The "Inquiring Cameraman" conducts interviews with Californians prior to the gubernatorial election of November 6, 1934. Voters state their opinions on candidates Upton Sinclair, Frank Merriam, and Raymond L. Haight.
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The End Poverty in California movement (EPIC) was a political campaign started in 1934 by famed socialist writer Upton Sinclair (best known as author of The Jungle). The movement formed the basis for Sinclair’s campaign for Governor of California in 1934. The plan called for a massive public works program, sweeping tax reform, and guaranteed pensions. It gained major popular support, with thousands joining End Poverty Leagues across the state. EPIC never came to fruition due to Sinclair’s defeat in the 1934 election, but is seen as an influence on New Deal programs enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
EPIC faced major opposition by the Republican Party and major media figures. Opponents of EPIC “organized the most lavish and creative dirty-tricks campaign ever seen-one that was to become a landmark in American politics” involving “turning over a major campaign to outside advertising, publicity, media and fundraising consultants for the first time.” Notable among these opponents were the heads of the major movie studios in Hollywood. This was largely due to Sinclair’s proposal to hand over idle movie studio lots to unemployed film workers to make movies of their own. In reaction, the studio heads threatened to move film operations to Florida, and deducted money from employee’s paychecks to give directly to the campaign of Sinclair’s Republican opponent for governor, Frank Merriam. In addition, two of the state’s most influential media moguls, William Randolph Hearst and Harry Chandler used their papers to solely cover Merriam’s campaign and to attack Sinclair.
Despite Sinclair’s defeat, EPIC is recognized as having been very influential in shaping Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. In late 1934, Harry Hopkins, a senior adviser to Roosevelt who went on to oversee many New Deal programs, proposed an "End Poverty in America" campaign that the New York Times wrote “differs from Sinclair’s plan in detail, but not in principle.”