Mark O. Hatfield: Oregon Statesman by Richard W. Etulain

Abstract

Reviewed by: Mark O. Hatfield: Oregon Statesman by Richard W. Etulain Laura Jane Gifford MARK O. HATFIELD: OREGON STATESMAN by Richard W. Etulain University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2021. Illustrations, bibliography, index. 232 pages. $24.95 paper. Historians are not, as a general rule, inclined toward the counterfactual. Exercises in what might have been stand at odds with historians’ commitment to facts, themes, and context. Nonetheless, a brief foray into the land of “what-if” illustrates in glowing relief the poignancy of a Mark Hatfield biography in this third decade of the twenty-first century. Speaking of Hatfield’s also-ran status among contenders for the Republican vice-presidential nomination in 1968, Richard W. Etulain observes that had Richard Nixon chosen the Oregon senator, he [End Page 103] “may well have become president in 1974” (p. 156). With apologies to Gerald Ford, an upstanding citizen in his own right, if only we had been so lucky. Love him or dismiss him — and Etulain clearly loves him — this newest biography of Hatfield illustrates well the longtime Oregon politician’s most compelling quality: in the words of then-president William Clinton at Hatfield’s 1996 retirement, he was a man “who has lived his convictions as well as any I have known in public life” (p. 177). Hatfield was not perfect, and to his credit, Etulain is willing to share both Hatfield’s strengths and his weaknesses. In today’s era of strife, polarization, and growing threats from White Christian nationalism, however, Hatfield’s life in public service reminds us that our political and cultural landscape need not look this way. Etulain’s concise prose chronicles both prosaic struggles over state budgets during Hatfield’s time as governor and the many courageous stands the World War II veteran took, sometimes alone, against military expansionism and the war in Vietnam. As a Republican state legislator, secretary of state, and governor, Hatfield was often viewed as more liberal than his Democratic opponents — a helpful reminder that our partisan categories have not been static over time. He was an early and committed advocate for civil rights in a state with a notoriously racist history. As a five-term senator during the years when the Religious Right gained an ever-stronger foothold in GOP politics, Hatfield’s evangelical Christian convictions led him to support social programs and oppose increases in defense funding. This brief volume favors accessibility over documentation; there are no footnotes, although Etulain includes a brief essay on sources and his bibliography is comprehensive. The book would have benefitted from more careful fact-checking; while the prose is sound, the reviewer noted a series of minor errors ranging from confusing I-84 with I-80 to situating Hatfield’s 1964 GOP convention keynote speech in 1965. More glaring is a recurrent infatuation with spouse Antoinette Kuzmanich Hatfield’s “sparkling prettiness,” “bright eyes,” and vivaciousness (pp. 59, 91). Perhaps the author intended this as counter-point to his frequent references to Hatfield’s youth and handsome visage. Both contribute to an overriding sensation that the book was written much earlier than 2021. Etulain focuses most of his time and attention on Hatfield’s years as a state official. He notes in the preface that while he initially planned a more comprehensive biography, continuing restrictions on the largest archive of Hatfield materials rendered a broader project infeasible. The recent opening of Hatfield’s primary manuscript collection at Willamette University, and newly accessible oral histories at the Oregon Historical Society, present important new opportunities to make deeper forays into Hatfield’s life and work. Now more than ever, we need to learn from the wisdom of statesmen like Mark Hatfield. Laura Jane Gifford Portland, Oregon Copyright © 2023 Oregon Historical Society