Mark Hatfield - Early Life

Early Life

Hatfield was born in Dallas, Oregon, on July 12, 1922, the only son of Dovie E. (Odom) Hatfield, a schoolteacher, and Charles Dolen Hatfield, a blacksmith for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Mark's father was from California and his mother from Tennessee. When Mark was five years old, his maternal grandmother took over the household while his mother, Dovie attended Oregon State College (now Oregon State University) and graduated with a teaching degree after four years. Dovie taught school in Dallas for two years before the family moved to Salem, where she taught junior high school.

Encouraged by his mother, Hatfield's first experience with politics came at the age of 10, when he campaigned in his neighborhood for President Herbert Hoover's 1932 re-election campaign. In the late 1930s Hatfield worked as a tour guide at the new Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem, using his key to enter the governor's office, where he sat in the governor's chair.

While in high school, on June 10, 1940, when he was 17 years old, Hatfield was involved in a traffic accident that turned deadly. While driving his mother's car, Hatfield struck and killed Alice Marie Lane south of Salem as she crossed the street. He was not held criminally liable for the crash, but was found civilly liable to the family. The case made its way to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1943, with the court affirming the trial court's decision.

Hatfield graduated from Salem High School (now North Salem High School) in 1940 and then enrolled at Willamette University, also in Salem. While attending Willamette, Hatfield became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and Kappa Gamma Rho, which he later helped become a chapter of Beta Theta Pi. In college he also worked part-time for then Oregon Secretary of State Earl Snell, where he learned how to build a political base by sending out messages to potential voters after reading about life changes posted in newspapers, such as deaths and graduations. He also sketched out a political career path beginning with the state legislature and culminating in a spot in the United States Senate, with a blank for any position beyond the Senate. Hatfield graduated from Willamette in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts degree after three years at the school. While at the school he lost his only election, for student body president.

Hatfield joined the U.S. Navy after graduation, taking part in the World War II battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa as a landing craft officer where he witnessed the carnage of the war. A lieutenant, he also witnessed the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as one of the first Americans to see the ruins of the city (later, as Senator, Hatfield opposed arms proliferation and the Vietnam War). After Japan, he served in French Indochina, where he witnessed firsthand the wealth divide between the peasant Vietnamese and the colonial French bourgeoisie. After his discharge, he spent one year at Willamette’s law school, but decided politics or teaching better suited him.

Hatfield then enrolled at Stanford University, where he obtained a master's degree in political science 1948. He returned to Salem and Willamette after Stanford and began working as an assistant professor in political science. During his tenure as professor, he built a political base by sending out messages and speaking at any public forum where he could get an invitation.