In our last post we covered six biographical looks at former Oregon governors. They ranged from some of the most recent works to earlier efforts. We are now going to follow up with just a few more that you may find interesting.
The first perhaps one of the oldest. It is written by T.T. Geer (Theodore Thurston Geer). He was the 10th Governor of Oregon. He was the first governor elected that was born in the Oregon (Oregon Territory at the time of his birth in 1851). To this day, some of his decedents still live in the Salem area and his family farm has been turned into an educational and development farm called GeerCrest. After his time in office he wrote a book about seeking and holding elected office, politics, life and various other subjects. He titled the 536 page book: Fifty Years in Oregon: Experiences, Observations, and Commentaries Upon Men, Measures, and Customs in Pioneer Days and Later Times
It wont cost you a thing to read, you can download it for free online. If you wanted to get a first hand experience to what life for European settlers in the Willamette Valley was like and how the people of the Salem area adjusted to life after statehood you should check out a few chapters. It is a very easy read.
Tom McCall is very popular and after he was governor he struggled to find himself and what he exactly wanted to do. He took on the project of writing an autobiography, with the help of Steve Neal. It was called Tom McCall: Maverick.
These were published by noted local publisher Binford & Morts in 1977. Tom McCall traveled the state doing readings of the book. Many that are turning up right now in used book stores may even have his signature in them. It was always popular to get the authors signature, even more so since it was Tom McCall!
Some books are personal projects that become something more. W. Scott Jorgensen started off in local journalism and now works in local government. For years he had admired Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh. He decided to take that passion and a growing relationship with Governor Atiyeh and write book. It's called Conversations with Atiyeh
While not a full weighty biography like Brent Walth's Fire at Eden's Gate of Governor McCall, Conversations with Atiyeh comes in at 130 pages and is more a collection of reflections Atiyeh shares with Jorgensen. Until a more lengthy work is published about Atiyeh, this will have to keep fans going until such time as one is written.
Mark Hatfield did just about everything you could in Oregon politics during his expansive career. He was in the legislature, elected Secretary of State, Governor and U.S. Senator. He even had short flirtations with the presidency and vice presidency between 1964 and 1972. When Ronald Reagan won the White House in 1980 it was Hatfield that was put in charge of the Inaugural Committee to oversea the ceremony on capitol hill. In his later years he would often be sought out to be the honorary chairman of various campaigns. During all this time of political engagement he also found time to write several books. Three in about a eight year period from 1968 to 1976.
Not Quite So Simple (1968), OCLC 439212 Conflict and Conscience (1971), ISBN 0-87680-811-9 Between a Rock and a Hard Place (1976), ISBN 0-87680-427-X
He liked to write about politics and his faith as a christian. He also contributed to six different works, including a book with Ted Kennedy. That one is called Freeze! How You Can Help Prevent Nuclear War (1982), ISBN 0-553-14077-9
One of the more biographical works that Hatfield was written in 2008 by former staffer Lon Fendall and explores Hatfield as a progressive christian in a time in which Republicans are certainly christian but not seen as progressive. It's called Stand Alone or Come Home: Mark Hatfield as an Evangelical and a Progressive (2008).
The other biographical book is Lonely Walk: The Life of Senator Mark Hatfield (1979). It was written by Robert Eells and Bartlet Nyberg. We don't know much about Eells and Nyberg other than that they wrote the book with Mark Hatfield's cooperation and participation. It deals with the mixing of politics and faith, which appears to be a common theme in his own writings.
The final Hatfield book was published in 2000 and was called Against the Grain: Reflections of a Rebel Republican by Diane N. Solomon. The author, with cooperation and interviews with Senator Hatfield reflects on his career, faith and the ever changing nature of politics in the country. It is probably the most comprehensive biographical work of Mark Hatfield, until a more scholarly work is written.
There is a lot of Mark Hatfield out there to read and study. Our next set of books will not be about Oregon Governors but Oregon politicians in general. There are few scholarly works out about U.S. Senators and members of Congress, but in recent years a surprising number of unique local politicians have started to document their lives and political careers. Some elected and some not. Stay tuned for a future post on those works.
