“Sikh to Face Aviatrix in California Election!”
The Story
“Among this year’s 435 contests for the U.S. House of Representatives, none can match in flamboyance the three-way combination of Jackie, the Hindu judge, and the sprawling CA 29th congressional district that they are fighting for.”
From TIME Magazine, Jan 9, 1956
In 1956, Dalip Singh Saund (D), a local judge and recently naturalized U.S. citizen of Indian descent campaigned against Jackie Cochran Odlum (R), an aviation pioneer, WWII leader, and owner of a cosmetics empire for a seat in the U.S. Congress representing California’s 29th District. Their competition sparked local debate and national conversations about these unusual candidates and about who could best represent the district.
Cochran flew her own plane everywhere. She had unlimited resources and support from President Eisenhower (R). She won the Republican nomination against 5 conservative candidates.
Saund’s campaign was markedly humble.
With a dedicated team of family and volunteers, and the endorsement of Senator John F. Kennedy, he ran a voter registration drive that attracted 6,500 new voters in just 11 weeks.
With 80% voter turnout, and to everyone’s surprise, Dalip Singh Saund won an upset election by just 3,300 votes.
This launched Saund into national and international attention as the
first-ever
Asian American, Indian American & Sikh American
to serve in the U.S. Congress.
In Congress, Saund served as a tireless advocate for his California district – championing veterans, farmers, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. He supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957, served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and traveled to eleven Asian nations on a State Department tour during the Cold War. Saund was re-elected twice and served a total of six years before suffering a debilitating stroke in 1962. He died in 1973. Cochran died in 1980, after donating considerable time and money to charity. At the time of her death, she held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot, male or female.
THE FILM – SAUND vs COCHRAN is a nonpartisan documentary about a dramatic and nearly forgotten chapter of American political history. Based on original research of over 2000 newspaper articles from 1955-1957, along with personal papers, campaign materials, and audio, and film archives, the film reconstructs a race that captivated California, the nation, and the world.
These sources reveal a remarkably engaged electorate and campaign that fiercely debated citizenship, public service, celebrity, wartime achievement and political representation. In the film, the voices of voters, journalists, and campaign workers will move the story forward, placing viewers inside a congressional contest that was as entertaining and unpredictable as it was historically significant.
