The short-lived Liberty Party was the brainchild of William Hope "Coin" Harvey (1851-1936). An eccentric lawyer, author and entrepreneur who lived all over the U.S.A., Harvey spent some formative years in the silver mining industry of Ouray, Colorado in the 1880s. He was an active campaigner for William Jennings Bryan and free silver in the 1896 election. (By coincidence, my own family was in Ouray in the 1880s and probably knew Harvey. My grandfather was named Bryan in honor of the Great Commoner). Harvey's later years were spent promoting his Arkansas resort, Monte Ne. Sensing that Western Civilization was on the verge of collapse, he began construction of a pyramid as sort of a safe haven and time capsule for future generations. It was never completed.

In 1931 Harvey founded the Liberty Party and ran as the Presidential candidate. The platform was Populist in philosophy, much of it based on Harvey's free silver writings and a belief in government control of utilities.

In Washington State, the Liberty Party members met in Sept. 1932 in Tacoma and wanted to name State College of Washington President E.O. Holland for Governor, but he declined. The convention then nominated Methodist minister L.C. Hicks of Kelso by a vote of 46 to 21 over J.P. Wall of Seattle. The Daily Tribune and Kelsonian reported, "The victory was greeted with a storm of enthusiasm."

Platform of the Liberty Party for the State of Washington

We concur in and approve the national platform of the liberty party as adopted by the national convention.

We pledge ourselves to the support of the Washington State Grange income tax proposition.

We advocate the passage of the old age pension bill as advocated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

We pledge ourselves that funds derived from the gasoline tax in the state of Washington be used for the building and upkeep of all the state and county roads within the state of Washington.

We propose to reduce and eventually eliminate the burden of taxation customarily levied against the property of the citizens of this state, by the acquisition, under the law of eminent domain, of certain public utilities sufficient in number and scope to produce the necessary revenue to defray all government expenses, thereby making taxes unnecessary.

We pledge ourselves that we will conserve for all of the people of this state that which rightfully belongs to them, their water power sites and natural waterways.

We pledge ourselves to adopt the Torrence title system, whereby the state of Washington would guarantee the title of real estate for a minimum fee.

We maintain that the veterans should be paid adjusted service certificates at once by the issuance of United States notes (paper money).

We pledge ourselves to revise the workman's compensation law to provide adequate compensation to the beneficiaries thereunder which shall insure to their benefit and not be used to defeat the purpose of said act.

THE ISSUE IS MONEY--(bread not beer)

We pledge ourselves to the repeal of the law requiring foreclosure of property when two local improvement district assessments are delinquent.

Gubernatorial candidate Luvern Clyde Hicks was born June 30, 1894 in Tobias, Nebraska, about 40 miles southwest of Lincoln. His parents were Illinois natives John W. and Ida Hicks. John was the manager of a creamery. As a young man Luvern attended Iowa Wesleyan College at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and married Edith about 1914. Upon becoming a Methodist minister, he found himself being sent to different congregations across the West for short durations. During the era of the Great War and the 1920s he was in Nebraska and Iowa. By 1930 he was Pomeroy, Washington. He spread the Gospel and sang bass in the choir, she taught school. In 1931 he was in Seattle and by 1932 he had moved to Kelso.

One would expect someone with the background of Rev. Hicks to be active in the Prohibition Party, but he appears to have been more thoughtful than that. In accepting the nomination, Rev. Hicks issued the following statement:

"The state convention of the liberty party nominated me for the highest office within the state. This was done over my protest and I shall not attempt to avoid the responsibility of the leadership of the liberty party. I shall attempt to fairly present the issues of this political campaign to the people of the state without slanderous reference to any other party or candidate. The principles of the liberty party are of sufficient strength and appeal to establish our case in the November election. The only reason for my interest in the present campaign is my belief in the principles of the liberty party. I trust that none shall question such motive. I shall give every candidate for office in any other party the same consideration concerning his motives."

