Oral history interview with John C. Beatty
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with John C. Beatty was conducted by two unidentified Riverdale High School students as part of series of interviews with Riverdale High School alumni in March 1999. In this interview, Beatty discusses his family background and early life and education at Riverdale High School in the Dunthorpe neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the 1920s and 1930s. He also briefly discusses his memories of the Depression and World War II, as well as the changes in the Dunthorpe neighborhood over the 20th century. He closes the interview by talking about his legal career and his experience being drafted during World War II.
Dates
- Creation: 1999 March
Creator
- Beatty, John Cabeen, 1919- (Interviewee, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following license: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Biographical note
John "Jack" Cabeen Beatty, Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., in 1919. His family moved to the Dunthorpe neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in 1920. He attended Princeton University and graduated in 1941. He served as an artilleryman in the U.S. Army in the European Theater during World War II. In 1943, he and Clarissa Hagar were married; they later had two children. He earned a law degree from Columbia University Law School in 1948. He and his family then returned to Oregon, and he worked as a trial lawyer in Portland from 1948 to 1970. He was appointed as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court in 1970 by Governor Tom McCall, and took senior status in 1984. He also served on the boards of Portland Public Schools and the Oregon Historical Society. Clarissa Beatty died in 1996, and he and Virginia Rupp were married the following year. In his later years, he was also an author and published several novels, including his autobiography. He died in 2016.
Extent
.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (52 min., 30 sec.))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with John C. Beatty, conducted in March 1999, as part of the Riverdale School Oral History Series. Beatty was a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Existence and Location of Copies
General
Forms part of the Riverdale School Oral History Series.
Subject
- Riverdale School (Multnomah County, Or.) (Organization)
- Beatty, John Cabeen, 1919- (Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to oral history interview with John C. Beatty
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah Stroman
- Date
- 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Sponsor
- This project is supported in whole or part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Oregon.
Repository Details
Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240
libreference@ohs.org