Charles Martin (Oregon politician)

Martin in 1922

Charles Martin was born near Albion, Illinois, on October 1, 1863. He attended Ewing College (Ewing, Illinois) for two years until he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy.[1] He would actively serve in the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, and Boxer Rebellion after graduating from West Point in 1887. In 1920, when the army's authority to maintain Jim Crow regulations seemed threatened, Martin wrote that "the negro is of very little importance... the average negro is not by any means equal to the average white man."[2]

Martin was later a division commander of the famous Blackhawk Division and the U.S. V Corps in the Argonne during World War I and served as the U.S. Army Assistant Chief of Staff from 1922 to 1924.[1] He was honored with the Distinguished Service Medal and two citations for bravery in action[3] and retired from the Army as a major general on October 1, 1927, after commanding the Panama Canal Department for three years.[1] His DSM citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Charles Henry Martin, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Commander of the 90th Division during the greater part of its service with the Army of Occupation, by his ceaseless energy he performed his duties with the utmost efficiency, giving the closest personal supervision to the training, discipline, and equipment of his Division. His brilliant professional attainments and steadfast devotion to duty were reflected in the high standards maintained throughout the organizations under his command, rendering important services to the American Expeditionary Forces.

Bust of Martin in the Governor's Office in the Oregon State Capitol in Salem

Martin embarked on his second career after retiring to Portland, Oregon with his wife. From March 4, 1931, to January 3, 1935, he served as a conservative Democratic Representative to the U.S. Congress from Oregon's Third Congressional District.

Martin was elected governor in 1934, during a time of intense labor turmoil and the middle of the Great Depression, earning a reputation for restoring state finances. The major issues that Martin dealt with during his time in office were economic recovery from the Great Depression, reconstruction of the Oregon State Capitol, the planning and construction of the Bonneville Dam, and the development of statewide port and highway infrastructures. When the Depression eased, he opposed the full restoration of wage levels for state employees, who had suffered a 50 percent pay cut.

Martin became known as a pro-business governor in early May 1935 when timber workers began to strike, declaring, "These pestiferous peewees would go to any lengths to embarrass me and my administration."[4] In private correspondence and public appearances he railed against the National Labor Relations Board, declared union organizers to be gangsters and Bolsheviks, and considered Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins to be the head "red" in the Roosevelt administration. Martin threatened to fire Columbia County Sheriff Oscar Weed for not responding harshly enough to striking workers, instructing the state's sheriffs to "beat hell out of 'em!" and "crack their damn heads! Those fellows are there for nothing but trouble – give it to them!"[5] On May 23, 1935, Martin ordered the state police and National Guard to protect strikebreakers at the Stimson Mill strike in the Washington County town of Gaston. The National Guard was again called out to harass, intimidate, and arrest striking longshoremen in 1937.

Martin grew in his vocal opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal, especially to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the President's labor policy. In 1937, the NLRB failed to settle a jurisdictional dispute between the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) that had closed all Portland sawmills. Martin stepped in and held his own elections, which led to the reopening of the mills. He made himself the enemy of what many saw as corrupt labor leaders, particularly by his appointment of Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody to prosecute many union people accused of arson and assault.

He was often quoted for his rephrasing of President Roosevelt's famous pronouncement on fear, saying, "We have nothing to fear from the future except our own foolishness and slothfulness." His criticism of President Roosevelt, however, cost Martin a bitterly contested bid for the Democratic Party of Oregon's gubernatorial nomination in 1938.

After losing the nomination, Martin retired from active politics to his Portland home. He died on September 22, 1946, and was interred at River View Cemetery in Portland.