Oswald West
| Oswald West | |
|---|---|
Governor West
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| 14th Governor of Oregon | |
| In office January 11, 1911 – January 12, 1915 |
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| Preceded by | Jay Bowerman |
| Succeeded by | James Withycombe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 20, 1873 Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Portland, Oregon |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mabel West |
| Profession | Banker and lawyer |
Oswald West (May 20, 1873 – August 22, 1960) was an American politician, a Democrat, who served most notably as the 14th Governor of Oregon.
He was called "Os West" by Oregon writer Stewart Holbrook, who described him as "by all odds the most brilliant governor Oregon ever had."[1]
Contents
Biography
West was born in Ontario, Canada but moved to Salem, Oregon with his family at the age of four where he attended school and eventually went into banking. After several years as a banker in Salem and Astoria, and a six-month stint searching for gold in Alaska, West gained an appointment as the State Land Agent. He proved effective in his position, recovering almost 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of fraudulently held state land.
In 1907, West left his position as Land Agent and was appointed to the Oregon Railroad Commission, where he again found a great deal of success.
Governor of Oregon
In 1910, he gained the Democratic nomination for Governor and went on to defeat his opponent, Jay Bowerman, and take office in 1911. While in office, West defended what he called the Oregon System which included initiative and referendum systems still in use in many western American states today. Through these processes women's suffrage, various workers rights laws and most infamously prohibition all came into effect during West's administration.
West established Oregon's beach highway law, proclaiming the entire Pacific coastline to the high tide line to be a public highway, thereby preserving scenery and beach access for future generations.[2] The law protecting public access to the high-water line remains in effect on Oregon beaches, which were formally protected by Governor Tom McCall in 1967.
West is also credited with establishing Oregon's highway system, when in 1913 the Oregon HIghway Commission was created by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, levying a tax upon all property to fund the establishment of a state roadway system.[3] The tax raised $700,000 during its first year, money which was targeted to the development of three major road routes — the Coast Highway (Highway 101), the Pacific Highway from Portland through the Willamette Valley, and the Columbia River Highway connecting Portland with Eastern Oregon.[4]
He addressed a national convention of governors in New Jersey in 1911, on the topic of prison labor.[5]
Prohibition advocate
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West was a fervent prohibitionist. He believed so strongly in the idea that he once declared martial law on New Year's Eve 1913 in order to shut down liquor-selling establishments in the town of Copperfield, Oregon.[6] He then dispatched National Guard troops, chaperoned by his own personal secretary Fern Hobbs on January 2, 1914 to enforce the order and shut down the saloons.[7] The move made headlines across the country. When his "invasion" of the small town in Baker County failed to garner local support he sought, (but failed) to void the town's incorporation citing that it was "in the hands of a lawless element." He also once declared that he wanted to "shoot a bartender."
Reputation and legacy
Bend Mayor George Palmer Putnam criticized West in a New York Times interview shortly after the Copperfield affair. Putnam asserted that the Governor's theatrical methods, and his inordinate attention to the affairs of local communities, detracted from the governance and national image of the state as a whole.[8]
West's time as governor is still felt in Oregon today because of his work to protect the state's natural resources. It was under his administration the beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean were protected for public use; the office of State Forester and the Bureau of Forestry were established; and the Fish Commission and Game Commission were created.
West served only one term, opting not to run for re-election in 1914. Instead, he moved his family to Portland where he practiced law. He was the Democratic party's nominee for the United States Senate in 1918,[9] but lost to Charles L. McNary. After the run he largely limited his involvement in politics to spirited letters to the editor[10] but was an influential adviser to Governor Charles H. Martin in the 1930s. He retired from his law practice after suffering a heart attack in 1945.
West died in Portland on August 22, 1960, and is buried in the Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem, Oregon.[11]
Oswald West State Park on the Oregon Coast is named in his honor, as is West Hall, a student residence hall on the campus of Oregon State University.
References
- ↑ Wildmen, Wobblies and Whistle Punks, edited by Brian Booth (Corvallis: OSU Press, 1992), p. 75. Holbrook wrote this before Tom McCall was elected governor.
- ↑ Thomas R. Cox, The Park Builders: A History of State Parks in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 10
- ↑ Carlos A. Schwantes, Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth-Century West (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 133-134.
- ↑ Schwantes, Going Places, pg. 134.
- ↑ "Governors to Talk on Many Subjects: Employers' Liability and Workers' Compensation the Principal Topic for Conference," New York Times, August 24, 1911.
- ↑ Oregon State Archives: Martial law order
- ↑ "The Intrepid Miss Hobbs," Willamette Lawyer, Spring 2007
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Holbrook, Wildmen, p. 82
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oswald West. |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of Oregon 1911–1915 |
Succeeded by James Withycombe |
- Use mdy dates from October 2011
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- 1873 births
- 1960 deaths
- Governors of Oregon
- Canadian emigrants to the United States
- Politicians from Salem, Oregon
- Politicians from Portland, Oregon
- Oregon Democrats
- Democratic Party state governors of the United States
- Burials at City View Cemetery
