Thomas Lawson McCall is an American politician in the second half of the 20th century. He was the thirtieth governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975 from the Republican Party. He went down in history as a brilliant politician, an excellent speaker with an extraordinary gift of persuasion.
Biography
Thomas McCall was born in Egypt, Massachusetts, in 1913, where he spent his childhood. He was the grandson of the "copper king" Thomas Lawson and Congressman Samuel W. McCall. As a child, he often moved from the estate of one grandfather to the ranch of another and vice versa.
Tom graduated from high school in Redmond, and then entered the University of Oregon. However, later financial problems began in the family, he was forced to interrupt his studies, and therefore received a degree in journalism only five years later. His grandfather Thomas Lawson eventually went broke completely.
Journalistic career
After graduating in 1936, he worked as a freelance correspondent for various newspapers in the city of Bend, and then moved to the university city of Moscow. Here he wrote notes for the News-Review.
He liked journalistic work, but fate knows better where to serve society. McCall served as a correspondent for a while on a warship, and once at the KGW radio station he was asked to talk about it. When the station manager heard his voice, he immediately demanded a contract with this journalist, and Thomas was hired by the news announcer.
Until 1949, he worked at this place, and then he was taken as an assistant to the Governor of Oregon, Douglas Mackay. He stayed there for three years, and then returned to the radio to switch to television a little later.
He became an announcer at Oregon television stations, and worked there for more than a year - until 1954, until he moved to another post. Since that time, he began to take confident steps in politics.
Political career
McCall first nominated himself as governor of Oregon in 1954, but lost to Edith Green. He was lucky only in 1966, and in 1970 he was re-elected. As governor, he paid great attention to environmental protection and land use planning. Thus, he made a significant contribution to the development of the state.
Grateful Oregon residents immortalized his activity in bronze - erected a monument on the banks of the Willamette River.
He probably would have been re-elected again, but the Oregon Constitution allows only two terms to be governor. After retiring from a high position, McCall worked as a commentator at the KATU Portland television company.
McCall died of prostate cancer at the age of 69 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland on January 8, 1983.
