Famous Cases: The Story of Oregon’s Scandalous Senator Returns to the Pioneer Courthouse
The Famous Cases series made an appearance on December 1, 2017 at the historic Pioneer Courthouse, the 1875-1933 home of the U.S. District Court. The three-hour program co-sponsored by USDCHS and Oregon Women Lawyers included an elder law presentation by Gabrielle Richards, of Martin & Richards, LLP, and a lecture on the 170-year history and origins of federal Indian policies in Oregon by Professor Stephen Dow Beckham, Emeritus Professor of History at Lewis & Clark College. The final presentation by Doug Pahl of Perkins Coie LLP was a biographical review of the colorful and infamous life of John Hipple Mitchell, Oregon’s four-term Republican U.S. Senator and lawyer to Marcus Neff…
Judge Henry Hess (1924-2017)
We note with sadness the passing of Judge Henry Hess on October 31, of heart failure. Henry Hess, Jr. was born in La Grande, Oregon on March 29, 1924. His mother Estrid Johanson, a 1902 emigrant from Sweden, died of cancer at the age of 34 when Henry was 10 and his brother Raymond was 7. Henry Hess, Sr. was a La Grande lawyer and politician. He was elected state senator in 1931 and ran for governor in 1937, capturing the Democratic nomination from then-Governor Charles Martin, but losing in the general election to Charles Sprague. Hess Sr. was appointed U.S. Attorney for Oregon in 1945 and served until 1954.…
The Building They Shaped – The Hatfield Courthouse at Twenty
By Doug Pahl Winston Churchill once observed, “We shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us.” Twenty years ago, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Proctor Hug stood in the gleaming green lobby of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse and reminded us of Churchill’s wisdom. It was November 13, 1997, and an unprecedented group of dignitaries gathered to celebrate and dedicate Portland’s first new courthouse since 1933. [Editorial note: After a collections digitization effort, we have added this 1994 video of the courtroom mock-up process as well as the courthouse dedication ceremony. The ceremony begins at about 10 minutes.] Judges, court staff, administration officials, designers, and artists, all…
When is a Postmaster Like the Man in the Moon? The Tumultuous Presidential Election of 1876
by Stephen Raher The presidential election of 1876 was a contentious battle over the future of the post-Civil War United States. Students of history will recall that Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina each submitted dueling vote tallies after the election, thus requiring Congressional action to decide the disputed results in those states. Less well-remembered, however, was an electoral controversy in a fourth state: Oregon. Setting the Stage In the years leading up to November 1876, political observers knew the election to replace President Ulysses S. Grant would be hotly contested. The policy of Reconstruction was under increasing attack, and while Republicans still controlled the Senate, anti-Reconstruction Democrats had regained a…
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael H. Marcus (1943-2017)
The US District Court of Oregon Historical Society notes with sadness the passing of Judge Michael H. Marcus. We hope you will avail yourself of the opportunity to read his oral history conducted April-December 2010.