Monroe Sweetland
Encyclopedia
Monroe Mark Sweetland was an American politician in the state of Oregon
. A native of the state, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
starting in 1953 for a total of ten years. A Democrat
, he also twice ran and lost bids to serve as the Oregon Secretary of State
and was a Democratic National Committee
man. Sweetland later served on the staff of the National Education Association
, supporting passage of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968.
. His father was a doctor who also served as athletic director at Willamette University
. When Sweetland was two, the family moved to Michigan
where he remained until college. At the age of 11 in 1922 he and a friend organized a city caucus to elect candidates after learning that none had been scheduled. Sweetland graduated from Wittenberg College
in Springfield, Ohio
, with a bachelor's of art degree in 1930. He then entered law school at Syracuse University
and later Cornell University
. In 1931, he married Lillie Megrath whom he met in law school. They had two daughters, Barbara and Rebecca.
and a field organizer for the Student League for Industrial Democracy . He supported Norman Thomas, Socialist for president and SLID activist, in his 1932 campaign. In 1935, Sweetland and his family returned to Oregon to work as the Executive Director of the Oregon Commonwealth Federation (OCF), a liberal organization whose goals included public power, increased membership in labor unions, civil rights, and social security. Sweetland at that time left the Socialist Party to become a Democrat. The OCF helped engineer the defeat of conservative Democrat Governor Charles Martin in 1938. The winner of the primary, Henry Hess, was defeated in the general election, but the primary victory emboldened Sweetland and other liberals, who saw moderate Republican Governor Charles Sprague as an improvement over Martin.
Sweetland held federal and labor-relations appointments between 1940 and 1943 and then joined the American Red Cross, serving in the Pacific theater of operations for two years. It was during this time that he became acquainted with fellow Oregon Democrat Howard Morgan, who would, upon war's end, help Sweetland organize Democratic victories in Oregon.
In 1948 Sweetland was elected as a Harry Truman delegate, as well as Oregon Democratic National Committeeman, thereby successfully wresting control of the Democratic Party from a reactionary "Dixiecrat" element and becoming the highest ranking Democratic official in the state. This position made him the figure consulted by President Truman regarding federal appointments in Oregon. During the ensuing eight years, under Sweetland's leadership, the modern progressive Oregon Democratic Party emerged, with victories in the governorship, both houses of Congress, and in the Oregon State Legislature. One of the primary goals of the Oregon Democratic Party during those years was the creation of the Columbia Valley Authority (CVA), a national public power entity modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority
. Although many in the Pacific Northwest
favored the creation of the CVA, conservative Democrats like former Oregon Governor Oswald West
and most Republicans opposed and defeated the idea of the creation of the CVA. West, viewed as a progressive governor from 1911 to 1914, later worked as a lobbyist for a large utility, and became a public critic of Sweetland, erroneously accusing him and other liberal Democrats such as federal judge and former Oregon Commonwealth Federation member Gus J. Solomon
of having Communist affiliations.
Elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
in 1952 to represent District 7 from Milwaukie, Sweetland was the first Democrat in two decades to win a seat from Clackamas County
in the lower chamber house. He won election to the Oregon State Senate
in 1954 and re-election in 1958 to a second four-year term, spending a total of ten years in the legislature. Sweetland wanted to run for U.S. Congress in Oregon's 3rd Congressional district in 1954, but was dissuaded by some Democratic peers, including Howard Morgan and State Senator Richard Neuberger, who feared that, especially during the time of "McCarthyism", Sweetland's past Socialist ties would result in his defeat and that of other Democrats just as the party was beginning its rise. Sweetland decided to not run, and, in the fall, Democrat Edith Green
won election in the 3rd Congressional District, while Neuberger won a close race for U.S. Senate, becoming the first Democrat elected to that position from Oregon in four decades.
Sweetland did run for secretary of state in 1956, losing narrowly to fellow State Senator Mark Hatfield
. However, the years of organizing by Sweetland, Morgan and others, combined with public support for public power, resulted in a Democratic sweep in Oregon. Senator Wayne Morse
, the Republican turned Independent, was courted by Morgan and pushed by Sweetland to join the Democratic party, and Morse did in 1955. Morse easily defeated former governor and Eisenhower Interior Secretary Douglas McKay
in the 1956 election. Robert Holmes
won a special election for Governor. Edith Green was re-elected in the 3rd Congressional District, while Charles O. Porter
won in the 4th Congressional District and Al Ullman
, a strong CVA advocate, won in the 2nd Congressional District and would serve 24 years in Congress. The Democrats, who had been such a minority in the Oregon Legislature that people joked the party could caucus in a phone booth, won majorities in both the Oregon House and Senate for the first time since 1878.
