Who was Manley J Wilson?

Oregon collectors and Oregon history buffs I know are telling themselves 'I think he was an Oregon candidate' or 'wasn't he in the legislature?' You would be correct on both of those fronts, but few people know anything more about Wilson than that. We hope this article will shed some much-needed light on his background for APIC members and the public.

Manley J Wilson represented Columbia and Clatsop County in the Oregon House of Representatives (HD 23) for four terms prior to being elected to the Oregon Senate in 1950. In the 1940s. Timber, Fishing and Farming were the mainstays of daily life in Columbia County. This is the community Wilson represented. They were union families and they were Democrats. Wilson himself was Editor of the Woodworker, the official publication of the International Woodworkers of America.


In his first race for State Representative, he defeated Republican  Fred Herman to represent both Clatsop and Columbia counties. He was part of the freshman class in the Oregon House with Richard Neuberger. Writing for United Press, Neuberger mentioned that Wilson was one of the three new outstanding members. The war years in Oregon were filled with highs and lows for Oregon Democrats. During the 1946 legislative elections, Wilson was one of only TWO Democrats elected to the Oregon House out of 60 members.

 His State Senate district covered Columbia, Multnomah, and parts of Clackamas County. He had defeated Irving Rand in the November 1950 elections for the seat in the upper chamber of the legislature. During his one session in the Senate, The Salem Statesman Journal ranked him one of the most liberal members of the body.

During his tenure in the legislature, he sought to pass legislation to advance the rights of workers to organize and form unions, to protect working families when times were difficult or 'welfare' bills as they were commonly called during that era. One notable item was a bill to protect small logging operators from having their logging trucks and equipment repossessed unfairly. He noted that repossession of these trucks was nine times greater in Oregon than in Washington after Washington had passed a similar bill. Wilson also championed progressive reforms of the state unemployment insurance system so more workers could qualify for benefits.

As the 1948 elections were approaching, no Democrat had filed to run against Senior Oregon Senator Guy Cordon. At the last moment, he filed and paid the $150 fee. So what about the political items of Senator Wilson? I've been actively collecting Oregon political items since 2006 and I have only picked up two items in all that time. Here are several newspaper clippings of campaign ads used throughout the state.

Newspaper Advert

Aside from Franklin Roosevelt, it was very hard for Oregon Democrats to win statewide offices during the war years. Roosevelt carried Oregon all four times he ran, but by his win in 1944, he had only carried the state with 52% of the vote. 1948 would see now-President Truman attempt to carry on the Democratic banner in Oregon. It was a very close election at the presidential level, but not so close in the Senate race. Joe Miller explains in his book The Wicked Wine of Democracy that Wilson did not campaign much outside of the Portland metro area and labor union halls. He had little financial support outside of grassroots democratic groups and some friends in organized labor. Wilson would lose 35/36 counties, carrying only his home county of Columbia County. Contrast his wipe out with the close election where President Truman won 16 counties. Dewey and Cordon would win Oregon, but only Cordon was going to DC. The presidential race nationally went to Truman.

 There are two buttons known at this time. One is a larger (just a little smaller than a 3" pin, but larger than a traditional 2.25" pin) that makes the wearer a 'Personal Representative" of Wilson. There is no union bug that I have been able to find on it, which seems unusual for a union candidate.

I have seen this pin in a couple other collections of APIC Local collectors. The one I see less frequently is a much smaller, perhaps 1.75" green and white pin that simply reads 'Manley J. Wilson for U.S. Senator'. It has a union bug stamped in the metal on the reverse and a union bug printed on the curl.

His political career seems to have been cut short from complications from an operation in Portland. He died at the age of 46 shortly after Christmas in 1951. The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that he died from some problems related to his kidney after surgery ten days prior.  His funeral services were held at J. P. Finley & Sons Mortuary in Portland. His wife, Olga Wilson filed to be a candidate in the special election in 1952 to fill the rest of his term.

Have you come across any Manley J. Wilson items? Please let us know.