Editing Tom McCall (section)

== Political career ==
[[File:Charles A. Sprague Tree Seed Orchard Dedication (19564743809).jpg|thumb|McCall speaking at the [[Charles A. Sprague]] Tree Seed Orchard dedication ceremony in [[Merlin, Oregon]], October 23, 1969.]]
McCall made his first run for office in 1954, winning the Republican nomination for Oregon's [[Oregon's 3rd congressional district|third district]] seat over eight-term incumbent [[Homer D. Angell]]. Despite his later reputation as a progressive, McCall ran to Angell's right in the primary, portraying himself as a loyal supporter of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s pro-business policies.<ref name="Walth" /> He lost the general election to [[Edith Green]], who went on to hold the seat for the next ten terms.<ref>{{cite web |first=William G. |last=Robbins |title=People, Politics, and the Environment Since 1945: Pollution in Paradise |publisher=Oregon Historical Society |year=2002 |url=http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm?subtopic_ID=173 |access-date=2007-04-12}}</ref>

In 1958, when [[Mark Hatfield]] was elected governor of Oregon, he vacated the position of Secretary of State. 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. When Appling chose not to run for re-election in 1964, McCall sought and won the office. In this position, he began to focus on fighting pollution and reining in unchecked economic growth, claiming that "Oregon is at a crossroads [...] There is still a chance to choose between the polluted chaos of [[Southern California]] and cleanliness."<ref name="Walth" />

=== First term ===

McCall was elected governor in 1966, defeating the Democratic nominee, State Treasurer [[Robert W. Straub]]. During his first term, McCall lead a cleanup of pulp mill pollution in the Willamette, championed [[Oregon Beach Bill|legislation that strengthened public ownership of Oregon's beaches]], dealt with a major riot at the [[Oregon State Penitentiary]] in Salem, and served as an international monitor for the [[1967 South Vietnamese presidential election]].<ref name="Walth" />

=== Vortex I ===
{{main|Vortex I}}

During the late summer of 1970, McCall was faced with a potential riot in Portland. In May of that year a week-long student protest at [[Portland State University]] over the [[Kent State shootings]] had been violently dispersed by police, and tensions were high. The conservative [[American Legion]] had scheduled a convention in Portland later that summer; local antiwar groups were organizing a series of demonstrations at the same time under the name of the "People's Army Jamboree" and expected to draw up to 50,000 protesters.<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Kirkland |title=News: Off the Shelf: Winter 2005 |magazine=PSU Magazine |date=January 19, 2005 |url=http://www.pdx.edu/magazine/news/off-the-shelf-winter-2005 |access-date=2011-04-10 |archive-date=2012-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022113310/http://www.pdx.edu/magazine/news/off-the-shelf-winter-2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After attempts to convince the People's Army Jamboree to either not carry out their plans or to move the date, McCall was convinced by a group of hippies to hold the country's first state-sponsored [[rock festival]] at [[Milo McIver State Park]] near [[Estacada, Oregon]]. "Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life," as it was called, was inspired by the [[Woodstock Festival]] held the previous year, and was intended to draw radical youth out of Portland and reduce the potential for confrontation with the Legionnaires.<ref name = "Love" >{{cite book |first=Matt |last=Love |title=The Far Out Story of Vortex I |publisher=Nestucca Spit Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-9744364-1-0 }}</ref> "I think I just committed political suicide," McCall is reported to have remarked immediately after approving the event.<ref name = "Love" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Oregon Heritage News |publisher=Oregon State Library |date=2004-10-27 |url=http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/pipermail/heritage/2004-October/000283.html |access-date=2007-04-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050908161051/http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/pipermail/heritage/2004-October/000283.html |archive-date=2005-09-08 }}</ref>

However, the festival, nicknamed "The Governor's Pot Party", was a success, attracting between 50,000 and 100,000 people. The feared violent clash between the antiwar groups and the Legion was avoided, and McCall was re-elected in November with 56% of the vote, again defeating Bob Straub.

=== Second term ===
McCall became nationally known in January 1971 for a comment he made in an interview with CBS News's [[Terry Drinkwater]]:
{{blockquote|Come visit us again and again. This is a state of excitement. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walth |first=Brent |title=McCall never looked so good. But let's move on. |newspaper=[[The Oregonian]] |date=November 5, 2006 |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/editorial/1162598153219630.xml&coll=7 |access-date=2006-11-15 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035743/http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/editorial/1162598153219630.xml&coll=7 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
He 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]].<ref name="Walth" /> McCall's second-term agenda was focused on ameliorating these issues and protecting Oregonians' quality of life from overdevelopment. Elements of this agenda included the [[Oregon Bottle Bill]], a pioneering container-deposit law intended to reduce litter; and the [[Oregon Land Conservation and Development Act of 1973]], which required comprehensive zoning and land-use planning for the entire state and created [[urban growth boundary|urban growth boundaries]] around each Oregon city.<ref name="OHS">{{cite web|url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/beverage_container_act_bottle_bill/#.WS1Y6GjytPb|title=Beverage Container Act (Bottle Bill)|last=Henkils|first=Mark|date=March 21, 2016|website=The Oregon Encyclopedia|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|access-date=May 30, 2017}}</ref>

