Richard Neuberger Book & Items

 

This Fall, OSU Press published Stephen Forrester's long-awaited biography of Oregon Senator Richard Neuberger. You can learn more about Neuberger from the Oregon Encyclopedia or Wikipedia. Better yet, go buy Stephen's book! He was a founder of Willamette Week, served as a Washington correspondent, and spent thirty-three years as the editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian. Stephen has spent many years researching and writing this work. I had pre-ordered my copy as soon as OSU Press made the link active and was thrilled when it finally arrived.



Over the years, I had met people who knew or worked for Neuberger, and it was fascinating to learn the full story of his life and how he navigated politics to find himself in a race for office that would determine the balance of power in the United States Senate.



The book includes a few pictures of some Richard Neuberger campaign items, and it made me think it has been a while since I had seen a Neuberger campaign item show up online. I decided it was time to showcase known items. The following items are from my collection and that of longtime Oregon APIC members John Silvertooth and John Gearhart.

 

 1954 Campaign 

 

The first two items are some of the most common Richard Neuberger items produced during his single US Senate campaign in 1954. A prominent political committee was formed, which went by the name ‘Conservationists for Neuberger’. The Committee was headed by Lyle F. Watts. He was well known to conservationists at the time. For a decade, from 1942 to 1952, he had served as Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. The committee was headquartered at the Mead Building in office 708 in downtown Portland (which also happened to be the same office the Neuberger for Senate Committee was located in). It produced probably one of the most unique Oregon political items of all time. Watt’s explained to The Oregonian, “Instead of the usual political matchbooks, we are giving out little packets of grass seed to encourage campers, hunters, fishermen, and scouts to re-seed our upland meadows. This carries out the theme of always working on conservation.”

 

 

 

At least two different colors of packets have been seen, and there may be more. The packets show up somewhat infrequently online, but if you wait a little bit, you should be able to find a packet for a reasonable price.

The most common Neuberger item related to the conservationists' campaign is the Neuberger tab. The white and green tab can usually be found for under ten dollars.

 

Here’s an example of campaign letterhead used throughout the election.

 

The campaign also produced simple bumper sticker that say NEUBERGER. These seem to be rather hard to find, as I have only seen one show up on eBay once in many years.

 

 

There are at least two known paper handouts or brochures, one is from the Neuberger campaign and is largely biographical about Neuberger. The other one promotes the entire Democratic Slate of candidates in 1954. Both were paid for by the Neuberger campaign and feature the same photo of Richard and Maurine on the cover.

 

 

 

The other one promotes the entire Democratic Slate of candidates in 1954. Bothand feature the same photo of Richard and Maurine on the cover.

 

 

 

 

 Neuberger was a prolific writer, and one of the books he wrote, with assistance from his wife, Maurine, was called Adventures in Politics. I can’t say for certain, but it might have been published to coincide with his campaign, as it was published in 1954. This would be a tactic used by campaigns more frequently in the future. Publish a book and then run for office after you have gone touring to promote your book. You will find a lot of autographed copies of Adventures in Politics, many to friends, family, and many who just met Neuberger at various events. I was able to pick up a special copy of the book a couple of years ago.

 

 
This book is special because it was inscribed to Adlai Stevenson, the former two-time Democratic nominee for President and a friend of Dick and Maurine Neuberger. This book was kept at one of the Stevenson homes for many years until Adlai III passed away in 2021. His wife was downsizing and she sold the book to a local book shop owner who offered it up for sale. You will note the lengthy inscription and the added bonus of Maurine’s signature, something I have not seen very often in signed copies of Adventures in Politics when they are offered for sale. 

Scrappy challengers always go after the incumbent. Neuberger was no different. His labor supporters produced one of the first modern-day campaign ‘hit pieces’ seen by a Democratic campaign in Oregon. 

 

 

 

This folded handout informs voters of what Cordon has “given away” and what the voter can do about it (voting for Neuberger).

 

 

Legislative Items 

 

Before Neuberger ran for the Senate in 1954, he had been serving as a member of the Oregon House and Senate. He was first elected in 1940 to the Oregon House of Representatives. He announced his campaign on March 27, and his announcement hit the papers on the following day. This announcement came after some controversy involving the Salem Chamber of Commerce uninviting Neuberger to come speak on the question: Why I am a Liberal? Former Governor Charles Sprauge and many organizations were very upset that the chamber had backed down from hearing Neuberger.

 

Neuberger allied himself closely with President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration and, in addition to campaigning for the New Deal policies in Multnomah County, would travel the state to stump for the Roosevelt-Wallace ticket. He even had the chance to visit with Wallace and share policy concerns with him as Wallace made a small whistle-stop tour through the state via train.


His allies on the campaign trail were the Granges, Public Power advocates, and the Oregon Commonwealth Federation. He was one of 13 state reps elected to serve from Multnomah County. If you’ve read about Neuberger, you know that World War II interrupted his legislative service, and he went off to war. After he returned from the war, he would again seek a seat in the Oregon legislature: this time, the Oregon Senate during the 1948 elections.

 

   

 

 

 

On each of these cards Neuberger listed as a candidate for a 1940 nomination on the ballot at line 57.


Here is a business card from his time as a State Senator.

The Neuberger biography contains an image of a campaign card from his legislative campaigns. Another interested item in John Silvertooth’s collection is a hand written note from Neuberger thanking someone for help during the campaign.

 

There are some other Neuberger related items that including various dinner programs like this one. Note both Neuberger and Morse are listed on the cover. There may be many other kinds of programs from events while Neuberger was in the legislature or a US Senator.

 

 
If you have a Richard Neuberger item we have not featured here please feel free to send us an image and any info you have about it and we will share it here.