[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2135-S2138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING CONGRESSMAN WENDELL WYATT
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to mark a sad occasion: the recent
death of one of Oregon's most respected Members of Congress, Wendell
Wyatt, who represented the First District of Oregon from 1965 to 1975.
He died peacefully on January 28th at the age of 91 in Portland, OR.
[[Page S2136]]
With good humor and little interest in partisanship, Wendell Wyatt's
congressional career began with his service on the House Interior
Committee. He is best known, however, for his work on the House
Interior Appropriations Subcommittee where his working relationship
with its chair, distinguished Washingtonian Julia Butler Hansen, was a
model of effective teamwork across party lines and--in this case--
across the Columbia River that separated their congressional districts.
The same was true of his relationship with Democratic Congresswoman
Edith Green, who represented Oregon's Third Congressional District,
which includes most of Portland and is the district I was privileged to
represent in the House before coming to the Senate. In fact, my
Portland office is housed in the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal
Building. Congressman Wyatt and Congresswoman Green--known simply in
Oregon as Edith and Wendell--worked tirelessly together on many
worthwhile civic projects that improved their city and their adjoining
congressional districts. Their good work helped lay the foundation for
the Portland we are proud of today.
Wendell Wyatt was an advocate for the Federal workforce in Oregon,
Government workers he regarded as good civil servants dedicated to
serving the public interest. He also loved the individual service
element of his work in Congress. Today, most offices call this
``casework,'' but to Wendell Wyatt it gave him the chance to help an
individual constituent with his or her problem when the Federal
Government was unresponsive or trying to put a square peg in a round
hole. He never disrespected any Government official who was
implementing something that had an adverse impact on one of his
constituents, but he pressed the case strongly and effectively.
As a young Member of the House, I remember other House members and
longtime staffers talking about Wendell with great affection and
admiration, someone who worked hard, got results, and always with good
humor and without partisanship.
His colleagues during that era in Congress included Gerald Ford,
Melvin Laird, George H.W. Bush, and other like-minded House Republican
moderates. Like them, he epitomized the saying that ``You could
disagree without being disagreeable.'' In Oregon, he was part of a
generation of elected officials whose goals were service, not
partisanship, including Mark Hatfield and Tom McCall.
When he retired from Congress in 1974, Wendell Wyatt returned to
Oregon to become a partner in what is now the State's second largest
law firm, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, where he is remembered as someone
who rolled up his sleeves to help his clients, to close the deal, and
to help add economic activity that created jobs for Oregonians.
The commitment to public service runs strong in Wendell Wyatt's
family. His son, Bill, was a member of the Oregon Legislature as a
young man, later the chief of staff to an Oregon Governor, and is now
the very effective executive director of the Port of Portland. Bill
Wyatt is a longtime friend of mine and of others in the economic and
political leadership of our State, and we all know that the Wyatt
bloodline for service to our State has passed from father to son.
I join his family, colleagues in his law firm, and his many good
friends in mourning his death. I join the good citizens of the First
Congressional District of Oregon, who salute his effective voice for
them in Congress. And I stand with so many people throughout Oregon
whose lives are better because of Wendell Wyatt's commitment to service
in Congress.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my
remarks a few articles about Congressman Wyatt be printed in the
Record. First, is the announcement of his death that appeared in the
Portland City Club Bulletin, followed by the notice of Wyatt's death
that appeared in the Oregonian newspaper and the warm editorial about
Wendell. I ask that there next be printed the article in his hometown
newspaper, the Daily Astorian, in which local residents reflect on his
service to their community. The final document that I request be
printed in the Record is the editorial in the Daily Astorian paying
tribute to the dignity with which Wendell Wyatt served his district,
our State and the Congress.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Portland City Club Bulletin, Feb. 13, 2009]
City Club Remembers Wendell J. Wyatt
Former City Club member Wendell J. Wyatt passed away on
Wednesday, January 28 at the age of 91. Wyatt graduated from
the University of Oregon School of Law. He served as an FBI
agent and a Marine Corps pilot before being elected to
Congress where he served a distinguished, decade-long career.
After retiring from office, Wyatt became a partner in the law
firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
Wyatt was a Club member for almost twenty years. He made
notable speaking appearances at City Club with the late
Congresswoman Edith Green, and the Federal Building on Third
Street is dedicated jointly in their names. Wyatt's law firm
is a City Club sponsor and his family members continue to
play a significant role in the Club.
