Sarah Leslie (From Sea to Shining Sea)

Sarah Leslie, the People's President (1936-1953).

Family
Sarah Leslie's father was Adam Leslie, of Scots-Irish descendant, was originally a steel worker of the Carnegie Steel Company in Pennsylvania. After the failed Homestead Strike (1892) he immigrated to the then U.S state of California in search of better opportunities.

In California Adam Leslie found employment as a Pullman porter for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. While at a stop in San Francisco Adam Leslie inadvertently meet his future wife Irena Khrisoven. Khrisoven was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, her parents were reluctant to allow her to marry a local American worker.

Khrisoven became a school teacher at a time when public schools were expanding across the country. Teaching both English literature and Russian Language to all levels of school students.

Sarah's upbringing mostly occurred with her maternal extended family but only her father and her aunt from her paternal family. Her parents attempted to shield her from politics, Adam rarely spoke of life before moving west.From an early age Sarah was reared to be sharp and idealistic, she briefly became a religious Jew in her early teens. However at the same time she pushed the boundaries of what was considered gender appropriate at the time and attempted to play baseball. Against her mother's wishes Sarah was very much interested in the political changes that were occurring in Russia and China during her childhood

Sarah had two siblings, an older brother Ivan (1895) and a younger sister Lucile (1900) however between the both she often attracted more attention than her siblings due to her pursuits. It has been alleged that as a child she had a better relationship with her older father than her younger sister.

At the age of 23, Ivan Leslie was conscripted by the U.S Army to fight in France where by injury of shrapnel his left leg was amputated, Adam also contracted the Spanish Flu. Returning home in May of 1919 Ivan was barely alive. Despite Adam himself being a pacifist Sarah became infuriated and vengeful, it was also at this time that she learned of her father's participation in the Homestead Strike. Sarah became further angered by her sister's marriage to a Californian entrepreneur who owned many grape orchids. Lucile Leslie's husband held traditional views of American Conservatism.

Education
Leslie attended San Francisco State Normal School (now called Leslie's Peoples Republican Institute) to become a teacher. During her college years she transformed becoming more familiar with Marxist and Unitarian ideology, the teachings of writers Upton Sinclair, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Leon Trotsky appealed to her at the time. Leslie was almost expelled in 1917 for leading a women's demonstration for suffrage. Leslie attempted to cast illegal votes for imprisoned labor leader Eugene Debs on many occasions in 1920. Leslie was appreciated by her professors for her dedication but was also noted to be combative and at one point 'unlady like'.

Leslie's time at the State Normal School allowed her to meet young contemporaries from other colleges with shared radical views. Friends from the University of California of Hastings. During her twenties she allegedly eloped with a law student while at the same time engaging in bisexual behavior with her fellow female students. However most government sponsored historians from America do not discuss the romantic relationships of Leslie's college years

Leslie graduated above average but not top in her class in 1921. By this time she had developed a mild reputation for being a trouble maker she nevertheless succeed in attaining employment at a primary school.