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6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JULY 3, 2018 Off beat Oregon: When Oregon was Kennedy's make-or-break state By Finn J.D. John For The Sentinel A s the 1960 Democratic presidential primary neared, Sen. John F. Kennedy was looking at Or- egon with increasing appre- hension. At that time, Oregon was the fi rst Western state to hold a mandatory primary — in which every candidate ap- peared on the ballot whether he wanted to be or not. Th at position, combined with the state’s well-deserved reputation as an electoral mav- erick, made it a rather daunting prospect. Oregon had, over the pre- vious decade or two, smashed other well-positioned would- be presidents’ hopes. In 1948, popular Minnesota governor Harold Stassen looked like he had a great shot at the Repub- lican nomination until the polls closed in Oregon and he found that Th omas Dewey of New York had thumped him. His campaign never recov- ered. Kennedy was very much hop- ing to avoid having the same thing happen to him. And, frankly, his chances weren’t looking particularly good. First off , Oregon was quite possibly the least Catholic-friendly state in the West at the time. Th e Ku Klux Klan’s rise in Oregon in the 1920s had been largely driven by anti-Catholic prejudice, and before the Klan’s support had collapsed under the weight of its own hypocri- sy and corruption, it had put forward a ballot measure that actually outlawed Catholic schools. Th e measure passed easily, and had it not been ruled un- constitutional by the Supreme Court, it would have forced the closure of all Catholic grade schools statewide. It’s easy to forget this to- day, but in 1960 there were still plenty of Protestants who called Catholics “Papists” and worried about their loyalty. A Catholic president, these voters thought, would take march- ing orders from the Vatican. It would be like electing an agent of a foreign government to the most important job in the land. So, there was that. But prob- ably more on Kennedy’s mind was the personal animosity his brother Robert Kennedy had stirred up in the Beaver State by the enthusiasm with which he’d prosecuted the then-mobbed- up Teamsters Union, in the process actually indicting and prosecuting Portland’s popu- lar Democratic mayor, Terry Schrunk. Th e Teamsters were still pow- erful in Oregon and elsewhere, and Schrunk — although ac- quitted of all charges — had be- come a lifelong personal enemy of the entire Kennedy family. So, too, apparently, had Ore- gon’s most prominent national politician, Sen. Wayne Morse. Morse considered Kennedy too young and callow for the job (in fairness, history would give some pretty strong evidence that he was right about this, at least at fi rst) and felt that, given the unprecedented power vest- ed in the American President in the nuclear age, extreme mea- sures were called for to prevent DIVORCE Clear Many Convictions, Arrests, & Expungement $155 NO Court Appearances www.paralegalalternatives.com Complete Preparation Includes: · Children ·Custody ·Support ·Property ·Bills Division Divorce in 1-5 weeks Possible! legalalt@msn.com 503-772-5295 Sen. John F. Kennedy greets Mrs. Mary M. Barr at the Salem airport on Sept. 7, 1960. (Image: Marion County Historical Society) his nomination. So, Sweetland writes, Oregon of Morse’s personal friends, So, he had launched a was almost literally Kennedy’s stuck with Kennedy even af- last-minute bid for the nom- make-or-break moment. ter Morse announced his bid. ination, in competition with Kennedy’s prospects in Ore- Time Magazine reported that Kennedy — and, of course, he’d gon started out bad and quickly Morse was furious about this enjoy favorite-son status. got worse. As the big day ap- — but Morse was enough of a So yes, Oregon was going to proached, though, some things political realist that he probably be a real challenge for Kenne- started breaking Kennedy’s didn’t expect committed Ken- dy. But could a loss in Oregon way. Some of them were very nedy people to drop everything actually derail Kennedy’s entire big things. and rally to his last-minute fl ag. campaign? Probably the most important Kennedy couldn’t bank too Kennedy sure thought so, of these was, it soon became much on that, of course, be- and in a retrospective essay clear that Morse had overplayed cause Morse was still the most written four years later, leg- his hand. He’d waited until the popular politician in Ore-gon. endary Oregon politician and last minute to launch his bid for So, he kept a suitably humble newspaper publisher Monroe the presidency, and it was pret- spirit about himself as he cam- Sweetland makes a strong case ty obvious to all involved that paigned in Oregon, and tried that he was right. Th e problem he wasn’t serious about being to do a little pre-election dam- was, although he had had