Wilshire, H. Gaylord

WILSHIRE, H. GAYLORD (1861–1927). According to one historian, H. Gaylord Wilshire “stands out as one of the oddest characters in a movement where eccentricity was entirely normal.” A contemporary called him the “P. T. Barnum of American socialism.” A real-estate speculator—Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles is named for him—publisher, and socialist, Wilshire was born into some wealth; he liked to dress like a dandy and exploit his superficial resemblance to George Bernard Shaw. He knew the leading literary and radical figures in London and New York. He became a billboard magnate and used his billboards to promote his own socialist candidacy as well as his magazines. At one point Wilshire sold gold stock to promote himself, his magazine, and socialism; he promoted health foods, miracle cures, Maxim Gorky’s ill-fated American tour, and recordings of famous socialist orators, some of which he faked himself. Above all, Wilshire promoted Wilshire and Wilshire’s Magazine.

Born in Cincinnati, the son of a wealthy businessman, and educated at Harvard, Wilshire twice ran on Socialist tickets in the early 1890s and then spent four years in England, where he met the radical elite. Returning to southern California in the late 1890s, he began publication of the Challenge in support of his attempt to secure the Social Democratic Party nomination for California’s Sixth Congressional District, which he won though he lost the race. Wilshire used the first person singular to glorify himself and his one basic idea, the motto for his publication: Let the Nation Own the Trusts. It was a powerful slogan because it was between 1899 and 1901 that the consolidation of American industry took place, the time when great combinations like U.S. Steel were born. Wilshire used his message, self-promotion in the form of publishing countless letters of praise, and the depth of his pocketbook to reach more than 100,000 readers in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Quint, Howard. “Gaylord Wilshire and Socialism’s First Congressional Campaign.” Pacific Historical Review 26 (November 1957).

Reynolds, Robert D., Jr. “The Millionaire Socialists: J. G. Phelps and His Circle of Friends.” Ph.D. diss., University of South Carolina, 1974.

Rosen, Lou. Henry Gaylord Wilshire: The Millionaire Socialist. Pacific Palisades, CA: School of Justice Institute, 2011.

Shore, Elliott. Talkin’ Socialism: J. A. Wayland and the Role of the Press in American Radicalism, 1890–1912. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.