In 1960, Sweetland again ran for secretary of state and lost, this time to Howell Appling
, who had been appointed by Hatfield as his successor upon Hatfield's election as Governor in 1958. During his years as a part-time Oregon legislator, Sweetland was a newspaper publisher in Milwaukie
(his home), while also owning papers in Newport
, and Molalla
. While in the legislature he worked to turn what was then Portland State College
into a full university to better serve Portland, for which he was honored with the President's Award from the school in 1995. Sweetland also worked to lower the voting age to 18 from 21. Additionally, he sponsored legislation to provide scholarships for Oregonians to attend state universities. His last session in the legislature was representing then District 11 in the Oregon Senate during the 1961 session.
As a prominent Democrat in one of the few states to hold presidential primaries at that time, Sweetland was contacted by candidates such as Adlai Stevenson, Averell Harriman, Estes Kefauver
and their staffs. Despite his great admiration for the more liberal Senator Hubert Humphrey
, Sweetland chose to support Senator John F. Kennedy
for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination. Sweetland appeared with Kennedy on many of his visits to Oregon in 1959/60, was a paid Kennedy campaign organizer, and was elected as a delegate on the 1960 Democratic primary ballot. Oregon's support for Kennedy over Morse (Humphrey had dropped out of the race by then) made Sweetland and the others automatic Kennedy delegates per the state's winner-take-all rules at the time. Kennedy won the nomination, but upset Sweetland and other liberals by picking the runner-up, Senator Lyndon Johnson, as his running mate.
In 1963, Sweetland taught journalism at a college in Indonesia, a country that had fascinated him since meeting Indonesians during World War II.
, in 1965, where Sweetland served as the National Education Association (NEA) representative to 13 states in the west until mandatory retirement in 1975. In that role he advocated the use of federal money to provide support to schools to encourage them to teach English as a second language in certain situations. This led to the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which he considered his most important contribution.
After leaving the NEA he founded Western Wilderness Products, in San Mateo where he worked gathering rare plants until 1994. Sweetland's wife died in 1985. Sweetland returned to Oregon in 1994 and spent his final years as an elder statesman, including an unsuccessful run for his old State Senate seat at age 88 in 1998. By that time he was legally blind, and in the election he lost to his friend, moderate Republican Verne Duncan
for District 12. Sweetland was very active in organizations such as the Democratic Party of Oregon, The City Club of Portland
, and the Wayne Morse Historical Park in Eugene. He often took a Metro bus from near his home in Milwaukie to downtown Portland, navigating the downtown streets by himself. Monroe Sweetland died on September 10, 2006, at the age of 96 in Milwaukie. Duncan delivered a eulogy at Sweetland’s memorial service, as did Governor Ted Kulongoski. Toward the end of his life, a scholarship was established in Sweetland's name at Portland State University, funded by his friends, most prominently King (NBC) Broadcasting executive Ancil Payne of Seattle.
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. A native of the state, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
starting in 1953 for a total of ten years. A Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, he also twice ran and lost bids to serve as the Oregon Secretary of State
Oregon Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in line of succession to the Governor. The duties of office are: auditor of public accounts, chief elections officer, and administrator of public...
and was a Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
man. Sweetland later served on the staff of the National Education Association
National Education Association
The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...
, supporting passage of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968.
Early life
Monroe Sweetland was born on January 20, 1910, in Salem, OregonSalem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
. His father was a doctor who also served as athletic director at Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...
. When Sweetland was two, the family moved to Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
where he remained until college. At the age of 11 in 1922 he and a friend organized a city caucus to elect candidates after learning that none had been scheduled. Sweetland graduated from Wittenberg College
Wittenberg University
Wittenberg University is a private four-year liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio serving 2,000 full-time students representing 37 states and approximately 30 foreign countries...
in Springfield, Ohio
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...
, with a bachelor's of art degree in 1930. He then entered law school at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
and later Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. In 1931, he married Lillie Megrath whom he met in law school. They had two daughters, Barbara and Rebecca.
Political career
In the early 1930s, Sweetland was as an activist in the Socialist PartySocialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
and a field organizer for the Student League for Industrial Democracy . He supported Norman Thomas, Socialist for president and SLID activist, in his 1932 campaign. In 1935, Sweetland and his family returned to Oregon to work as the Executive Director of the Oregon Commonwealth Federation (OCF), a liberal organization whose goals included public power, increased membership in labor unions, civil rights, and social security. Sweetland at that time left the Socialist Party to become a Democrat. The OCF helped engineer the defeat of conservative Democrat Governor Charles Martin in 1938. The winner of the primary, Henry Hess, was defeated in the general election, but the primary victory emboldened Sweetland and other liberals, who saw moderate Republican Governor Charles Sprague as an improvement over Martin.