some elected president — that he was age control: “I’m hoping to be good momentum going into the running primarily to deny Ken- a good second to Sen. Morse,” primary, he didn’t have enough nedy the nomination. he said. to be able to aff ord a loss. Other Oregon Democrats But, as he well knew, second He’d hoped the Wiscon- might have supported his posi- place wouldn’t work. Actual- sin primary, held a few weeks tion that Kennedy wasn’t ready, ly, winning the election might earlier, would inoculate his but they sure weren’t going to not even work if he didn’t nail campaign bandwagon against risk taking the blame for their down an actual majority of anti-Catholicism; but the op- party losing a presidential elec- votes (there were six candidates posite happened: he won there, tion. on the ballot); already there but by a narrow margin, and So nearly all Oregon Demo- were rumors of a last-minute the key Protestant-heavy dis- cratic leaders, including many coalition forming around Adlai tricts strongly went for his op- ponents. Your Family Deserves The A defeat in Oregon would be Technology... Upgrade to the Hopper® 3 the second punch in a one-two Smart HD DVR Value... knockout play, reinforcing the • Watch and record 16 shows at once TV!... • Get built-in Netflix and YouTube • Watch TV on your mobile devices message to the nation’s politi- Hopper upgrade fee $5/mo. cal bosses that being Catholic Add High Speed Internet was a deal-killer for the voters. $ 95 Th ose bosses were watching the /mo. Subject to availability. Restrictions apply. action carefully; if it went bad- Internet not provided by DISH and will be billed separately. 190 Channels ly, Kennedy’s campaign would CALL TODAY probably not survive, and even Save 20% * ! if it did, Republican Rich-ard Nixon would fi nd in the an- ti-Catholic issue a hot cam- paign topic that played straight Dignifi ed Options for Our Faithful Friends to his best political strengths. No Oregon, no White House, At Smith Lund Mills we believe that pets Sweetland writes. are an important member of any family. And he is probably right. When a pet dies it can be very diffi cult On the other hand, a decisive time for everybody involved. We victory in Oregon would pro- understand the feelings of losing a pet and vide the inoculation against the our professional, caring staff will be ready to assist you during this time of loss. Catholicism issue that Kennedy had hoped to get from Wiscon- sin, plus demonstrating that JFK could win friends and in- fl uence people out west as well as back east. A decisive win in (541) 942-0185 123 S. 7th St., Cottage Grove Oregon would make Kennedy’s nomination all but inevitable. Stevenson. In the end, Kennedy got ex- actly what he needed from Or- egon, and hardly a single vote more. Th e fi nal vote tally put him at 50.9 percent of the vote — a commanding lead over the number-two vote-getter, Morse, with 32 percent. Nationwide, the results were immediate. Kennedy’s nomina- tion was never really in doubt aft er that, although a last-min- ute push was made to get all the other candidates’ supporters to unite behind Adlai Stevenson. “Th e Oregon Trail for Sen. John F. Kennedy was real- ly the end of a long, grueling cross-country tour de force,” Time Magazine wrote. “Pitted for the fi rst time against a fi eld of four, Kennedy registered a knockout.” So, was it true? Did Oregon eff ectively play kingmaker for the country in 1960? Sweetland, writing from the political trenches, thinks it ab- BEST solutely did. And although in his 2000 article Jack Ohman — the Portland Morning Or- egonian’s editorial cartoonist, who was at the time a graduate student at Portland State Uni- versity — expresses appropriate academic reluctance to make wild speculations, he qualifi ed- ly agrees that it probably did. (Sources: Ohman, Jack. “Did the Oregon Primary Make Kennedy President?”, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Fall 2000; Sweetland, Monroe. “Th e Fri- day in Oregon that Made Ken- nedy President,” Oregon His- torical Quarterly, Fall 2000) Finn J.D. John teaches at Oregon State University and writes about odd tidbits of Oregon history. For details, see www.fi nnjohn.com. To contact him or suggest a topic: fi nn2@ offb eatoregon.com or 541-357- 2222. Live M Music Friday Li i Every E F id 6 to 9 pm || No Cover Charge July 6th • The Fiddling’ Big Sue Band Suegrass July 13th • Coupe de Ville classic rock July 20th • Inner Limits blues, rock Open Daily 11am for Complimentary Tasting 942-1364 X www.saginawvineyard.com BIG CLEARANCE SALE All fl oor models in stock items 30-70% off ! 2VBMJUZ)PNF'VSOJTIJOHTBU-PX1SJDFT Family Owned Since 1971 (541) 942-8711t'BY .BJO4USFFUt$PUUBHF(SPWF 0SFHPO 14 . 1-866-373-9175 *With 2 Year Price Guarantee with AT120 starting at $59.99 compared to everyday price. 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