Cole Phelps

Cole Phelps (born 19th of January 1920) is a former USMC Officer, LAPD Detective, and the current Governor of Oakland following Governor Aiora Etxeb's resignation. He was born in San Francisco, where his father worked for a shipping company. He married Marie Phelps (née Coakley) in 1940 and had two daughters with her.

After serving for the Marine Corps as an Officer in WW2, he shortly lived in New Hampshire, Rochester. This is where he got into politics, and made his first run for office in Rochester's 1st district's Congressional election of 1948. He came in third as the independent candidate, amassing around 10% of the vote.

A few months later Phelps and his family moved back to Oakland, this time to Los Angeles, where Phelps started serving as a detective in the LAPD. His stint with the police was short-lived however, as then Governor Etxeb appointed him as Lieutenant Governor. When she resigned, he became Governor of Oakland.

Early life
Phelps was born on the 19th of January 1920 in San Francisco. Both his father and his grandfather had worked for a shipping company in the city, but Phelps would seek a higher education. He attended Stanford University, where he graduated in Journalism in 1941. This is also where he met his wife Marie.

Shortly after graduation, him and his wife had their first daughter, Martha. Phelps spent some time working for local newspapers during this time, but would later join the U.S. Army. His second daughter, Alice, was born after the war, in 1946.

Military service
After the U.S. declared war on the Axis in December of 1941, Phelps immediately enlisted. He was sent to Officer Candidate School for the United States Marine Corps, and later served as an officer in the Pacific Theatre of the War, fighting against the Japanese.

Phelps returned as a war-hero, having achieved the rank of First Lieutenant and receiving a Silver Star for his bravery in the face of danger. Most notably, Phelps served in the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Sugar Loaf.

Work as a detective
After the war, Phelps returned to his family. They moved to New Hampshire, where he joined the police department. He rose quickly through the ranks, eventually becoming a detective. Phelps was commended by his superiors during his time with the police for his meticulous research and his excellent interrogation techniques. He would serve the Manchester Police Department until 1948, when after his election loss he would request to be transferred to Los Angeles.

In his short time with the LAPD, Phelps become most known for solving the Quarter Moon Murders, a series of murders committed in Los Angeles in 1949. It was an unusually large case and Phelps was praised by his superiors and by the press for solving it in his short time with the LAPD. Not long after the murderer had been caught, Phelps was appointed Lt. Governor of Oakland.

1948 Congressional elections
Cole Phelps first meddled in politics when he ran as a third candidate in the 1948 congressional election in Rochester's 1st district. He presented himself as a third, more central alternative to the two BIU and ALP candidates. He managed to amass an approximate 10% of the votes, coming in third after his two opponents.

Ascension to Governor of Oakland
Prior to 1952, Phelps never got elected to he Governorship of Oakland. His predecessor, Aiora Etxeb, appointed him to the position of Lt. Governor, therefore relieving Lt. Governor Harvey Specter of his duties. Shortly thereafter, Governor Aiora Etxeb resigned from her position to serve in the U.S. Congress, filling the vacancy of Oakland's 7th District. Following the Oakland Constitution, Phelps assumed the role of Governor.

Cole Phelps' position as Governor after these events was not without controversy. Some members of the public, especially members of the BIU, believed that Phelps governed without democratic mandate. They also saw the move as political from the ALP to get more members in Congress, given Etxeb's self-appointment to the vacant seat of Oakland's 7th district. Calls were made for a special gubernatorial election, however the Oakland Constitution did not yet provide for such an election to be held at the time, therefore the FEC ruled against it.

In the 1952 Gubernatorial elections, Cole Phelps was elected for the first time, winning against his BIU opponent Ivan Nikolic. He overwhelmingly won, beating Nikolic by a margin of 46.54% by amassing 6,576,405 votes.

Constitutional Convention of 1952
Since its inception, Cole Phelps has been part of the Constitutional Convention of 1952.