Sweetland held federal and labor-relations appointments between 1940 and 1943 and then joined the American Red Cross, serving in the Pacific theater of operations for two years. It was during this time that he became acquainted with fellow Oregon Democrat Howard Morgan, who would, upon war's end, help Sweetland organize Democratic victories in Oregon.
In 1948 Sweetland was elected as a Harry Truman delegate, as well as Oregon Democratic National Committeeman, thereby successfully wresting control of the Democratic Party from a reactionary "Dixiecrat" element and becoming the highest ranking Democratic official in the state. This position made him the figure consulted by President Truman regarding federal appointments in Oregon. During the ensuing eight years, under Sweetland's leadership, the modern progressive Oregon Democratic Party emerged, with victories in the governorship, both houses of Congress, and in the Oregon State Legislature. One of the primary goals of the Oregon Democratic Party during those years was the creation of the Columbia Valley Authority (CVA), a national public power entity modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
. Although many in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
favored the creation of the CVA, conservative Democrats like former Oregon Governor Oswald West
Oswald West
Oswald West was an American politician, a Democrat, who served most notably as the 14th Governor of Oregon. Called "Os West" by Oregon writer Stewart Holbrook, who described him as "by all odds the most brilliant governor Oregon ever had."- Early life and career :West was born in Ontario, Canada...
and most Republicans opposed and defeated the idea of the creation of the CVA. West, viewed as a progressive governor from 1911 to 1914, later worked as a lobbyist for a large utility, and became a public critic of Sweetland, erroneously accusing him and other liberal Democrats such as federal judge and former Oregon Commonwealth Federation member Gus J. Solomon
Gus J. Solomon
Gus Jerome Solomon was a United States federal judge.Born in Portland, Oregon, was the child of immigrant Jewish parents, his father having been born in Romania and his mother in Russia. Solomon received a Ph.B. from the University of Chicago in 1926 and an LL.B. from Stanford Law School in 1929...
of having Communist affiliations.
Elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
in 1952 to represent District 7 from Milwaukie, Sweetland was the first Democrat in two decades to win a seat from Clackamas County
Clackamas County, Oregon
Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county was named after the Native Americans living in the area, the Clackamas Indians, who were part of the Chinookan people. As of 2010, the population was 375,992...
in the lower chamber house. He won election to the Oregon State Senate
Oregon State Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...
in 1954 and re-election in 1958 to a second four-year term, spending a total of ten years in the legislature. Sweetland wanted to run for U.S. Congress in Oregon's 3rd Congressional district in 1954, but was dissuaded by some Democratic peers, including Howard Morgan and State Senator Richard Neuberger, who feared that, especially during the time of "McCarthyism", Sweetland's past Socialist ties would result in his defeat and that of other Democrats just as the party was beginning its rise. Sweetland decided to not run, and, in the fall, Democrat Edith Green
Edith Green
Edith Louise Starrett Green was an American politician and educator in the state of Oregon. A native of South Dakota, she was raised in Oregon and completed her education at the University of Oregon and Stanford University...
won election in the 3rd Congressional District, while Neuberger won a close race for U.S. Senate, becoming the first Democrat elected to that position from Oregon in four decades.
Sweetland did run for secretary of state in 1956, losing narrowly to fellow State Senator Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
. However, the years of organizing by Sweetland, Morgan and others, combined with public support for public power, resulted in a Democratic sweep in Oregon. Senator Wayne Morse
Wayne Morse
Wayne Lyman Morse was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds....
, the Republican turned Independent, was courted by Morgan and pushed by Sweetland to join the Democratic party, and Morse did in 1955. Morse easily defeated former governor and Eisenhower Interior Secretary Douglas McKay
Douglas McKay
James Douglas McKay was an American businessman and politician from Oregon. A native of the state, he served in World War I before he became a successful businessman, mainly as a car dealership owner in the capital city of Salem. A Republican, he served as a city councilor and mayor of Salem...
in the 1956 election. Robert Holmes
Robert D. Holmes
Robert Denison Holmes was an American politician and journalist from the U.S. state of Oregon. A native of the state of New York, he worked in newspapers and radio before entering politics. Though a Republican early in his career, he served as a Democrat in the Oregon State Senate and as the 28th...
won a special election for Governor. Edith Green was re-elected in the 3rd Congressional District, while Charles O. Porter
Charles O. Porter
Charles Orlando Porter was a politician from the U.S. state of Oregon.-Early life:Born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to Frank Porter and Ruth Peterson, he graduated from high school in Eugene, Oregon and then went on to graduate from Harvard University with a B.S. in 1941...
won in the 4th Congressional District and Al Ullman
Al Ullman
Albert Conrad "Al" Ullman , was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented from 1957 to 1981...