Wyatt's contributions to the community will be celebrated
at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, 2008 in St. Anne's Chapel at
Marylhurst University.
____
[From the Oregonian, Jan. 29, 2009]
Ex-congressman Wendell Wyatt Dies at 91
(By Joan Harvey)
Wendell Wyatt, who represented Oregon's 1st Congressional
District for 10 years, died Wednesday in his Portland home.
He was 91.
Wyatt was a popular and respected Republican lawmaker who
was known as an adroit deal-maker.
As a member of the House Committee on the Interior and
later the powerful House Appropriations Committee, he
finessed through Congress bills that permanently affected
Oregon, including bills that established the Tualatin
Reclamation Project (Scoggins Dam) in Washington County, the
Columbia River 40-foot shipping channel from Astoria to
Portland, and Lincoln City's Cascade Head Scenic Area, as
well as a bill authorizing the $4 million purchase of
ranchlands along the Snake River for public recreation.
He stayed active in Republican politics after retiring from
Congress. He became a partner in the law firm of Schwabe
Williamson & Wyatt, and was a commissioner for the Port of
Portland and a lobbyist. He became inactive as an attorney in
2001 but continued consulting for the firm.
In 1975, he pleaded guilty to a technical violation of
federal campaign laws, admitting that as chairman of the
Oregon Committee to Re-Elect the President, he failed to
report a donation to President Richard Nixon's campaign. The
Oregonian defended him in an editorial:
``He has had a long and honorable career both in private
and public life, including 10 years in Congress; and he has
gained the reputation of being not only an exceptionally
effective public servant, but one who is scrupulously honest
in all of his dealings. He has had both the respect and warm
friendship of colleagues in both parties. No one who knows
him well believes he intentionally violated the law.''
Wyatt was born June 15, 1917, in Eugene and moved to
Portland as a teenager. He was editor of the Jefferson High
School newspaper and went to the University of Oregon. He
dropped out and joined The Oregonian as a copy aide. After a
year, he applied to the University of Oregon Law School and
was admitted without an undergraduate degree.
Wayne Morse was one of his professors, and Wyatt often
recalled four-hour evening sessions led by the man who would
become the legendary ``Tiger of the Senate.'' Later, the two
became political adversaries.
After obtaining his law degree, he was an FBI agent and
then served as a Marine Corps pilot in the Pacific during
World War II.
He moved to Astoria after the war and joined the law firm
of Albin Norblad, a former Oregon governor and father of U.S.
Rep. Walter Norblad; after Walter Norblad died in 1964, Wyatt
was elected to fill his vacancy. He was re-elected four
times, retiring in 1975, the same year colleague and friend
Edith Green, a Democratic congresswoman for 20 years, stepped
down. The federal building in downtown Portland is named for
Green and Wyatt.
Wyatt married Anne Elizabeth Buchanan in the mid-1940s;
they divorced. He married Faye Hill in 1962. She predeceased
him. He is survived by daughters, Ann Wyatt and Jane Wyatt;
stepdaughter, Sandi Kinsley; son, Wendell ``Bill'' Jr.,
executive director of the Port of Portland; stepson, Larry D.
Hill; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21,
2009, in St. Anne's Chapel at Marylhurst University. The
family suggests remembrances to the Clatsop County Historical
Society. Arrangements are by Finley's Sunset Hills Mortuary.
____
Wendell Wyatt: Success Through Personal Values
(By The Oregonian Editorial Board)
Back when Rep. Wendell Wyatt, R-Ore., was in Congress, from
1965 to 1975, you didn't hear the word bipartisan much,
because at many levels of American politics, it was a way of
life, thus taken for granted.
Wyatt died this week at age 91 after a life in politics,
law and community leadership. He should be remembered as
someone who
[[Page S2137]]
put the problems of his individual constituents at the
forefront of his service in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
His congressional office was geared toward listening to
constituent problems, then bending every effort to solve
them--whether the issue was of great national or regional
import or simply a mishandled Social Security benefit. Wyatt
himself often got personally engaged in the most challenging
and vexing details of constituent service.
It would not have been useful for Wyatt or his constituents
for him to adopt a highly partisan stance when he was in
Congress.
