Charles L. McNary

Early life McNary was born on his maternal grandfather's family farm north of Salem on June 12, 1874. When the two married in 1860, Hugh McNary's father-in-law gave him a farm in what is now the city of Keizer.

McNary was four years old when his mother died in 1878. His widowed father moved the family to Salem where he bought a general merchandise store; his declining health made him unable to run the family farm. As a boy, Charles worked as a paperboy, in an orchard, and at other farming tasks. Back in Salem, McNary read law under the supervision of his brother John and Samuel L. Hayden, and passed the bar in 1898.

The brothers practiced law together in Salem as McNary & McNary, while John also served as deputy district attorney for Marion County.

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While still partnered with his brother, McNary began teaching property law at Willamette University College of Law in the spring of 1899 and courting Jessie Breyman. Meanwhile, McNary maintained friendly relations with both progressive and conservative factions of the Oregon Republicans and with West. At 39, he was the youngest of the justices, and McNary left law school and private practice behind. He quickly "established himself as a judicial activist and strong advocate of progressive reform". A supporter of organized labor, McNary "consistently defended the rights of injured workers and was not hesitant about using the bench as an instrument for social change", such as an eight-hour day for public employees.

In 1914, the court moved into the new Oregon Supreme Court Building. McNary filed to run for a full six-year term on the bench. On July 8, 1916, after a close, multi-ballot contest, with several contenders, the Republican State Committee elected McNary to be its chair. He was seen as someone who could unify the progressive and conservative wings of the party in Oregon. Hughes, a former US Supreme Court justice and future chief justice, carried Oregon but lost the presidency to the incumbent, Woodrow Wilson. McNary was among several possible successors considered by Oregon Governor James Withycombe. Furthermore, McNary supporters argued that both progressive and conservative factions of the Republican Party would accept McNary and that unity would give the party the best chance of retaining the Senate seat in the next election. McNary defeated Stanfield 52,546 to 30,999.

Mulkey resigned to give McNary a slight seniority edge over other new senators who would join the 66th Congress. McNary won re-election to the Senate four times, in 1924, 1930, 1936, and 1942, serving in Washington, D.C., until his death.

Senate years

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After World War I, Wilson sought Senate approval of the Treaty of Versailles. Because the treaty included provisions for establishing and joining the League of Nations, one of Wilson's Fourteen Points, Republicans opposed it. Going against much of his party, McNary, part of a group of senators known as "reservationists", proposed minor changes to support the United States entry into the League. In 1922, President Warren G. Harding asked McNary to become Secretary of the Interior to replace Albert B. Fall because of Fall's involvement in the ongoing Teapot Dome scandal. He remained Minority Leader for the rest of his time in office He voted for the US joining the World Court in 1926. He favored buying more National Forest lands, forest management via the McSweeney-McNary Act, fire protection for forests via the Clarke–McNary Act, and farm support. Although President Calvin Coolidge vetoed it, the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill was the forerunner of the farm legislation of the New Deal.

Vice presidential nomination

In 1940, McNary was the Republican nominee for vice president, as a western farm leader chosen to balance the ticket of presidential nominee Wendell Willkie, a pro-business leader from the east. a federally owned power-producing corporation that Willkie, as "the head of a far-flung [private] utilities empire", had opposed.

Personal life and death On November 19, 1913, McNary married Jessie Breyman, the daughter of Salem businessman Eugene Breyman and his wife. Before the marriage, she had worked as his private secretary.

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In 1926, McNary built a new $6,000 ranch-style house, which he designed himself, along two creeks on his farm north of Salem. Later Senator Richard L. Neuberger would describe Fir Cone as Oregon's Monticello, as it hosted many meetings with politicians from the national stage. and on which he developed the Imperial prune. They removed it that week, and McNary was released from the hospital on December 2, but the cancer had already spread to other parts of his body. He was given a state funeral, during which his body lay in state in the chamber of the Oregon House of Representatives at the Oregon State Capitol, Salem,