Kenny, Robert W. (Robert Walker), 1901-1976

California state senator and attorney general.

From the description of My first forty years in California politics, 1922-1962 : manuscript, [ca.1963-1979]. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 213766596

Biographical Information

Robert Walker Kenny was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 21, 1901. His father was Robert W. Kenny, Sr., (1863-1914) a prominent banker and civic leader in Los Angeles and Berkeley, California. The elder Kenny's father, George Kenny, arrived in San Francisco in the early 1850s with his brothers-in-law A. L. Bancroft and Hubert Howe Bancroft. The three men formed a partnership and established the first bookstore in San Francisco. R. W. Kenny's maternal grandfather, George Carleton, was a pioneer orange grower in Riverside County, California, and a leader in the Methodist Church in Southern California.

Kenny was educated at Harvard Military Academy and the University of Southern California Preparatory School, both in Los Angeles. He received his A.B. degree from Stanford University in 1921. He later studied law at the University of Southern California and was admitted to the State of California bar in 1926.

From 1921 to 1927 Kenny worked as a newspaper reporter in the United States and Europe for various publication and press services, including the United Press in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London, the Chicago Tribune in Paris, France, and for the following Los Angeles newspapers: Los Angeles Evening Herald, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Examiner.

After his admittance to the Bar in 1926, Kenny was appointed in 1927 on the basis of a competitive civil service examination, to the position of Deputy Counsel for Los Angeles County in which capacity he served until 1931. While Deputy County Counsel, Kenny was assigned to attend sessions of the California Legislature at Sacramento under the auspices of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to handle bills affecting Los Angeles County.

After working actively in the 1930 campaign for the election of James Rolph, Republican, as Governor, Kenny was appointed by Rolph to the Municipal Court of Los Angeles on September 14, 1931, and in 1932 he was elevated to the Superior Court.

At this stage of his career Kenny considered himself a "liberal" Republican and in this role worked actively as a "wet" for the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1932 under the banner of the Crusaders, a Los Angeles organization dedicated to the repeal of the Prohibition Amendment. Kenny's anti-Prohibition attitudes also found expression in his work with the Liberal League, another Los Angeles non-partisan political organization which, in addition to its "wet" orientation vigorously sought to defeat the incumbent Los Angeles mayor, John C. Porter. In the hotly contested mayoralty election of 1933 Kenny worked with the Liberal League on behalf of candidate Frank L. Shaw who defeated Porter decisively.

In 1934 Kenny sought his first elective office, his position on the Superior Court bench to which he had been appointed originally by Governor Rolph. In this campaign Kenny received support from broad segments of the area and won easily.

In 1938 Kenny ran as a Democrat for the State Senate. He won both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the primary election and went on to defeat his Progressive Party opponent in the general election by an overwhelming margin. In the same campaign he served as Chairman of the State Democratic Central Finance Committee for the election of Culbert L. Olson to the office of Governor.

While in the State Senate Kenny became the Administration's floor leader but soon disaffected from Governor Olson's program on a number of major issues. In 1940 Kenny participated in an unsuccessful attempt to recall Governor Olson. In this effort he offered himself as a candidate for the Governor's post in case a recall attempt against Olson succeeded.

In November 1942 Kenny running as a Democrat was elected Attorney General for the State of California for a four year term. In this election he quietly supported Republican candidate Earl Warren against Governor Olson who ran for a second term. Both Warren and Kenny won their contests by substantial margins.

Among major developments or events occurring during Kenny's incumbency as Attorney General, January 1, 1943, to December 31, 1946, as reflected in this collection are: Kenny's interest in civil rights problems growing out of the return of wartime Japanese evacuees to California; his attendance of and reporting on the Nuremberg trials of German war criminals in March 1946; his activities in promoting a favorable solution of the problem of post-war reconversion of West Coast war industries; his reorganization of the Attorney General's Office; his efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to cause the defeat of a proposed U.S.-Mexican Water Treaty which Kenny believed was contrary to the best interests of the people of California; his activities to bring to a successful conclusion several decades of effort by the Indians of California to obtain a cash settlement of their claims against the United States Government based on treaties signed by representatives of the Government with the tribes in the 1850s; his participation in two dramatic criminal cases, which involved members of racial minority groups — the so-called Sleepy Lagoon Case and the Turner Case; his active intervention in the "Zoot Suit" riots of Los Angeles during World War II; his vigorous fight against the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in California in 1946; and his efforts to establish an international organization of lawyers with a liberal-oriented point of view during the organizing sessions of the United Nations Organization in San Francisco in 1945.

