The Faith That Shifts

California Democrats have elected only one governor in the 20th century. Last week, hoping to prevent Republicans from winning Democratic primaries under the state's cross-filing system, 1,500 Democratic delegates gathered in Fresno, endorsed:

For Governor: Richard P. (for Perrin) Graves, 47, a follower of Republican Governor Earl Warren and a registered Republican as recently as Dec. 14. Graves voted for Adlai Stevenson and four times for Franklin Roosevelt. He has switched his party registration four times: he was a Republican from 1928 to 1932, and from 1944 to 1953, a Democrat from 1932 to 1936, and an independent from 1936 to 1944.

For Senator: Samuel W. (for William) Yorty, 45, two-term Congressman from Los Angeles who made a brief splash in Washington last year by beating his party's leadership to the punch in denouncing Defense Secretary Wilson's Air Force cutback (TIME, June 1). When, at 27, Sam Yorty was elected to the state assembly, his reputation as a radical resulted in a charge before the Dies Committee that he was a Communist. In 1940 he veered so far to the right that he founded the assembly's Communist-hunting committee which rawhided Democratic Governor Culbert L. Olson's State Relief Administration. Many Democrats still blame this investigation for the party's weakness ever since.

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