Republicans and Evangelicals | The War on Mark Hatfield

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Our season has spent a lot of time looking at how some evangelicals tied themselves to the GOP as the party became more conservative. But not every evangelical Republican was taken in by the conservative swing. In this episode, we're taking a look at Senator Mark Hatfield, an evangelical Republican who didn't follow the pack.

Senator Mark Hatfield had a long and influential career in public service spanning nearly five decades. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and earning degrees from Willamette University and Stanford University, Hatfield began his political journey in the Oregon Legislature, winning election to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1950 and then to the Oregon State Senate in 1954. He went on to become Oregon’s youngest Secretary of State at age 34 and was elected Governor of Oregon in 1958, where he served two terms and oversaw the expansion of the state’s infrastructure and environmental programs. In 1966, Hatfield was elected to the U.S. Senate, beginning a 30-year tenure that made him the longest-serving senator in Oregon’s history at the time.

In the Senate, Hatfield was known as a moderate Republican who often put conscience ahead of party, particularly on issues of war and defense spending. Deeply shaped by his wartime experiences and Christian faith, he consistently opposed military authorization bills, including votes against the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War, and co-sponsored efforts like a nuclear freeze resolution. Hatfield twice chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, using that position to direct federal funds to Oregon for health, transportation, and research projects, and to support biomedical research at institutions like the National Institutes of Health. His independent approach earned him respect across party lines, and although the GOP shifted rightward over time, he remained a distinctive figure in national politics until his retirement in 1997.

Sources:

• IMDB and Amazon reviews of the movie Bringing up Bobby
• Stand Alone or Go Home by Lon Fendall
• Transcript of the Keynote Address by Gov. Hatfield at G.O.P. Convention,
• NY Times, July 14, 1964 “CONVENTION ENDS; Extremism in Defense of Liberty ‘No Vice,’ Arizonan Asserts” New York Times, July 17, 1964
• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• With God on Our Side by William C Martin
• FBI files on Mark Hatfield from archive.org
• Conflict and Conscience by Mark O. Hatfield.
• Between A Rock and A Hard Place by Mark O Hatfield
• Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
• “When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election” by John A Farrell. Politico website, August 6, 2017.
• H. R. 17123 “The Amendment to End the War”
• Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ by John G Turner
• One Nation Under God by Rus Walton
• “Born Again Politics” New York Times by Gary Wills. August 1, 1976.
• Congressional record, February 28, 1978.

Discussion Questions:

• How would you describe Hatfield's faith?
• How did Hatfield defy conservative Republican evangelicals?
• Why did Hatfield oppose the Vietnam War?
• Would you have the courage to do what Hatfield did?

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