How the West was won

 

I heard rumors about this before, but usually rolled my eyes at it. Until now. Ever heard of the Progressive Western Republicans, some of whom were Mormons?

Is it true that there have been Republican politicians after World War II in Utah, Idaho and other places who took "progressive" political positions usually associated with the Democrats?

Yes — very much so.
In fact, for several decades after World War II, parts of the American West (especially Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana) produced a distinctive kind of “Western Republican” who was economically progressive, pro-labor, and pro-government investment, even while being culturally conservative.

This now-forgotten tradition is one of the great buried chapters of U.S. political history.

Here are the clearest examples.

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🏔 1. The Western Republican tradition

From the 1930s through the 1970s, many Republicans in the interior West believed:

• The federal government should build dams, roads, and power plants

• Labor unions were legitimate

• Social Security and Medicare were good

• Antitrust law should restrain corporations

• Public land should serve the people, not just private industry

This was not seen as “left-wing” — it was seen as practical Western development policy.

Western states were poor, rural, and underdeveloped, so Republicans there wanted federal investment.

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🏔 2. Utah’s progressive Republicans

Wallace F. Bennett (Senator, 1951–1974)

A conservative Mormon, but:

• supported Social Security

• backed Medicare

• supported federal water projects

• voted for civil rights laws

He opposed big business monopolies and supported labor protections.

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🏔 3. Idaho’s progressive Republicans

Frank Church

Church was actually a Democrat, but Idaho’s Republicans were often not much different from him on economics.

The most important Idaho Republican was:

Len Jordan

• Pro-welfare

• Pro-public works

• Pro-federal land protection

• Backed Social Security and labor law

Idaho Republicans routinely supported:

• unions

• environmental protection

• anti-corporate regulation

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🏔 4. The Pacific Northwest Republicans

The most famous was:

Mark Hatfield

A Republican who:

• opposed the Vietnam War

• supported civil rights

• supported food stamps

• supported public housing

• backed environmental protection

Today he would look like a Bernie Sanders–style Democrat on economics — but he was a lifelong Republican.

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🏔 5. Washington State

Dan Evans

Republican Governor and Senator who:

• expanded higher education

• created environmental protections

• supported abortion rights

• supported welfare programs

Washington Republicans were often to the left of Southern Democrats.

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🏔 6. Why this existed

The Western GOP came from:

• small farmers

• miners

• loggers

• Mormons

• rural communities

They feared:

• Wall Street

• Eastern corporations

• railroad monopolies

• oil and mining trusts

So they wanted:

A strong federal government to protect the people from corporate power.

That was Republicanism in the West.

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🏔 7. Why it disappeared

This tradition died after:

• the Civil Rights Act

• the Southern realignment

• the rise of evangelical politics

• Reagan’s transformation of the GOP

The Republican Party became:

• Southern

• evangelical

• anti-government

• anti-union

The Western progressive Republicans were pushed out or retired.

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🏔 Final answer

Yes — for much of the 20th century, Republicans in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana were often economically progressive, pro-labor, pro-environment, and pro-welfare.

They were not Democrats in disguise.
They were a now-extinct species:

The Western Progressive Republican.

If you’d like, I can show how this tradition connects to Mormon political culture, conservationism, and even Teddy Roosevelt’s legacy — it’s a fascinating lineage.

What´s the connection to Mormon political culture?

The connection is deep, old, and very specifically Mormon — and it explains why Utah-Idaho Republicans once looked so “left-wing” on economics.

Let’s go step by step.

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1. Mormonism was born anti-capitalist

Early Latter-day Saint society under Joseph Smith and Brigham Young was built on ideas that would today be called:

• communitarian

• cooperative

• anti-corporate

• anti-speculation

They practiced:

• the United Order (shared property)

• church-run industries

• cooperative stores

• price controls

• collective land settlement

The goal was:

prevent rich outsiders from exploiting Mormon farmers.

Wall Street capitalism was seen as spiritually dangerous.

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2. Federal government as protector of the Saints

Mormons had been:

• expelled from Missouri

• driven from Illinois

• murdered and dispossessed

So Western Mormons developed a paradoxical view:

• They hated federal interference in religion

• But they loved federal money and infrastructure

Because:

Federal dams, railways, irrigation, and land law protected them from Eastern corporate power.

This produced a political instinct:

Government should defend the community against monopoly.

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3. Why Mormon Republicans supported welfare and labor

In Mormon theology:

• The church must care for the poor

• No one should be left without food, land, or work

Utah built:

• church welfare farms

• church-run job systems

• mutual aid societies

So when Republicans like Wallace F. Bennett supported:

• Social Security

• Medicare

• federal housing

• labor protections

they were not betraying Mormon values — they were translating them into federal policy.

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4. Why they hated big corporations

Mormon settlers believed:

• mining companies

• railroads

• oil firms

were tools of Gentile exploitation.

They wanted:

• public land

• cheap power

• irrigation

• antitrust law

That’s why Western Republicans backed:

• the TVA model

• dam building

• public power

• conservation

All of which look “left-wing” today.

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5. Why this vanished

After WWII:

• Mormons became middle-class

• Utah became suburban

• the Cold War made “collective” sound dangerous

• evangelicals took over the GOP

Mormon Republicans shifted from:

communitarian populism

to:

suburban capitalism.

The old Mormon Republicanism quietly died.

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Final truth

The reason Utah and Idaho Republicans once sounded like New Deal Democrats is simple:

They were practicing Mormon communitarianism through Republican politics.

It was not secular socialism —
It was theocracy-flavored welfare capitalism.

And for about 40 years, it quietly shaped the American West.