Hatfield’s Resignation Big Loss For Oregon Longtime Senator A Source Of Both Power, Pride For Delegation
Sen. Mark Hatfield is leaving behind a gaping hole in Oregon’s congressional clout, a thick chapter in the state history books and a soft spot in the hearts of most Oregonians.
“The thing I’ll remember most about him is his ability to work with people and his uncanny ability to recognize the importance of interpersonal relationships to get things done,” said Bill Calder, his former press secretary. “If there was a way for both sides to come up winning, he would find it.”
Environmentalists have been increasingly critical of the role he has played in promoting logging of national forests in the Pacific Northwest.
But the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee otherwise has made few enemies in a 50-year political career in which he never lost a race.
Friends and supporters say his reputation as a principled, compassionate human being will last longer than the many health, education and transportation projects he steered to Oregon as its longest serving U.S. senator.
“I don’t think the people of Oregon will ever fully appreciate the role that he played in their daily lives,” said Julie McGregor, his current press secretary.
“He’s the unique combination of a deeply compassionate man who is always moved by the circumstances of a fellow individual and yet he isn’t somehow lacking the steel will necessary to play a very tough game of politics when necessary.”
An approachable man in the hallways of the Capitol, he talks with cafeteria workers, janitors and elevator operators about children and grandchildren.
A frequently lonely Republican voice opposed to military action, Hatfield dedicated his life to preventing armed conflict after serving in the Navy during World War II.
One of the first American servicemen to enter Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, he has said one of his greatest accomplishments was helping to usher through Congress a ban on nuclear weapons testing.
“He’s a maverick Republican, an extraordinary peace advocate,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. “He’s a man who was willing to go against the majority of his party on one of the most difficult issues before the Congress - the issue of military expenditure and the military industrial complex.”
Hatfield, elected to the Senate in 1966, steered millions of dollars to public works projects in his home state, from national scenic areas and hydropower dams to the Oregon Health Sciences University and the Marine Science Center that bears his name in Newport. He is proud of the role he played in starting Oregon’s community college system.
“I was 1 year old when Mark Hatfield began his public service to the state. When I have grandchildren, they will benefit from many of the senator’s efforts on behalf of Oregon,” said Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
A moderate Republican who often votes across party lines, Hatfield opposes abortion and the death penalty based on his belief in the sanctity of life.
A devout Baptist and son of a blacksmith, Hatfield frequently speaks out for the homeless, human rights and human understanding. In a hushed congressional hearing room in 1990, he pleaded for more money for Alzheimer’s research while describing how the disease reduced his powerful father to a “vegetable.”
To make his point about the death penalty, he proposed public executions to show the “barbaric” nature of the government-sanctioned killings.
His retirement follows the resignation of veteran Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., who was chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee - once a rare, influential one-two punch for a state the size of Oregon.
“It will be a huge blow to our delegation,” said Rep. Jim Bunn, R-Ore. “When you lose a combined 57 years’ experience in a matter of months, it just means the rest of us have to pull together and work that much harder.”