CHARLES L. MCNARY

'Charles Linza McNary' (June 12, 1874 - February 25, 1944) was a U.S. Republican politician from Oregon, best known for serving as a U.S. Senator from 1917-44, and as Senate Minority Leader from 1933-44. In the Senate, McNary helped to pass legislation that led to the construction of Bonneville Dam. In 1940, McNary was the Republican Vice Presidential candidate of Presidential candidate Wendell Willkie. Before his two separate terms in the Senate, he served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1913 to 1915 and was dean of Willamette University College of Law from 1908 to 1913 in his hometown of Salem, Oregon.

Contents

Early life

Politics

Family and legacy

References

External links

Early life

McNary was born on his family's farm north of Salem on June 12 1874.^[1] He was the ninth of ten children born to his parents, Hugh Linza McNary and the former Margaret Claggett, and the third son of the couple. Oregon Biographical Dictionary, , , , Somerset Publishers, Inc., , McNary's grandfather James McNary immigrated to the Oregon Country from Kentucky in 1845, while his maternal grandfather immigrated from Missouri in 1852. McNary's father Hugh was a former brickyard operator and school teacher. McNary's mother died in 1878. McNary lived on the farm until his father’s death in 1883, at which time the now nine-year-old moved to Salem to live with four siblings and attend school.
In 1896, Charles McNary moved to California where he attended Stanford University. There he studied law and worked as a waiter to pay for his housing. McNary then left Stanford and returned to Oregon in 1897. Back in Salem, he read law under the supervision of his brother John Hugh McNary, and passed the bar in 1898. The two brothers then practiced law together in Salem. Charles also bought the old family farm and returned it to the family while also organizing the Salem Fruit Union. During this time he was also the dean of Willamette University College of Law from 1908-13. Notable Oregonians: Charles McNary
On November 19 1902, he married Jessie Breyman, the daughter of a successful Salem businessman, Eugene Breyman. A Training Manual for Interpreters McNary Lock and Dam, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District Jessie died in 1918, in one of the first automobile accidents in the Salem area, while Charles was on a summer break from the Senate. The McNary Family

Politics

McNary's first public office came in 1892 when he served as Marion County’s deputy recorder, remaining in the position until 1896. After becoming an attorney, he served as deputy district attorney for the third judicial district of Oregon from 1904-11. While in that position he served under his brother, the district attorney. From 1911 until 1913 he worked as special legal counsel to Oregon’s railroad commission.
Charles McNary first held political office in 1913 when he was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court by Governor Oswald West, to fill a new position created by the legislature. Supreme Court Justices of Oregon
^[2] He served until 1915, but lost the nomination to run as the Republican Party candidate by a single vote, thus he was not a candidate for a full six-year term on the state's highest court. From 1916 to 1917, he served as the chairperson to the Republican Party’s central committee in Oregon.
In 1917, he was briefly appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy left by the death of Harry Lane. Frederick W. Mulkey was then elected for the full term, but resigned within two months. So, in 1919 McNary returned to the Senate when he was appointed a second time, effective December 18 1918. He was subsequently re-elected in 1924, '30, '36, and '42. McNary served in Washington, D.C. until his death in 1944. During his time in the Senate, McNary served as Minority Leader from 1933-44, when the Senate was under Democratic control during the New Deal era.
While in the Senate he also served as chairman of the Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands committee and was a member of the Agriculture and Forestry committee. In 1933 he introduced the legislation to build Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. While in the Senate he was in favor of ratifying the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I and voted in favor of the United States joining the World Court in 1926. During the 1920s as Chairman of the Irrigation and Reclamation Committee McNary supported the development of hydroelectric power on the Columbia, Tennessee, and Colorado rivers. Other items he supported include the purchase of additional National Forest lands, re-forestation laws, fire protection for forests, and agricultural support. He also co-sponsored the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill which was vetoed by President Coolidge and was the forerunner of the agricultural part of the New Deal.
In 1940 he was the Republican vice presidential nominee, as a western conservative to balance the eastern liberalism of presidential nominee Wendell Willkie. The Willkie-McNary ticket lost the Electoral College, to President Roosevelt 449 to 82. Both McNary and Willkie died in 1944.

Family and legacy

On December 29 1923, McNary married for the second time to the former Cornelia Woodburn Morton. Neither of his marriages produced children, but Charles and Cornelia adopted a daughter named Charlotte in 1935. In 1944, while in Florida McNary underwent unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor. The almost six-foot tall, slender Charles L. McNary died in office on February 25 1944 while in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was buried in Belcrest Memorial Cemetery in his hometown of Salem.
McNary Dam on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington is named after him, as is McNary Field, the airport in his hometown of Salem. McNary High School in Keizer and McNary Dorm at Oregon State University are also both named in his honor.

References

1. McNary, Charles Linza

2. Governors of Oregon

External links

★ Senate Portrait

★ Salem Online History: Charles McNary

★ Letter to McNary from President Hoover

★ Historic images of Charles McNary from Salem Public Library