A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox
The life of prominent Oregon political leader Monroe Sweetland spans the spectrum of 20th-century America. Through seven decades, Sweetland experienced the economic collapse of the Great Depression, the unparalleled violence of a nation at war, the divisiveness of Cold War politics, and the cultural and political turmoil of the Vietnam War.

Historian William G. Robbins illuminates the wrenching transformation of American political culture in A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox. Racial and economic inequalities motivated much of Sweetland’s civic life, including his lifelong memberships in the American Civil Liberties Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Red Cross, where Sweetland worked repatriating American prisoners of war after Japan’s surrender.

Robbins’ portrait is holistic, exploring Sweetland’s socialist beginnings, inconsistencies in his politics—especially during the Cold War—and his regional legacy. He was the most important person in the resurgence of the modern, liberal Oregon Democratic Party from the late 1940s to the 1960s.  He joined the National Education Association in 1964 and became the driving force behind the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and the fight for the age-18 vote, achieved in the ratification of the 26th amendment in 1971. Monroe Sweetland was a nationally prominent figure, whose fights bequeathed to modern America important legislation that shaped its political landscape.
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A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox
The life of prominent Oregon political leader Monroe Sweetland spans the spectrum of 20th-century America. Through seven decades, Sweetland experienced the economic collapse of the Great Depression, the unparalleled violence of a nation at war, the divisiveness of Cold War politics, and the cultural and political turmoil of the Vietnam War.

Historian William G. Robbins illuminates the wrenching transformation of American political culture in A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox. Racial and economic inequalities motivated much of Sweetland’s civic life, including his lifelong memberships in the American Civil Liberties Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Red Cross, where Sweetland worked repatriating American prisoners of war after Japan’s surrender.

Robbins’ portrait is holistic, exploring Sweetland’s socialist beginnings, inconsistencies in his politics—especially during the Cold War—and his regional legacy. He was the most important person in the resurgence of the modern, liberal Oregon Democratic Party from the late 1940s to the 1960s.  He joined the National Education Association in 1964 and became the driving force behind the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and the fight for the age-18 vote, achieved in the ratification of the 26th amendment in 1971. Monroe Sweetland was a nationally prominent figure, whose fights bequeathed to modern America important legislation that shaped its political landscape.
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A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox

A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox

by William Robbins
A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox

A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox

by William Robbins

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Overview

The life of prominent Oregon political leader Monroe Sweetland spans the spectrum of 20th-century America. Through seven decades, Sweetland experienced the economic collapse of the Great Depression, the unparalleled violence of a nation at war, the divisiveness of Cold War politics, and the cultural and political turmoil of the Vietnam War.

Historian William G. Robbins illuminates the wrenching transformation of American political culture in A Man for All Seasons: Monroe Sweetland and the Liberal Paradox. Racial and economic inequalities motivated much of Sweetland’s civic life, including his lifelong memberships in the American Civil Liberties Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Red Cross, where Sweetland worked repatriating American prisoners of war after Japan’s surrender.

Robbins’ portrait is holistic, exploring Sweetland’s socialist beginnings, inconsistencies in his politics—especially during the Cold War—and his regional legacy. He was the most important person in the resurgence of the modern, liberal Oregon Democratic Party from the late 1940s to the 1960s.  He joined the National Education Association in 1964 and became the driving force behind the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and the fight for the age-18 vote, achieved in the ratification of the 26th amendment in 1971. Monroe Sweetland was a nationally prominent figure, whose fights bequeathed to modern America important legislation that shaped its political landscape.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780870718113
Publisher: Oregon State University Press
Publication date: 06/01/2015
Edition description: 1
Pages: 312
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range: 3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

WILLIAM G. ROBBINS, following a four-year enlistment in the U.S. Navy, earned a B.S. degree from Western Connecticut State University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon. An Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History at Oregon State University, he joined the faculty in 1971, teaching courses in the History of the American West and Environmental History until his retirement in 2002. He’s the author and editor of several books, most recently (with Katrine Barber) Nature’s Northwest: The North Pacific Slope in the Twentieth Century (2011). Robbins is currently at work on the sesquicentennial history of Oregon State University as a land-grant institution.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xii

Introduction: The Story of an American Liberal 1

1 The Formative Years 9

2 The Making of a Public Person 19

3 Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth 37

4 Commonwealth, Communists, and Collective Security 51

5 "Babylonian Captivity" and War in the Pacific 65

6 Oregon Politics and the Newspaper Business 87

7 The Mainstreaming of a Liberal Politician 105

8 The World of Legislative Politics 123

9 Missing the Brass Ring 139

10 Legislative Successes and "the fringes of this dirty game" 155

11 Southeast Asia Calling 177

12 A New Life with the NEA 193

13 The Politics of Turmoil 215

Epilogue: A Fruitful Life 233

Notes 255

Index 283

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