He was elected to the House in the small GOP freshman class
of 1964, the year that Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson
laid a historic electoral whipping on Sen. Barry Goldwater,
R-Ariz., the great hope of the right wing of the Republican
party.
It was clear that Wyatt was never going to be part of the
majority, and he never was. Thus he had to develop the skills
necessary to adequately represent all of the people of
Oregon's 1st Congressional District.
``This was more effective than sitting in the back benches
and throwing spitballs all day long,'' said his son Bill
Wyatt. Instead, the elder Wyatt developed good working
relationships with powerful Democrats such as Wayne Aspinall,
D-Colo., chairman of the House Interior Committee and Tom
Foley, who also entered Congress in 1964 and, much later,
became Speaker of the House for a short time.
As a congressman, Wyatt was pro-choice, pro-gun-control and
the driving force behind efforts to bring commerce to Oregon
via the Columbia River. His social views would not sit well
in the modern Republican Party, at least the official part of
it. They didn't sit that well with the party's establishment
back then either, but it still was possible to disagree and
be independent-minded and still remain in good standing
within the party. Today? It's not as clear. But Wyatt's views
then are positions that many Republicans hold privately--or
even not-so-privately--today, even if the right's hold on
party leadership is much stronger.
For Wyatt, though, service was a far bigger motivator than
political ideology. In his last campaign, Wyatt even went
retail with his orientation toward constituents. His campaign
slogan was: ``Wendell Wyatt, your door-to-door Congressman.''
His son Bill, of course, has been prominent in Oregon
political and economic circles for years, serving as chief of
staff for Gov. John Kitzhaber and now as executive director
of the Port of Portland. Bill Wyatt also tried elective
politics early in his career, as a Democratic candidate for
the Oregon Legislature. Worried about whether he would
somehow step on his father's political toes, the younger
Wyatt brought the matter up. ``He told me, `What makes you
happy makes me happy. You don't have to protect me from what
you think is the right thing to do.','' Bill Wyatt said. ``He
was able to separate what was most important to him and keep
it there.''
That was the key to what made Wendell Wyatt successful in
life--public and private.
____
[From the Daily Astorian, Feb. 9, 2009]
North Coast Mourns Former Oregon Congressman Wendell Wyatt
(By Patrick Webb)
Former Astoria Congressman Wendell Wyatt died Wednesday. He
was 91.
Wyatt, a Republican, served the 1st Congressional District
from 1964 until retiring in 1975.
Tributes to him focused on his honesty and his ability to
get the job done.
Denny Thompson of Astoria, who served as honorary Finnish
Consul for 35 years, worked closely with Wyatt and praised
his ability to reach across the aisle.
``My union friends were all Democrats, but they were
working for Wendell Wyatt. They all respected him and he
respected everyone in return,'' said Thompson, whose wife,
Frankye, was Wyatt's campaign chairwoman for Clatsop County.
``He did everything the proper way--he was completely
honest, and he did as much for Clatsop County as anyone.''
Wyatt was a well-respected Republican leader who worked
especially effectively with Democrat Congresswoman Edith
Green. The federal building in Portland was later named for
them.
Born in Eugene in 1917, Wyatt moved with his family to
Portland. He graduated from Jefferson High School, where he
had been editor of the high school newspaper, in 1935. He
worked briefly as a copy aide for The Oregonian newspaper,
earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon in
1941 then worked briefly as an FBI agent.
When World War II broke out in the Pacific, he enlisted in
the U.S. Marine Air Corps and served as a pilot from 1942
until 1946.
Afterward, he moved to Astoria and worked for the law firm
of Albin Norblad, the former Oregon governor and father of
U.S. Rep. Walter Norblad.
Tom Brownhill, of Eugene, was district attorney in Clatsop
County from 1952 to 1960 and regularly faced Wyatt in the
courtroom. ``I had a lot of cases against him,'' said
Brownhill, whose daughter Paula, continues the family's legal
tradition as a circuit court judge. ``As a lawyer, when he
got into a case, he was all-in.''
Wyatt hired longtime legal secretary Doris Hughes from
another firm in the 1950s--by offering her a raise from $160
to $200 a month. Hughes remembered Wyatt today as a
``wonderful person.''
``He gave the best dictation of anyone I know,'' she
recalled. ``He was so smooth. The words just flowed out.''
