A Progressive Against Morse

The whirlwinding political talents of Oregon's Democratic Senator Wayne Morse are held in high respect even by his enemies--and by no one more than Oregon's Republican Governor Paul Patterson. "Anyone," says Patterson, "who takes lightly the strength of Wayne Morse is being a damned fool." Last week Paul Patterson, no fool, announced that he will undertake the forbidding task of running against Morse for the U.S. Senate this year. Observers gave him a fair chance of winning.

Quiet, thoughtful Paul L. (for Linton) Patterson, now 55, was born in Ohio, the son of a Disciples of Christ minister, moved to Oregon in 1900, and left few distinguishing marks along his trail: law school at the University of Oregon, a small-town practice in Hillsboro (pop. 5,142), work with the Boy Scouts, and a back seat in the state senate. Then--with Patterson more as onlooker than participant--things began to happen.

Killed in a 1947 plane crash were Oregon's Republican Governor Earl Snell, his secretary of state and the president of the state senate. The tragedy left a void at the very top of Oregon Republicanism--a void soon filled by State Senator Douglas McKay, who ran for governor in an off-year election and won. Patterson also moved up, although at a slower pace than McKay. In 1951 Patterson was elected senate president, and, since that position stands second in Oregon's line of succession, became governor when McKay resigned to go to Washington as Eisenhower's Secretary of the Interior.

Because the political careers of McKay and Patterson have in a sense been linked, comparing the two is a favorite Oregon pastime. Patterson himself chuckles: "Doug's been a salesman all his life. I've been a lawyer-a professional man. It's Doug's business to go out and make people like him. The very ethics of a professional man, you know, dictate that he should sit in his office and wait for people to come to him, whether he's doing any business or not." But Patterson also was able to go out and make people like him: in 1954, while Democrat Richard Neuberger was winning his Senate seat by 2,462 votes, Republican Patterson overwhelmed his Democratic opponent by 88,343 votes.

In this year's race, Patterson will have to deal with right-wing Republicans, who consider him too progressive. Says Patterson: "I plead guilty." Then he explains: "I feel that the day of the ultra-conservative is gone. We must have a consciousness of social responsibility that people are demanding of their Government. Humanitarian policies are here to stay." That philosophy has made Paul Patterson a successful governor; it will be his biggest asset in his campaign against Morse.

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