Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A moderate Republican, he served eight years as the 29th governor of Oregon, followed by 30 years as one of its United States senators, including time as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.
While still teaching, Hatfield served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. He won election to the Oregon Secretary of State's office at the age of 34 and two years later was elected as the 29th Governor of Oregon. He was the youngest person to serve in either of those offices, and served two terms as governor before election to the United States Senate. In the Senate he served for thirty years, the longest tenure of any Senator from Oregon. At the time of his retirement, he was seventh most senior Senator and the second most senior Republican. In 1968, he was considered a candidate to be Richard Nixon's running mate for the Republican Party presidential ticket.
Hatfield served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations on two occasions. With this role, he was able to direct funding to Oregon and research-related projects. Numerous Oregon institutions, buildings and facilities are named in his honor, including the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, the Mark O. Hatfield Library at Willamette University (his alma mater), the Hatfield Government Center light-rail station in Hillsboro, the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government in the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University, and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Outside of Oregon, a research center at the National Institutes of Health was named after him for his support of medical research while in the Senate. Hatfield died in Portland on August 7, 2011, after a long illness.
Hatfield was born in Dallas, Oregon, on July 12, 1922, the only child of Dovie E. (Odom) Hatfield, a schoolteacher, and Charles Dolen Hatfield, a blacksmith for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Hatfield's father was from California and his mother from Tennessee. When he was five years old, his maternal grandmother took over the household while his mother, Dovie attended Oregon State College and graduated with a teaching degree after four years. Dovie taught school in Dallas for two years before the family moved to Salem, where she taught junior high school.
Encouraged by his mother, Hatfield's first experience with politics came at the age of 10, when he campaigned in his neighborhood for President Herbert Hoover's 1932 re-election campaign. In the late 1930s Hatfield worked as a tour guide at the new Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem, using his key to enter the governor's office, where he sat in the governor's chair.
On June 10, 1940, the 17-year-old Hatfield, driving his mother's car, struck and killed a pedestrian, 6-year-old Alice Marie Lane, as she crossed the street to deliver milk to her neighbors. Hatfield was not held criminally liable for the crash, but was found civilly liable to the family. The case made its way to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1943, with the court affirming the trial court's decision.
Hatfield graduated from Salem High School in 1940 and then enrolled at Willamette University, also in Salem. While attending Willamette, Hatfield became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and Kappa Gamma Rho, which he later helped become a chapter of Beta Theta Pi. (In 1964, Hatfield was elected to the National position of Third Vice President of Alpha Phi Omega). In college he also worked part-time for then Oregon Secretary of State Earl Snell, where he learned how to build a political base by sending out messages to potential voters after reading about life changes posted in newspapers, such as deaths and graduations. He also sketched out a political career path beginning with the state legislature and culminating in a spot in the United States Senate, with a blank for any position beyond the Senate. Hatfield graduated from Willamette in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts degree after three years at the school. While at the school he lost his only election, for student body president.
Hatfield joined the U.S. Navy after graduation, taking part in the World War II battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa as a landing craft officer where he witnessed the carnage of the war. A lieutenant, he also witnessed the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as one of the first Americans to see the ruins of the city (later, as Senator, Hatfield opposed arms proliferation and the Vietnam War). After Japan, he served in French Indochina, where he witnessed firsthand the wealth divide between the peasant Vietnamese and the colonial French bourgeoisie. After his discharge as a Lieutenant (junior grade), he spent one year at Willamette's law school, but decided politics or teaching better suited him.
Hatfield then enrolled at Stanford University, where he obtained a master's degree in political science in 1948. He returned to Salem and Willamette after Stanford and began working as an assistant professor in political science. During his tenure as professor, he built a political base by offering himself as a public speaker and giving speeches at any forum where he could get an invitation.
Mark Hatfield's career in public office spanned five decades as he held office in both the legislative and executive branches of Oregon's state government, including two terms as governor. On the national stage he became the longest serving U.S. Senator from Oregon and a candidate for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 1968. In the U.S. Senate he would twice serve as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and twice be investigated for possible ethics violations.
In 1950 while teaching political science and serving as dean of students at Willamette, Hatfield began his political career by winning election to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican. He defeated six others for the seat at a time when state assembly elections were still determined by county-wide votes. He served for two terms representing Marion County and Salem in the lower chamber of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. At the time he was the youngest legislator in Oregon and still lived at his parents' home. Hatfield would teach early-morning classes and then walk across the street to the Capitol to legislate.
In 1952 he won re-election to his seat in the Oregon House. He also received national attention for his early support for coaxing Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for President of the United States as a Republican. This earned him a spot as a delegate at the Republican National Convention that year.
While in college he saw firsthand the discrimination against African Americans in Salem when he was tasked by his fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, after a dinner with driving their guest, black artist Paul Robeson back to Portland, as African Americans were prohibited from staying in hotels in Salem. In 1953, he introduced and passed legislation in the House that prohibited discrimination based on race in public accommodations before federal legislation and court decisions did so on a national level. In 1954, Hatfield ran and won a seat in the Oregon State Senate representing Marion County. While in the legislature, he continued to apply the grassroots strategy he learned from Earl Snell, but expanded it to cover the entire state to increase his political base.
After serving in the state senate, he became the youngest secretary of state in Oregon history after winning election in 1956 at age 34. Hatfield defeated fellow state senator Monroe Sweetland for the office, receiving 51.3% of the vote in the November general election. He took office on January 7, 1957, and remained until he resigned on January 12, 1959.