34 Facts About Tom McCall

Thomas Lawson McCall was an American, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon, serving as the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975.

Tom McCall started out as a newspaper reporter and moved on to radio and television broadcasting.

Tom McCall first entered politics as an administrative assistant to Governor Douglas McKay.

Tom McCall made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1954, losing in the general election to Edith Green.

In office, Tom McCall promoted environmentally friendly reforms and criticized overpopulation and excessive industrial development.

Tom McCall's reputation has subsequently recovered, and he is considered one of the most transformative figures in recent Oregon history.

Tom McCall then moved northeast to the Palouse of north central Idaho in February 1937, to the university town of Moscow.

Tom McCall wrote for the News-Review, and following a merger, the Daily Idahonian.

Tom McCall traveled back to Oregon to look for work in Portland, where the economy was booming due to World War II.

Tom McCall was told by the military that he was not eligible for enlistment and journalists, still primarily men, were in short supply.

Tom McCall was quickly offered a job at The Oregonian at nearly triple his wages.

Tom McCall worked at KGW radio until 1949, when he became administrative assistant to Oregon governor Douglas McKay.

In 1952 Tom McCall returned to KGW radio, where he served as a newscaster and political commentator until 1955, when he jumped from radio to television and KGW to KPTV.

Tom McCall was a newscaster and commentator at KPTV, Oregon's first TV station, for about a year and a half.

In November 1962, Tom McCall produced and hosted an ambitious KGW-TV documentary which graphically portrayed the poor condition of the Willamette River and air quality throughout Oregon.

Tom McCall hosted a show on KGW called Viewpoint, which dealt with political issues of the day.

Tom McCall appears briefly in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in a cameo role as a late-night newscaster.

Tom McCall lost the general election to Edith Green, who went on to hold the seat for the next ten terms.

Tom McCall later said he thought Hatfield had promised to appoint him to the unexpired portion of the term, but the job went to Hatfield associate Howell Appling instead.

Tom McCall became nationally known in January 1971 for a comment he made in an interview with CBS News's Terry Drinkwater:.

Tom McCall was responding to the rapid population growth and suburban sprawl that the state was then experiencing, which was bringing with it strains on utilities and the rapid loss of arable land in the Willamette Valley.

In July 1971, Tom McCall went on a fishing trip on a portion of the Snake River that acts as border between Idaho and Oregon.

Whenever Tom McCall's group camped for the night on the Idaho side, Oregon Senate President John Burns, a Democrat, became acting governor.

Tom McCall's administration took action to encourage energy conservation by lowering speed limits, reducing government energy consumption, and ordering the cessation of all business display lighting.

Tom McCall was talked up in the media as a potential candidate for president, and later recalled that leading political figures such as Clare Boothe Luce and Eugene McCarthy had encouraged him to mount a third-party bid for the office.

Biographer Brent Walth doubts that Tom McCall was ever serious about making the Third Force a third party or running for president, and believes that he was simply enjoying the spotlight and using it to promote his political ideas.

State Senator Vic Atiyeh won the Republican nomination, but lost the general election to Straub, who Tom McCall had endorsed in the election.

Tom McCall returned to journalism, writing a newspaper column and serving as commentator for Portland television station KATU.

Tom McCall sought to return to the governorship in 1978, but Atiyeh defeated McCall in the primary and went on to beat Straub in a rematch of their 1974 race.

Tom McCall devoted his last years to defending the land-use laws he'd sponsored, which had been under attack from critics since their enaction.

Tom McCall was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland just over a month after the election.

In 1968, Governor Tom McCall created the Harbor Drive Task Force to come up with proposals to replace the riverfront highway with a public space.

Tom McCall was a leading figure in passing the Oregon Beach Bill to declare Oregon shores public land in 1967.

In 1998 Tom McCall was inducted into the Hall of Achievement at University of Oregon's School of Journalism.