In July 1971, McCall went on a fishing trip on a portion of the [[Snake River]] that acts as border between Idaho and Oregon. At the time, under the Oregon Constitution, the Senate President became acting governor when the governor was out of state. Whenever McCall's group camped for the night on the Idaho side, Oregon Senate President John Burns, a Democrat, became acting governor. Partisan executive control of the state changed eight times during the trip. The incident led to voters approving a 1972 ballot measure restoring the line of succession that existed prior to 1920, with the Secretary of State assuming the office when the governor left the state, died, or resigned.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bulletin|first=Gary A. WarnerThe|title=How a 1971 fishing trip helped make Kate Brown governor|url=https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/how-a-1971-fishing-trip-helped-make-kate-brown-governor/article_d13816fe-b16b-591c-9253-e039564907c7.html|access-date=2021-11-10|website=The Bulletin|date=3 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

=== The Oregon Story and the Third Force ===
[[File:McCall using kerosene lamp.jpeg|thumb|left|Governor McCall reads by kerosene lamp to draw attention to the [[1970s energy crisis|energy crisis]], 1973]]
During the summer of 1973, Oregon began to suffer from energy shortages, several months before the rest of the United States was affected by the [[1973 oil crisis|OPEC oil embargo]]. The state's power grid was heavily reliant on [[hydroelectricity]] and an unusually dry winter had left reservoir levels critically low. 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. The governor and his aides were not certain whether the latter was legal, but Oregonians generally complied, and McCall later reflected that he had tapped into his constituents' mood: "People wouldn’t believe there was a crisis with the [[McDonald's|Golden Arches]] blazing away [...] People are fed up with garishness. They feel assaulted by blinking, flashing, rotating, ostentatious waste."<ref name="Walth" /> In early 1974, Oregon became the first state in America to implement an [[odd–even rationing|odd–even gasoline rationing program]] to control demand amidst shortages.

As the oil shock began to affect the rest of the country, Oregon's conservation methods seemed prescient, and the state's leaders were applauded by national media. Taking advantage of the attention, McCall launched a national tour to promote the reforms he'd overseen as an inspiration for other states to follow, referring to the package as the "Oregon Story." He characterized himself as representing a "Third Force" of political independents opposed to the establishment - a popular position during the unfolding [[Watergate scandal]]. 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCall |first1=Tom |last2=Neal |first2=Steve |title=Tom McCall: Maverick |date=1977 |publisher=Binford & Mort |location=Portland |isbn=0-8323-0288-0 |page=256-266}}</ref> Biographer Brent Walth doubts that 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.<ref name="Walth" />

===Later life and death===
[[File:Tom McCall at Siuslaw National Forest.jpg|thumb|150px|Governor McCall visiting the {{nowrap|[[Siuslaw National Forest]]}}]]

Although his popularity was at its peak, Oregon's constitution prevented McCall from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 1974. State Senator [[Victor Atiyeh|Vic Atiyeh]] won the Republican nomination, but lost the general election to Straub, who McCall had endorsed in the election. McCall returned to journalism, writing a newspaper column and serving as commentator for Portland television station [[KATU]]. He 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.

McCall's prostate cancer eventually returned. He devoted his last years to defending the land-use laws he'd sponsored, which had been under attack from critics since their enaction. In 1982, opponents of land-use planning successfully placed Measure 6, which would have repealed the 1973 law, on the ballot. During his campaign against Measure 6 McCall said, "You all know I have terminal cancer—and I have a lot of it. But what you may not know is that stress induces its spread and induces its activity. Stress may even bring it on. Yet stress is the fuel of the activist. This activist loves Oregon more than he loves life. I know I can't have both very long. The trade-offs are all right with me. But if the legacy we helped give Oregon and which made it twinkle from afar—if it goes, then I guess I wouldn't want to live in Oregon anyhow." Measure 6 ultimately failed to pass.

McCall was admitted to [[Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital|Good Samaritan Hospital]] in [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] just over a month after the election. He died there at 69 on {{nowrap|January 8, 1983.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yocum |first1=Douglas |last2=Stimmel |first2=Tom |date=January 9, 1983 |title=Cancer claims Tom McCall at age 69 |work=Sunday Oregonian |location=(Portland)|page=A1}}</ref><ref name=cctmcbb>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UqAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6238%2C4228322 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon)|agency=UPI |last=MacLeod |first=Andrew |title=Cancer claims Tom McCall |date=January 9, 1983 |page=A-1}}</ref><ref name=lmtfgtmc>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V3pfAAAAIBAJ&pg=5564%2C2186331 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Former Oregon governor McCall dies of cancer |date=January 9, 1983 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=srapobt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2fhLAAAAIBAJ&pg=4357%2C3380582 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Oregon's ex-Gov. McCall dies |date=January 9, 1983 |page=B8}}</ref>}}