▲ DIRECTOR’S DESK

Inches from history

If there is one elected office that gets little respect, it has ence in elected office, and McNary handily filled that gap. to be vice presidency of the United States. Willkie was considered an eastern industrialist, and McNary In 1840, Daniel Webster turned down the chance to run brought a western agrarian balance to the ticket. for vice president with his friend, William Henry Harrison. There are no towns or a county named after this giant Webster famously said, “I do not propose to be buried until I public figure, but when he died in 1944, Oregon gave him am really dead and in my coffin.” a state funeral, during which his body lay in state at the Maybe Webster should have accepted. Harrison died Oregon State Capitol. McNary Dam, McNary High School and exactly one month to the day after his inauguration. Salem’s airport, McNary Field, are named in his honor. In 1848, Zachary Taylor offered Webster the number two spot. Webster again declined. Taylor won, but he died 15 months 1968: Hatfield and Nixon later. That makes twice Webster could have been president. Two-term Oregon governor Mark Hatfield ran for the On nine occasions, a vice president has succeeded a U.S. Senate in 1966 and was an outspoken critic of U.S. president who died or otherwise left office. That is slightly involvement in the Vietnam War. The Republican won by a more than one succession for every four elected presidents. wide margin, gaining national attention in the process. John Adams was America’s first elected vice president. Hatfield’s outspoken nature and potential national coun- “I am vice president,” he said, before later win- terbalance on the issue intrigued a presidential ning the presidency. “In this I am nothing, but I candidate named Richard Nixon. However, may be everything.” Nixon’s advisors persuaded that Sen. Hatfield No person who was selected for the second was too liberal for conservatives and southern spot on the ticket is the fool that late-night tele- moderates. Nixon chose the gaffe-prone Spiro vision comedians or opposing campaigns make Agnew instead. them out to be. They have been people of tre- Agnew was later forced to resign from mendous accomplishment. the vice presidency, after accusations surfaced History is fickle. You can find books and that he had committed extortion, bribery and memoirs of the 47 men who have served as income tax evasion while he was governor vice president, from John Adams to Joe Biden. of Maryland. Not long after, Nixon himself But often, history ignores those who nar- resigned the presidency due to the Watergate rowly missed out on that opportunity. Three By Jeff Stone scandal. He was the first (and only) president to OAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Oregonians fit this bill. resign his office. If Hatfield had been nominated as Nixon’s vice president, 1860: Lane and Breckinridge then Hatfield would have ascended to the highest office in Most schoolchildren know that Abraham Lincoln won the the land, rather than Gerald Ford (Agnew’s replacement). presidency in 1860. But who ran against him? That’s a tough Hatfield was a man of accomplishment. He served in trivia question, even for most adults. both state houses, as Oregon secretary of state, Oregon gov- Did you know an Oregonian was on the Democratic ernor and as U.S. senator. He was a law school professor and Party ticket? Joseph Lane, the first governor of the Oregon college dean. The buildings that have been named, built or Territory and first elected senator of Oregon, was a pro-slav- inspired by the senator’s efforts as an elected official are too ery Democrat. He ran as John C. Breckinridge’s running mate numerous to list. against Honest Abe. Lane’s sympathy for the Confederacy brought his political career in Oregon to an abrupt end. Even Substance, not losers so, Lane County is named for him. Lane, McNary and Hatfield were all accomplished men. We live in a superficial age where the provocative outweighs 1940: McNary and Willkie the accomplished. Form matters more than substance. Oregon’s Charles L. McNary became the first Republican Who will be the next great Oregonian to ascend and vice presidential candidate to be selected directly by the pres- make a difference? Time will tell. idential nominee — Wendell Willkie — and not by conven- Let’s choose our vice presidents wisely. In one out of tion delegates. By this time, he was his own political force. every four presidential elections, it really matters. McNary served as the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate. He was Oregon’s longest serving senator until Mark Hatfield surpassed his mark in 1993. McNary brought gravitas to the ticket. He had been a justice to the Oregon Supreme Court and was the dean of the Willamette University College of Law. Willkie had no experi-

38 january 2014 ▲ DIGGER