected, esp. with all of the lefty currents that run within the arts in general. :p

As for your question, Glass Onion, I doubt he challenges Roosevelt in 1936, but Roosevelt might look to see how his programs are working and legislate accordingly. Roosevelt had a penchant for adapting other people's ideas to serve his own needs, so there's the possibility he does the same thing for EPIC. Interestingly, a Sinclair win would preclude the WPA (established in 1935), so there's the possibility both Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins modify their new jobs program to reflect how EPIC is going forward in California.
 
The nature of his EPIC program was pretty different from the New Deal. He proposed building an alternative to capitalism, not just reforms, basically a co op system of trading goods and services.

The interesting thing to see would be how (or if) EPIC could survive WWII or Cold War red baiting.
 
The nature of his EPIC program was pretty different from the New Deal. He proposed building an alternative to capitalism, not just reforms, basically a co op system of trading goods and services.

The interesting thing to see would be how (or if) EPIC could survive WWII or Cold War red baiting.

I can still see Roosevelt experimenting with the idea. He did, after all, experiment a bit with corporatism with the National Recovery Administration. The Depression essentially opened every kind of door for the Roosevelt administration to experiment.
 
Outside politics (or is it inside in this TL?), a candidate for the California legislature may have some different views later in his life- a guy named Robert Anson Heinlein...
 
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