In May 1946 Kenny announced that he would run for governor. His opponent was Earl Warren, who was seeking his second term. Kenny and Warren cross-filed and thereby appeared in opposition to each other on the ballots of both major parties in the primary election of June 1946. Warren defeated Kenny on both ballots, to retain his governorship for 4 more years. Kenny completed his term as Attorney General in December 1946 and thereafter returned to private law practice in Los Angeles.

From the guide to the Robert Walker Kenny Papers, 1920-1947, (The Bancroft Library.)

Biography

Robert Walker Kenny was born to Robert Wolfenden Kenny and Minnie Summerfield Kenny on August 21, 1901. Kenny's father was a cashier at the Broadway Bank and Trust Company in Los Angeles. In April of 1906, Robert Wolfenden Kenny and Warren Gillelen were indicated by the federal grand jury in Oregon for land fraud. They were found not guilty and were acquitted in May 1908. Kenny's father died on September 13, 1914 leaving an estate of a little over $100,000. Robert Wolfenden Kenny had investments in the Tejon Ranch, the California Mexico Land and Water Company and a substantial interest in the Bank of Santa Monica. The stocks invested in the Tejon Ranch and the Bank of Santa Monica were sold in order to pay off outstanding loans. However, Mrs. Kenny kept the California Mexico Land and Water Company Stock, but it later proved to be worthless.

Nonetheless, what was left of the estate seemed to be adequate. Robert Kenny was able to attend the University High School at the University of Southern California (USC) and Stanford University from which he graduated at the age of 18 in 1920.

After Kenny's graduation from college, he obtained a job with the Los Angeles Times working with Chapin Hall, who later became the Times Managing Editor. In 1922, Kenny married Sara McCann and went to work for United Press in London and then for the Chicago Tribune in Paris. Robert and Sara Kenny returned to Los Angeles in 1923, where Kenny landed a job with United News, but was fired a short time later for allegedly spying for the Hearst papers. Ted Taylor and Kenny opened their own business, the Los Angeles Press Service. Kenny was also working for the Los Angeles Express as their courthouse reporter and in June 1924, he joined Hearst's Los Angeles Herald. At the same time, he was working for Hearst, Kenny attended USC Law School and transferred to Loyola College to finish his law education. On September 13, 1926, Robert Kenny was admitted to the Bar.

In September 1927, Kenny was appointed a Deputy of the County Counsel (civil attorney for Los Angeles County). Kenny was assigned in 1929 to attend the legislature in Sacramento and by 1930 he received a municipal judgeship in Los Angeles from Governor Rolph. Kenny faced an election in 1934 to retain his position as municipal judge, where he served his term in the Small Claims Court. Kenny won against six candidates for a six year term and now served as a judge in the Law and Motion Court which considers question of the law.

Kenny was involved in politics and became a founding member of the National Lawyers Guild, which was established on February 22, 1937. The Guild's membership consisted of liberal lawyers and the organization served as an alternative to the conservative American Bar Association. Kenny served as the president of the Guild for seven years and was instrumental in organizing the Los Angeles Chapter. Kenny's involvement in politics led him to run for State Senator representing Los Angeles. At that time in the California elections, cross filing was legal and Kenny won both the Republican and Democratic party nominations. He resigned from his position as municipal judge and in December 1939 dissolved his law partnership with Paul Vallee and Lawrence Beilensen and set up a new partnership with Morris E. Cohn, which lasted until 1948. Robert O. Curran joined the law firm and stayed until the beginning of WW II; his replacement was Robert S. Morris, who became Kenny's law partner in 1948. In Kenny's personal life, he and Sara Kenny reconciled their differences after Mrs. Kenny sued for divorce in 1938.

