Dates

• Existence: 1922 - 2011

Biography

Mark Odom Hatfield was born in Dallas, Oregon, in 1922. He graduated from Willamette University in 1943. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II and was among the first U.S. forces to enter Hiroshima, Japan, after the atomic bombing of the city by the United States, an event that deeply affected his views on war. After his discharge, he returned to Willamette University to study law. After a year, he decided instead to focus on political science and transferred to Stanford University, where he earned his master’s degree in 1948. He and Antoinette Kuzmanich were married in 1958; they later had four children. Hatfield was a liberal Republican and represented Marion County in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1951 to 1955, and in the Oregon Senate from 1955 to 1957. He served as Oregon secretary of state from 1957 to 1959, and as Oregon governor from 1959 to 1967. He represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate from 1967 to 1997, serving as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1997. He died in 2011.

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