Mark Hatfield
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Mark Odom Hatfield (born July 12, 1922) is an American politician from Oregon. He is a member of the United States Republican Party. He was born in Dallas, Oregon, the son of Dovie Odom Hatfield, a school teacher, and Charles Hatfield, a railroad blacksmith. He and his wife Antoinette were married in 1958. They have four children and eight grandchildren. Senator Hatfield graduated from Salem High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Willamette University in 1943. While attending Williamette University, Senator Hatfield became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega.
After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy, taking part in the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After his discharge, he obtained a master's degree in political science from Stanford University in 1948.
In 1950, while teaching political science and serving as dean of students at his undergraduate alma mater, Senator Hatfield began his political career in the Oregon Legislature. After two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives and two years in the Oregon Senate, he became the youngest secretary of state in Oregon history in 1956 at age 34. Two years later he was elected governor of Oregon, and became the state's first two-term governor in the 20th century when he was re-elected in 1962.
In 1966 he won a seat in the U.S. Senate, a position he retained for five terms.
Senator Hatfield retired in 1996, having never lost an election.
Oregon State University's marine biology research center in Newport is named for Hatfield.
Senator Hatfield has written four books:
- Not Quite So Simple (1967)
- Conflict and Conscience (1971), ISBN 0876808119
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place (1976), ISBN 087680427X
- Against the Grain: Reflections of a Rebel Republican (2000), ISBN 1883991366
He has contributed to at least seven other books:
- Amnesty: The Unsettled Question of Vietnam (1976)
- The Causes of World Hunger (1982)
- (with Edward Kennedy) Freeze! How You Can Help Prevent Nuclear War (1982), ISBN 0553140779
- What About the Russians: A Christian Approach to Us-Soviet Conflict (1984), ISBN 0871787512
- Lessons and Legacies: Farewell Addresses from the Senate (1996)
- (editor) Vice Presidents of the United States: 1789-1993 (1997), ISBN 9997320751
- Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (2003), ISBN 0804747083
Senator Hatfield merited his own chapter in Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation (ISBN 0375502025).
| Preceded by: Robert D. Holmes | Governor of Oregon 1959-1967 | Succeeded by: Tom McCall |
| Preceded by: Maurine B. Neuberger | U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Oregon 1967-1997 | Succeeded by: Gordon Smith |