Kenny still represented clients while serving as a California legislature. One of his clients was William Schneiderman, head of the Communist Party (CP) in California. The United States decided to revoke Schneiderman's citizenship papers (1940). Kenny appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The case lost, but the decision was reversed (June 21, 1943) when Wendell Willkie pleaded for the defense to the United States Supreme Court. In that year of 1940, Kenny was retained by the Screen Writers Guild, which he later represented some of these writers in the Hollywood Ten hearings before the Thomas Die Committee from the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) [The Robert W. Kenny and Robert S. Morris papers that refer to the Hollywood Ten are at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin].

In 1942, Kenny decided to run for governor, but instead of running for governor he ran for Attorney general. Kenny won both Republican and Democratic party nominations by cross filing. Kenny was the only Democrat to win a major California office that year. Earl Warren won the governorship by cross filing. It was an unwritten rule that a candidate for governor did not cross file. It proved to be Kenny's undoing when he ran for governor in 1946; Kenny was defeated in the primaries, because according to Kenny, Governor Warren again cross filed and won both party nominations.

After Kenny's unsuccessful bid for governor, he returned to private law practice. In 1950, he ran for the office of State Senator against Glenn Anderson and Jack Tenney for the Democratic nomination; Tenney won the nomination. Kenny also ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 1950, but lost to Fletcher Bowron in the recall election.

During the Cold War Era (late 1940s and 1950s), Kenny represented many people under indictment for questionable activities, such as Luisa Moreno Bemis, an labor activist, who was eventually deported back to her home of origin, Guatamala, for belonging to the CP and perjuring herself when she obtained her citizenship. He also represented most of the unfriendly witnesses before HUAC when it came to Los Angeles in 1952. In 1956, Kenny represented the musicians before HUAC. Kenny was also a member of the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born and active in that organization and Robert Morris, his law partner, was active in the American Civil Liberties Union's Los Angeles chapter of the Immigration and Deportation Committee.

In 1966, Kenny was appointed by Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, where in 1970 there was an unsuccessful attempt to recall him and Jerry Pacht from the office of Superior Court Judge.

Kenny retired from the bench in 1975 and the following year died on July 20, 1976. Sara Kenny had died in 1968.

From the guide to the Robert W. Kenny Papers, 1823-1975, (Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.)

The Dean of the University was an office established by the Advisory and Executive Committee in December 1899 to relieve the president of routine and disciplinary work. The first dean was Winslow Upton, who resigned in 1901 for health reasons. Alexander Meiklejohn was dean from 1901 to 1912, and concerned himself with scholastic achievement, attendance, athletic activities, and social life of the students. Otis Randall, who followed Meiklejohn, was dean until 1930. He wrote a book, The Dean’s Window, about his experiences and observations as dean. After a year as acting dean in 1929-1930, Samuel T. Arnold was given the title of Dean of Undergraduates. In 1937 his title was changed to Dean of the College. There was no Dean of the University until 1946, when Arnold assumed that office. Robert W. Kenny was Dean of the College from 1947 to 1952. In 1949 Arnold was named Provost and there was no Dean of the University.

In the 1950s and 60s the deanery at Brown became known as a training ground for college presidents. The five Deans of the College who became college presidents were: James Stacy Coles, acting dean of the College for one year when he became president of Bowdoin College in 1952; Brown president Barnaby Keeney, acting dean in 1952-53 and dean from 1953 to 1955; K. Roald Bergethon, acting dean in 1955-56 and dean from 1956 to 1958, who went to Lafayette College; Charles H. Watts II, Class of 1947, dean from 1958 to 1962, who became president of Bucknell; and Robert W. Morse, dean from 1962 to 1964, who became president of Case Western Reserve University.

In 1964 the Corporation created the post of Dean of the University again and Merton P. Stoltz was named to the office. President Keeney explained that "Dean Stoltz will work with me on those aspects of the University that relate directly to education and the substance of research. ... The intention is not to interpose Dean Stoltz between the President and the Deans and the Faculty, but to juxtapose him beside the President in order to extend the competence of that office."

