Oklahoma Politics: A History

This book is the only published history focused on government in the Sooner State. Beginning with the elections of the territorial era, the authors narrate a definitive account of state politics through the early 1960s. A final chapter traces the contours of contemporary public affairs, identifying the chief elements that shape today's politics.

Every major election in the state's history is included in the book, as well as biographical sketches of the state's foremost political figures. Further, the authors relate the recurrent controversies of the statehouse, where gubernatorial initiatives have often clashed with legislative ambitions. Appropriate attention is also given to the state's role in national affairs.

Although comprehensive in scope, Oklahoma Politics is more than a compendium of political data. The authors view the history of the commonwealth as something of a model for understanding the evolution of state politics in general during this century. Oklahoma fits that purpose ideally. Born amid the Progressive reformation of traditional state government, the state has been host to every major subsequent force in American state politics. Grassroots agrarian radicalism, a potent Ku Klux Klan, the turmoil of the Great Depression, the post–World War II revolution in the federal  relationship, the emergence of modern Republican conservatism—all these have made Oklahoma a laboratory  of political change.

Aware of the scholarly literature of political scientists and historians of other states, the authors have incorporated many of their findings to develop a new perspective from which to view Oklahoma's political history. Yet the color and excitement of state politics have not been lost in this careful analysis of how the system has evolved. The result is a book that speaks to those Oklahomans—indeed, those Americans—who seek to understand how state politics works or, on occasion, why it does not.

James R. Scales was a distinguished scholar and native Oklahoman. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma and was president of Wake Forest University from 1968 to 1983.

Danney Goble (1946–2007) was Professor of Letters at the University of Oklahoma and the award-winning author or coauthor of eight books about Oklahoma and Oklahomans.