Richard Neuberger Poster

In the months following the post we did highlighting the campaign items of Richard Neuberger a new item we had not documented before came up in our searches. 

 

 

 

This 21.5x 13.5 heavy card stock poster was issued in 1954 by the Neuberger for Senate campaign.  This is the first time I have ever seen this poster outside of photos of campaign offices from the '54 campaign. 

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.

 

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.

Richard Neuberger Bumper Sticker

Picked up this bumper sticker from the successful 1954 campaign of Richard Neuberger. He was the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Oregon since 1914. He won by a little over 2,000 votes out of half a million cast in the election.

He served along side Wayne Morse, and their famous feud is well documented. A noted journalist of America, the Pacific Northwest and politics. Nueberger was a natural storyteller. He wrote many articles for dozens of publications during his life. Some were even collected into books. I have not had great luck finding Neuberger for Senate items over the years. This was the first thing on Ebay I think I have ever purchased for Neuberger.

Most of the time you can find the Conservationists for Neuberger items. There is a seed pack that was designed for sportsman to disperse in the wild to make up for the grass they trample on while hunting. The other item that has been seen frequently in collections is the Conservationists for Neuberger tab. Blogger Andy Kerr has written a little bit about Neuberger's conservation work at his blog.

The Neuberger Record

We've posted about Maurine Neuberger before. I recently picked up a record album from 1960. I had seen it on ebay for a few months, but listed for more than I thought it should go for until it recently came down in price. I grabbed it. What it contains is a cache of old campaign ads made for radio. There are 9 ads in total and I can't wait to hear them.

What makes this record so interesting is that it is possibly full of ads that were never used in the May 1960 campaign. Earlier that year, Oregon's junior Senator had passed away. He was only 47.  This record may be full of campaign advertisements from his 1960 re-election effort. Then again, they could be ads from the joint Special and Regular May Primary for Maurine Neuberger. I will find out when get the old record machine up and running. I can't wait to listen.