How Did Upton Sinclair Influence Society

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Fitchat 1

Upton Sinclair
Michael Fitchat

Kevin Fober AP US History
25 January 2016
Fitchat 2 Upton Beale Sinclair, Jr. one of the most influential writers and muckrakers of the 1900s. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20, 1878. His family moved to New York when he was 10 years old. Later he attended the college of the city of New York at the age of 14. He wrote short fiction novels for magazines to help pay for college. After Graduating in 1897 he went Columbia University to study law. He supported himself while attending this university by writing for adventure-story magazines. He moved to Quebec in 1900 and spent a lot of his life writing. In the beginning he was struggling because his books were unsuccessful, …show more content…

He became very influential and involved with this party. He was the founder of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society which is now the League for Industrial Democracy. He was a Socialist candidate for congress in New Jersey in 1906. Then in 1917 he left the party for a short time to support President Wilson, but then returned to the party after Wilson stated his support for Allied intervention in the Soviet Union. He then moved to Pasadena, California in 1915. In California he supported Congress on the Socialist ticket, the senate, and ran for governor. When the Great Depression reached California he formed a set of general propositions that he named EPIC which stood for Plan to End Poverty in California. This plan arranged to start up factories to benefit unemployed workers and this plan also made land available for farmers to use. Then these goods and services would be divided through a system of businesses. This plan gave $50 a month to people in need that were over sixty, disabled, or single mothers with children. This plan became very popular and many EPIC clubs were created. Sinclair later won the Democratic nomination, but was defeated in his campaign because his fear influenced him and a lot of money was spent on a dishonest campaign. He truly supported the Socialist Party and everything it stood