Wyatt was chairman of the Oregon State Republican Central
Committee from 1955 until 1957. During that time, George C.
Fulton, of Astoria, another contemporary, worked closely with
him while serving as Clatsop County GOP chairman.
Fulton, also an attorney, described Wyatt as a hard worker.
``He was a good lawyer. He worked hard and he played hard.''
When Walter Norblad died in 1965, Wyatt was elected to his
congressional seat and served five terms, retiring in 1974.
Ted Bugas, a Bumblebee Seafood executive and supporter of
Salmon For All, knew Wyatt because both had worked for the
FBI and their Astoria offices were in the Post Office and
across the street.
He recalled one incident as if yesterday.
``One morning we woke up and thought `There's someone in
the house! The wife and I were still in bed. In came
Wendell--into our room--and said, `I might go to Congress.
What do you think of that?' ''
Bugas worked with Wyatt on fisheries issues, often
traveling to Washington, D.C., often for lobbying efforts.
His daughter, Christine, served as an intern in Wyatt's
Congressional office.
``He was a great personality,'' said Bugas, who splits his
time in retirement between Astoria and California. ``He was
very pleasant.''
He worked on bills that established the Tualatin
Reclamation Project in Washington County and the 40-foot
shipping channel in the Columbia River from Astoria to
Portland.
He was also credited with bills that created Lincoln City's
Cascade Head Scenic Area, as well as a bill authorizing the
$4 million purchase of ranchlands along the Snake River for
public recreation.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said, ``Wendell Wyatt truly made his
mark on Oregon. Everyone who has appreciated Cascade Head
owes Congressman Wyatt a debt of gratitude for establishing
this scenic area and those who visit public lands along the
Snake River can thank Wendell Wyatt for opening the region to
recreation.''
The Daily Astorian Publisher Steve Forrester covered
Wyatt's political activities in 1974 while substituting for
Washington columnist A. Robert Smith.
``Wyatt said to me that he earned `the equivalent of a
master's degree' every time he took on a new issue. He was
the kind of Republican we no longer see--a solid, pragmatic
middle-of-the-road guy,'' Forrester said.
``He was close to President Richard Nixon, and he was
unfortunately tarred with that brush when he admitted to his
involvement with Nixon's fund-raising--an embarrassing moment
in an otherwise unblemished political career.''
In 1975, Wyatt admitted a technical violation of campaign
laws for failing to report an Oregon GOP donation to Nixon.
He stayed active in Republican politics after retiring from
Congress and became a partner in the law firm of Schwabe
Williamson and Wyatt until his retirement.
He became inactive as an attorney in 2001, but continued
consulting for the firm. He also served as a commissioner for
the Port of Portland and a lobbyist.
Wyatt was married twice. He divorced his first wife, Anne
Elizabeth Buchanan. He married Faye Hill in 1962. She died
last year. He had two daughters, Ann and Jane, and a son,
Wendell ``Bill'' Wyatt Jr., who is executive director of the
Port of Portland and a former chief of staff for Gov. John
Kitzhaber, plus step son and stepdaughter, four grandchildren
and one great grandchild.
A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Feb. 21 at St.
Anne's Chapel at Marylhurst University near Lake Oswego.
Contributions may go to the Clatsop County Historical
Society.
____
[From the Daily Astorian, Feb. 2, 2009]
Wendell Wyatt Served With Dignity
Wendell Wyatt, who died last week, was one of those old-
school, gentlemanly fellows who served his country and his
community without the need for a brass band playing in the
background.
A Republican, he served the 1st Congressional District,
which includes Astoria and the North Coast, from 1965 until
retiring in 1975.
An Oregonian through and through, he moved to Astoria to
practice law after serving as a U.S. Marine Air Corps pilot
in World War II. His buddies around the courthouse smile when
they remember he practiced law with what they describe as
``considerable tenacity.''
When Congressman Walter Norblad died in office, Wyatt took
over.
In the decade that followed, he served with dignity and
pragmatism. Often politicians wax eloquent about bipartisan
efforts but don't really mean it. Wyatt talked the talk, and
walked the walk, working especially closely with Democrat
Congresswoman Edith Green, to get the job done.
On fisheries issues, he worked to ensure the interests of
the Columbia River came first.
Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley summed it up best: ``Wendell
Wyatt truly made his mark on Oregon.''
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____________________