page_title: Charles L. McNary
section_title: State politics
hierarchical_section_title: Charles L. McNary / State politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Senator w:Charles L. McNary and Rep. w:Gilbert N. Haugen, half-length portrait, standing at the w:White House, shaking hands.
context_page_description: Charles Linza McNary was a United States Republican politician from Oregon. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1917 to 1944 and was Senate Minority Leader from 1933 to 1944. In the Senate, McNary helped to pass legislation that led to the construction of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, and worked on agricultural and forestry issues. He also supported many of the New Deal programs at the beginning of the Great Depression. Until Mark Hatfield surpassed his mark in 1993, he was Oregon's longest-serving senator.
  McNary was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1940, on the ticket with presidential candidate Wendell Willkie; both died in 1944, during what would have been their first term had they won. They lost to the Democratic ticket, composed of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was running for his third term as president, and Henry A. Wallace by just under a ten-point margin. McNary was a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1913 to 1915 and was dean of Willamette University College of Law, in his hometown of Salem, from 1908 to 1913.
context_section_description: McNary first held public office in 1892 when he became Marion County's deputy recorder, remaining in the position until 1896. In 1904 he managed successful campaign of his brother, John, for district attorney for the third judicial district of Oregon. John then appointed Charles as his deputy, who served until 1911.
  Steve Neal, McNary's biographer, describes McNary as a progressive who stuck with the Republican Party in 1910 even when many progressives left the party in favor of West, a Democrat. McNary backed the Progressive Era reforms (the initiative, recall, referendum, primary elections, and the direct election of US senators) of Oregonian William Simon U'Ren, and he was an early supporter of public, rather than private, power companies. After West won the election, he chose McNary to be special legal counsel to Oregon's railroad commission, who urged lower passenger and freight rates. Meanwhile, McNary maintained friendly relations with both progressive and conservative factions of the Oregon Republicans and with West.
  In 1913, West appointed McNary to the Oregon Supreme Court to fill a new position, created by the legislature's expansion of the court from five justices to seven. The youngest of the justices, at 38, 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. Unions supported McNary throughout his political career.
  Several criminal convictions resulted from the Portland vice scandal in November 1912 surrounding the city's gay male subculture. By the time McNary was seated, some convictions had been appealed to the court. He wrote the dissenting opinion in the reversal of the conviction of prominent Portland attorney Edward McAllister. The dissent was emotionally charged and "revealed a deeply seated personal discomfort with same-sex eroticism."
  In 1914, the court moved into the new Oregon Supreme Court Building, and McNary filed to run for a full six-year term on the bench. At that time the office was partisan, and McNary lost the Republican primary, by a single vote, to Henry L. Benson, after several recounts and the discovery of uncounted ballots. After his defeat, he served the remainder of his partial term and left the court in 1915. On July 8, 1916, after a close, multiballot contest, with several contenders, the Republican State Committee elected McNary to be the chair. He was seen as someone who could unify the progressive and conservative wings of the party in Oregon.
caption: Senator McNary and Representative Gilbert N. Haugen, cosponsors of the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, shake hands at the White House in 1929.
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