Douglas McKay

Douglas McKay

James Douglas McKay (born June 24, 1893 in Portland , Oregon , †  July 22, 1959 in Salem , Oregon) was an American politician ( Republican Party ). He was a member of the cabinet of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1953 and 1956 as Secretary of the Interior ; previously he was from 1949 to 1952 the 25th governor of the state of Oregon.

Early years and political advancement

McKay first attended the Oregon Agricultural College . During the First World War he served as an officer in an infantry unit in France . In 1918 he was almost killed in an operation. He was wounded so badly that he could no longer achieve his professional goal of working as a farmer. Instead, he first got into the insurance business and later into the automobile trade. In Salem, he ran one of the largest Chevrolet car dealerships nationwide and was president of the Oregon State Auto Dealers Association.

Between 1933 and 1935 he was mayor of Salem. He served in the Oregon Senate in 1934 and 1938 and again in 1946 . During World War II he served as a major in the administration of Camp Adair , Oregon. Because of his disability, he was not considered for active service at the front.

Governor of Oregon

Unscheduled gubernatorial elections were held in Oregon in 1948. Governor Earl Snell , re-elected in 1946, was killed in a plane crash in October 1947, along with his two deputies - Secretary of State Robert S. Farrell and Senate President Marshall E. Cornett . Thereupon the President of the House of Representatives , John Hubert Hall , assumed the office of governor. According to the state constitution, however, special elections had to be held in this case to let the citizens of Oregon decide who should end Snell's tenure as governor. McKay, who could count on the support of the Association of Car Dealers and some veterans associations, with their help won not only the Republican primaries, but also the subsequent election. Thus he was sworn in as the new governor of Oregon on January 10, 1949. In November 1950 he was then elected to a regular four-year term in the regular gubernatorial elections.

There were no major problems in Oregon during his tenure. The economy experienced an upswing and the citizens were doing comparatively well. As a result, the state's tax revenue was also relatively high. When it came to government spending, McKay was very conservative. He refused to touch the state reserves for running costs. His motto was to only finance what was covered by current income or federal grants. In 1952 McKay supported the presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower and was named the new Secretary of the Interior of the United States after his election victory. He then resigned as Governor of Oregon on December 27, 1952.

US Secretary of the Interior

Between January 21, 1953 and April 15, 1956 McKay was a member of the Eisenhower cabinet as Home Secretary . During this time, nine new wildlife areas were created. He defied the plan to hand over the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma to the US Army and launched a volunteer resettlement program for Indians . He drew criticism when he campaigned for the construction of a dam in Colorado that would have flooded the Dinosaur National Monument . In addition, he awarded a mining company from Alabama the right to fell wood in Oregon, which earned him the nickname "Giveaway McKay" among other political decisions in favor of business people from the western United States.

This is also seen as one of the reasons that his candidacy for a seat in the US Senate in 1956 was unsuccessful. He was defeated by incumbent Wayne Morse by a margin of 50,000 votes. James Douglas McKay died in July 1959 of complications from a heart attack. He was married to Mabel Christine Hill, with whom he had three children.

literature

• Douglas McKay , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 43/1959 of October 12, 1959, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Douglas McKay in the nndb (English)
• Douglas McKay in the National Governors Association (English)
• Oregon State Library ( Memento November 25, 2004 on the Internet Archive )
• Douglas McKay in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• Douglas McKay in the database of Find a Grave (English)