"I do not expect to change my relationship with my church. I am primarily a minister of the gospel. The economic needs of my people as I have dealt with them in a moral and spiritual way has forced upon me the conviction of some long needed changes in our political and economical program for the state and nation. My life's ambitions are not political and thus I am only interested in this campaign as a matter of helping to meet a political and economic crisis. If I am not elected I shall remain in the work in which I have been very happy. If I am elected, I shall serve the state to the best of my ability for the tenure of office for which I am elected and then return to my chosen work."

"The fact that one of the largest registrations in the history of the state followed by one of the lowest proportionate votes means a great deal when we consider the fact that the liberty party members were urged not to go to the polls, inasmuch as we had no ticket on the ballot for nomination. This nomination was effected in the liberty party conventions. In this county approximately 50 per cent of the registered voters cast their votes for either democratic or republican candidates. The remaining 50 per cent remained away from the polls. This, I believe, is significant of the power of the liberty party in Cowlitz county."

"If the liberty party is placed in power in the state of Washington, we shall establish a state-owned bank where the savings and commercial funds will be secure. The better than 23 million dollars of surplus funds of the state of Washington will be deposited in this state-owned bank. Branches of this bank will be in various communities of the state."

"If the liberty party is placed in power, we shall favor state ownership and control of certain public utilities. We shall immediately appoint a public service commission which will reduce the cost of electric current and telephone service at least 25 per cent. These figures will be based upon the cost of replacement of these utilities."

"We maintain that the prohibition issue is only a smoke screen by the republican and democratic parties to divert the minds of the people to a controversial issue, thus avoiding the vital issues of economic importance."

"Reluctant in accepting the responsibility of such a task; regretful that a more competent man was not placed in this nomination; with no campaign promises to any man other than that I shall do my best to fill the office to the best of my ability, I enter this campaign to establish the program of the liberty party for the state of Washington at the November election."

Rev. Hicks ran an energetic and positive campaign. He received more press than most third party candidates, but it still was not close to the major party news coverage. On Election Day the Liberty Party failed to have the expected impact at the results feared/hoped by politicos. Hicks placed 3rd out of seven candidates with a decent showing, 41,710 votes (6.79%). His strength was in Western Washington. He placed second, ahead of Republican Gellatly in Thurston County, and in his home county of Cowlitz he was only 104 votes short of winning. With the exception of Whatcom, the dozen counties where he placed 4th were in Eastern Washington.

True to his word, he returned to his calling after the election and never, as far as I can ascertain, ran for public office again. He did not appear to find his foray into politics a bad experience and seemed gracious in defeat. A few months after the election, the Centralia Daily Chronicle ran this piece (Feb. 14, 1933):

"CHEHALIS, Feb. 14—Rev. L. C. Hicks of Kelso, who was the Liberty party candidate for governor in the recent election, addressed the Methodist Men's club here last evening, speaking on 'Current Problems of the Day.' Rev. Hicks praised Governor Clarence D. Martin; referring to him as a splendid, conscientious man who will do his best for the state. The Kelso pastor outlined in an impressive manner the major problems facing the nation and the world at large today and declared that 'It is a great thing to be alive in 1933' with many momentous events in the offing. He warned aqainst losing sight of the fact that human values' are the biggest values of all and gave the opinion that disaster is likely to overtake those persons or nations who disregard the human element and the teachings of Christ."

Rev. Hicks' career took him to Montana in the mid-1930s, where he worked in the Helena area. By the 1940s and 1950s he was back home in Nebraska and Iowa. He died at the age of 80, Jan. 18, 1975, in the area of North Platte, Nebraska. His obituary made no mention of the Liberty Party or his run for Governor.

The Liberty Party did not survive very long after the 1932 election. If there had to be a date of death it would be Oct. 5, 1935, as historian Albert Anthony Acena has written, "483 delegates gathered in Tacoma's Coliseum to ratify a constitution and approve a platform for the Washington Commonwealth Federation. These individuals came from the Grange, United Producers, the Liberty Party, Bellamy Clubs and other smaller groups, but by far the largest groups were those of organized labor, the Commonwealth Builders, the Continental Committee Technocrats and Democratic Party Clubs." We'll get to the WCF later.