Leo Meyer (politician)

Leo Meyer (1873-1964) was a politician in Texas and Oklahoma and was the first Jew elected to statewide public office in Oklahoma.^[1]

Leo Meyer
2nd Oklahoma State Auditor
In office 1911 – February 1913
Governor	Lee Cruce
Preceded by	Martin E. Trapp
Succeeded by	Thomas C. McClellan
Assistant Secretary of State
In office 1907–1911
Governor	Charles N. Haskell
Mayor of Sayre, Oklahoma
In office 1905–1906
Mayor of Bellville, Texas
In office 1890's
Personal details
Born	October 2, 1873 New York City, New York
Died	February 14, 1964 (aged 90) Tulsa, Oklahoma
Political party	Democratic
Education	attended high school in Brooklyn, New York

Early years

Meyer was born in New York City to recent German immigrant parents. After attending high school in Brooklyn, New York, he moved to Texas at age 16,^[2] where he eventually went into the mercantile and cotton business in Bellville, Texas, in 1890. In 1895 he married Margaret Lewis of Nelsonville, Texas, and was becoming active in local politics in Bellville, eventually being elected as mayor.^[3]

Oklahoma years

The 1900 Galveston hurricane destroyed his family's business, so Meyer and his family moved to Sayre, Oklahoma, where he worked as the manager of the Dixie Dry Goods store. He also continued his work in Democratic party politics serving on the town's first board of trustees before being elected as the town's first mayor in 1905,^[4] an office he held until 1906.^[5]

In 1906, Meyer was attended the Oklahoma constitutional convention (contrary to some reports,^[6] he was not a delegate) and was a strong supporter of the draft constitution's progressive and populist agenda, which may have influenced William Macklin Cross (the first Oklahoma Secretary of State) to choose Meyer as Oklahoma's first Assistant Secretary of State.^[7][8]

In 1907, the Meyer family moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma (the then state capitol), where his family was one of ten families who came together to form Guthrie's first Jewish congregation.^[9]

The most notable event in Meyer's time in the Oklahoma State department was his role in the transfer of the Oklahoma state capitol from Guthrie to Oklahoma City in 1910,^[10] which led the Guthrie Daily Leader newspaper to use extreme anti-semitic language to accuse the Jewish community in Oklahoma City of having inappropriately "stolen" the state capitol from Guthrie,^[11] which led to significant media attention including the forceful assertion by Rabbi Joseph Blatt of Oklahoma City that the newspaper's claims were slanderous and that they were a “a disgrace to the civilization of our state.”^[12][13]

During his time in Oklahoma City, Meyer was an active member of Temple B'nai Israel (Oklahoma City) of Oklahoma City.

In November 1910, Meyer was elected as Oklahoma's second state auditor. His tenure is best remembered for his work in moving the state towards using bonds (rather than warrants) for financing state government, but also for his being accused of financial improprieties by his political opponents. While a county judge found that Meyer had committed no wrong, members of the state legislature continued to press the matter and began impeachment proceedings. Meyer, feeling that he had lost the support of the Democratic party establishment, resigned from office in February 1913.^[14][15]

The Meyer family moved from Oklahoma City to Tulsa in 1916 where Meyer became the tax counsel of the Mid-continent Petroleum Company. In Tulsa, Meyer was deeply involved in the community of Temple Israel (Tulsa, Oklahoma) (a Reform Jewish synagogue), including being elected as Temple President in 1924.^[16][17]

Meyer died in Tulsa in 1964.

Electoral history

Oklahoma Secretary of State Democratic primary (August 2, 1910)^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben F. Harrison	56,005	55.0%
	Democratic	Leo Meyer	45,874	45.0%
Turnout			101,879

1910 Oklahoma State Auditor election^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Leo Meyer	117,954	50.1%	-4.4%
	Republican	Thomas S. Dulaney	93,749	39.8%	-1.3%
	Socialist	H.A. Kembel	23,706	10.0%	+5.7%
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. Lovett, John R. "Leo Meyer: Texas and Oklahoma Settler and politician" Western States Jewish History, Vo. XXVI, No. 1, Oct. 1993, pp. 55-64
2. Sherman, Rabbi Charles P. "In memory of Sergeant Maurice Meyer and Irin Frank" (Rogers State University, Nov. 8, 2012)
3. Lovett, John R. "Leo Meyer: Texas and Oklahoma Settler and politician" Western States Jewish History, Vo. XXVI, No. 1, Oct. 1993, pp. 55-64
4. Sherman, Rabbi Charles P. "In memory of Sergeant Maurice Meyer and Irin Frank" (Rogers State University, Nov. 8, 2012)
5. Lovett, John R. "Leo Meyer: Texas and Oklahoma Settler and politician" Western States Jewish History, Vo. XXVI, No. 1, Oct. 1993, pp. 55-64
6. An example of a false report is found in Postal, Bernard and Lionel Koppman "Oklahoma" A Jewish Tourist's Guide to the U.S. (Jewish Publication Society 1954), p.514 says "Leo Meyer, of Tulsa, Oklahoma's first state treasurer, who had served in several territorial legislatures, and Levy were delegates to the convention that voted to unite Oklahoma and Indian territories and seek admission to the Union as the 46th state. Meyer was one of the framers of the first state constitution." In actuality, Meyer was never a state treasurer, was not a territorial legislator, and wasn't elected as a delegate to the convention.
7. see id.
8. Shevitz, Amy Hill "Past and Future: The life of the Oklahoma Jewish Community" Chronicles of Oklahoma, (Vol. LXXV Number 1, Spring 1997) p.11-12
9. Lovett, John R. "Leo Meyer: Texas and Oklahoma Settler and politician" Western States Jewish History, Vo. XXVI, No. 1, Oct. 1993, pp. 55-64
10. Cobb, Russell This Land (Aug 18, 2015)
11. Guthrie Daily Leader "Shylocks of Oklahoma City have state by the throat" (Nov. 1, 1910) - Archived from the Oklahoma Historical Society]
12. San Diego Jewish World "A Short history of Jewish Oklahoma" (Nov. 21, 2016)
13. Rockoff, Stuart, MyJewishLearning.com "The Guthrie incident, an episode of anti-semitism in Oklahoma" (Nov. 26, 2012)
14. Lovett, John R. "Leo Meyer: Texas and Oklahoma Settler and politician" Western States Jewish History, Vo. XXVI, No. 1, Oct. 1993, pp. 55-64
15. "Leo Meyer has resigned" Fletcher Herald (Fletcher, Oklahoma Feb. 20, 1913)
16. see id.
17. Goldfarb, Phil, Ed Harris & Katherine Frame "Jewish Oklahomans" Avotaynu Online (April 1, 2015)
18. "1907-1912 Results" (PDF). oklahoma.gov. Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved September 23, 2023.

Party political offices
Preceded by Martin E. Trapp	Democratic nominee for Auditor of Oklahoma 1910	Succeeded by E. B. Howard