Thinking Citizen Blog — Oregon — Governor Tom McCall (1913–1983), A Progressive Republican, And Senator Mark Hatfield (1922–2011), A Moderate Republican
Thinking Citizen Blog — Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day
Today’s Topic: Oregon — Governor Tom McCall (1913–1983), a progressive Republican, and Senator Mark Hatfield (1922–2011), a moderate Republican
Oregon is famous for its environmentalism. Two leading figures in that story are Governor Tom McCall, who served from 1967–1975, and Mark Hatfield, Governor from 1959–1967 and US Senator from 1967 to 1997. Today, a few notes on milestones in the journeys of each.
Are you a fan of Gaylord Nelson (1916–2005) the Wisconsin Governor and Senator and founder of Earth Day?
Who is your favorite or least favorite environmentalist politician? Why? What do you know that the rest of us probably should but probably don’t?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“POLLUTION IN PARADISE” (1962) KGW-TV — propelled McCall’s political career
1. “Before he was governor, McCall was a television news analyst who produced a hard-hitting documentary about Oregon’s air and water pollution, particularly in the Willamette River.”
2. “The film shocked the public and helped build political momentum for future environmental reforms.”
GOVERNOR TOM MCCALL (1967–1975) — The Beach Bill (1967), the Bottle Bill (1971), Senate Bill 100 (1973)
1. The Beach Bill (1967) “This landmark law enshrined public access to all of Oregon’s beaches up to the vegetation line, regardless of private property ownership.”
2. The Bottle Bill (1971) “McCall led the successful fight for the U.S.’s first mandatory container deposit law, which placed a five-cent deposit on soda and beer bottles and cans. This pioneering anti-litter and recycling law faced down strong opposition from beverage manufacturers.”
3. “He championed Senate Bill 100 (1973) , which created a statewide land-use planning system with goals for managing development. This established urban growth boundaries around cities to curb suburban sprawl and preserve valuable farmland and forests.”
MARK HATFIELD — GOVERNOR (1959–1967) AND US SENATOR (1967–1997) — sponsor of the Endangered Species Act 1972), but also a strong supporter of the timber industry
1. “In 1986, Hatfield played a decisive role in the establishment of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, a move that permanently protected its scenic, cultural, and natural resources”
2. “He voted for and signed more Oregon wilderness bills into law than anyone else in the state’s delegation. For example, he signed wilderness legislation in 1972, 1978, 1984, and 1996.”
3. “Hatfield was a significant ally of the timber industry and supported widespread clear-cutting of federal forests in Oregon during the 1970s and 1980s.”
NB: “In 1984, he led a controversial effort that allowed timber companies to withdraw from contracts to harvest timber on federal land. While aimed at helping the industry, critics saw it as an unjustified bailout that favored commercial interests over environmental protection.”
“In 1989, Hatfield used an appropriations rider — a legislative attachment — to get more logs into mills. Environmentalists dubbed this measure the “Rider from Hell” because it suspended many environmental laws to authorize a large amount of timber sales.”
BIOGRAPHICAL TIDBITS ON MCCALL AND HATFIELD
1. McCall — born in Scituate, Massachusetts. “The grandson of copper-king Thomas Lawson and Massachusetts governor and congressman Samuel W. McCall As a child, he divided his time between Thomas Lawson’s Massachusetts estate named Dreamwold and his father’s ranch near Prineville, Oregon named Westernwold. This bicoastal upbringing caused him to develop an unusual accent that he characterized as being “a cross between Calvin Coolidge and a Texas Ranger; his voice would become an asset, setting him apart during his later careers as a public speaker.”
2. Hatfield — “A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.”
3. Hatfield had the longest tenure of any US Senator from Oregon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McCall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Bottle_Bill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hatfield
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to climate change or the environment.
Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to climate change that the rest of us may have missed. Your favorite chart or table perhaps…
This is your chance to make someone’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
