Political Career
McCall made his first run for office in 1954, winning the Republican nomination for Oregon's Third Congressional District seat. He lost in the general election to Edith Green, who went on to hold the seat for the next ten terms.
In 1958, when Mark Hatfield was elected governor of Oregon, he vacated the position of Secretary of State. In his autobiography, McCall said he thought Hatfield had promised to appoint him to the unexpired portion of the term, but the job went to Hatfield associate Howell Appling instead. When Appling chose not to run for re-election in 1964, McCall sought and won the job. He was elected governor in 1966 and re-elected in 1970.
McCall's two terms as Oregon's governor were notable for many achievements in the environmental sphere, including the country's first "bottle bill", the cleanup of the Willamette River, passage of a law to maintain former Gov. Oswald West's legacy of public ownership of the state's beaches, and the first statewide land-use planning system, which introduced the urban growth boundary around the state's cities. These achievements have done much to create McCall's enormous legacy in the state.
McCall is well known for a comment he made in a Jan. 12, 1971, interview with CBS News' Terry Drinkwater, in which he said:
| “ | Come visit us again and again. This is a state of excitement. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live. | ” |
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“The real grounds of difference upon important political questions no longer correspond with party lines.... Politics is no longer the topic of this country. Its important questions are settled... Great minds hereafter are to be employed on other matters.... Government no longer has its ancient importance.... The people’s progress, progress of every sort, no longer depends on government. But enough of politics. Henceforth I am out more than ever.”
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)