, a strong CVA advocate, won in the 2nd Congressional District and would serve 24 years in Congress. The Democrats, who had been such a minority in the Oregon Legislature that people joked the party could caucus in a phone booth, won majorities in both the Oregon House and Senate for the first time since 1878.
In 1960, Sweetland again ran for secretary of state and lost, this time to Howell Appling
Howell Appling, Jr.
Howell Appling, Jr. was a businessman and politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was a Republican.-Biography:...
, who had been appointed by Hatfield as his successor upon Hatfield's election as Governor in 1958. During his years as a part-time Oregon legislator, Sweetland was a newspaper publisher in Milwaukie
Milwaukie, Oregon
Milwaukie is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 20,291 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1848 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city, known as the Dogwood City of the West, was incorporated in...
(his home), while also owning papers in Newport
Newport, Oregon
Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868...
, and Molalla
Molalla, Oregon
Molalla is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 5,647 at the 2000 census.-History:Molalla was named after the Molalla River, which in turn was named for the Molala, a Native American tribe that inhabited the area. William H. Vaughan took up a donation land claim in...
. While in the legislature he worked to turn what was then Portland State College
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
into a full university to better serve Portland, for which he was honored with the President's Award from the school in 1995. Sweetland also worked to lower the voting age to 18 from 21. Additionally, he sponsored legislation to provide scholarships for Oregonians to attend state universities. His last session in the legislature was representing then District 11 in the Oregon Senate during the 1961 session.
As a prominent Democrat in one of the few states to hold presidential primaries at that time, Sweetland was contacted by candidates such as Adlai Stevenson, Averell Harriman, Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
and their staffs. Despite his great admiration for the more liberal Senator Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, Sweetland chose to support Senator John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination. Sweetland appeared with Kennedy on many of his visits to Oregon in 1959/60, was a paid Kennedy campaign organizer, and was elected as a delegate on the 1960 Democratic primary ballot. Oregon's support for Kennedy over Morse (Humphrey had dropped out of the race by then) made Sweetland and the others automatic Kennedy delegates per the state's winner-take-all rules at the time. Kennedy won the nomination, but upset Sweetland and other liberals by picking the runner-up, Senator Lyndon Johnson, as his running mate.
In 1963, Sweetland taught journalism at a college in Indonesia, a country that had fascinated him since meeting Indonesians during World War II.
Later life
He and his family moved to San Mateo, CaliforniaSan Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
, in 1965, where Sweetland served as the National Education Association (NEA) representative to 13 states in the west until mandatory retirement in 1975. In that role he advocated the use of federal money to provide support to schools to encourage them to teach English as a second language in certain situations. This led to the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which he considered his most important contribution.
After leaving the NEA he founded Western Wilderness Products, in San Mateo where he worked gathering rare plants until 1994. Sweetland's wife died in 1985. Sweetland returned to Oregon in 1994 and spent his final years as an elder statesman, including an unsuccessful run for his old State Senate seat at age 88 in 1998. By that time he was legally blind, and in the election he lost to his friend, moderate Republican Verne Duncan
Verne Duncan
Verne A. Duncan is an American politician from the state of Oregon. As an educator and moderate Republican, he has become outspoken in protest of policies of his own party he views as extreme....
for District 12. Sweetland was very active in organizations such as the Democratic Party of Oregon, The City Club of Portland
City Club of Portland
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was organized in 1916 by a small group of men who began meeting in a downtown Portland restaurant to discuss the city's public institutions and government...
, and the Wayne Morse Historical Park in Eugene. He often took a Metro bus from near his home in Milwaukie to downtown Portland, navigating the downtown streets by himself. Monroe Sweetland died on September 10, 2006, at the age of 96 in Milwaukie. Duncan delivered a eulogy at Sweetland’s memorial service, as did Governor Ted Kulongoski. Toward the end of his life, a scholarship was established in Sweetland's name at Portland State University, funded by his friends, most prominently King (NBC) Broadcasting executive Ancil Payne of Seattle.