In 1965 at a junior convocation President Barnaby Keeney in a speech on campus communication had occasion to discuss the function of deans. The occasion was an appeal to the Corporation, charging "lack of communication," by students who were dissatisfied with the response of the president and deans to their campaign to have parietal rules liberalized. Keeney said, "the business of the Deans is to form and administer the rules for activities, the curriculum, and other matters of business relating to the students. I see the Deans quite frequently, some of them every day. They tell me what they have in mind, and they usually tell me what other people have in mind.... the Deans, in effect, stand between the President and the students. Generally speaking, the Deans are apt to have a more liberal point of view than the President, if only because they are likely to be younger, and to sympathize more with students, if only because they are more thoroughly involved with them. ... Be kind to your Deans; they are good Deans, and there is a lot of good wear left in them. Do not attempt to undermine their position between you and the President, but rather sympathize with them, for both of the layers between which they are ground can be very nasty indeed."

Robert O. Schulze was the Dean of the College from 1964 to 1968, followed by F. Donald Eckelmann from 1968 to 1971. The position of Dean of the College was reestablished in 1974 with Thomas F. Bechtel, who had been Dean of Counseling, as acting dean, followed by Walter Massey from 1975 to 1979, Harriet Sheridan from 1979 to 1987, and Sheila Blumstein from 1987 to 1995.

Maurice Glicksman occupied two deanships at the same time. An engineer and physicist who had been on the faculty since 1969 and had served as chairman of the Faculty Policy Group, he was appointed Dean of the Graduate School in 1974, and in 1975 was also named Acting Dean of the Faculty and Academic Affairs, succeeding Jacqueline A. Mattfeld, who had held that position since 1974, and had previously been Dean of Academic Affairs from 1971 to 1974. Glicksman served in both capacities until he was named Provost and Dean of the Faculty in 1978. John Quinn was Dean of the Faculty from 1986 to 1989, followed by Thomas J. Anton in 1990-1991, and Bryan E. Shepp since 1991.

The office of Dean of Freshmen was created in 1922 and held by William Russell Burwell from 1922 to 1926, and Kenneth O. Mason from 1926 until his death in 1930. The office of Dean of Students was held by Bruce M. Bigelow from 1943 to 1946, Robert W. Kenny from 1946 to 1947, Edward R. Durgin to 1952 to 1962, and John M. Robinson from 1979 to 1988. James E. Dougherty was Dean of Student Affairs between 1970 and 1975. The office of Dean of Student Life was created in 1979 and held by Eric Widmer until 1988. John M. Robinson, who became Dean of Students in 1979, was Dean of Student Life from 1988 to 1990. Eric Widmer was acting dean from January to December of 1991, when Robin L. Rose was appointed.

Louis Franklin Snow was named first Dean of the Women’s College in 1892 and served until 1900, when Anne Crosby Emery was appointed. She resigned in 1905 to marry Professor Francis Greenleaf Allinson. Lida Shaw King, was dean from 1905 to 1922, and resigned because of illness. Anne Crosby Emery Allinson was acting dean in 1920-1921 and again in 1922-1923. In 1923 Margaret Shove Morriss was named Dean of the Women’s College. After the College was renamed in 1928 she was Dean of Pembroke College. Nancy Duke Lewis, who was acting dean in 1949-1950, succeeded Miss Morriss in 1950. Robert W. Kenny was acting dean during Miss Lewis' illness in 1960-61, and Rosemary Pierrel was dean from 1961 until the office was discontinued in 1971, when Pembroke College was merged with Brown University.

Carl Barus, the first Dean of the Graduate Department from 1903 to 1926, was succeeded in that position for one year by Roland G. D. Richardson, who was then the Dean of the Graduate School until 1949. From 1947 to 1949 Curt J. Ducasse was acting dean. The Deans of the Graduate School since that time have been Barnaby C. Keeney from 1949 to 1953, Robert Bruce Lindsay from 1954 to 1966, Michael J. Brennan from 1966 to 1974, Maurice Glicksman from 1974 to 1976, and Ernest S. Frerichs from 1976 to 1982. Edmund S. Morgan was acting dean in 1951-1952, and Donald F. Hornig in 1952-1953. The title of the office was changed in 1983 to Dean of the Graduate School and Research, and has been held by Mark B. Schupack from 1983 to 1986 and by Phillip J. Stiles since 1986.

The above entry appears in Encyclopedia Brunoniana by Martha Mitchell, copyright 1993 by the Brown University Library. It is used here by permission of the author and the University and may not be copied or further distributed without permission.

From the guide to the Brown University Dean of the College files, 1939-1986, (John Hay Library Special Collections)