Better America Federation

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The Better America Federation was a pro‑business, anti‑communist political group in California during the 1920s. It acted as a political surveillance organization. It began on May 7, 1920 in Los Angeles, founded by Harry M. Haldeman (grandfather of the Watergate figure), Eli P. Clark, and other businessmen, mostly from utilities. It said it existed “for the political welfare of the nation.”

In practice, the BAF collected and circulated information about people it claimed held radical ideas, opposed laws protecting workers’ right to organize, and fought activities it viewed as harmful to the nation. Its headquarters were in Los Angeles, with local chapters across California in the early 1920s.

The BAF grew from an earlier group, the Commercial Federation of California, which formed in 1914 to oppose California’s growing progressive politics. Haldeman led both groups. The founding president was Haldeman, and Reese J. Llewellyn, president of Llewellyn Iron Works, was the vice president for Los Angeles County. Donors included private individuals and companies, such as Southern California Edison.

The organization published pamphlets and ran campaigns to spread its views in public institutions, and it lobbied the California State Assembly. It promoted a conservative form of patriotism, warned about domestic communism, and argued that the U.S. Constitution should not be amended. It opposed labor unions and industry regulation, supported a six‑day workweek, and rejected a minimum wage.

In schools, it warned against “ Bolshevik” authors in textbooks and objected to certain school board appointments. It also opposed compulsory education beyond age 14. Among its claimed successes, it said it helped ban The Nation and The New Republic from California public schools, which it saw as left‑wing.

Haldeman claimed credit for helping elect a majority of Southern California’s representatives to the state legislature in 1918 and for promoting laws that criminalized radical political speech in California. Some scholars say the organization helped shape California conservatism in ways that last to this day.