A Pitting of Opposites

Douglas McKay is not an intellectual, an actor, a proved bigtime administrator, or a leader with a large personal following. He dislikes arguing issues and he distrusts "New Deal longhairs." He knows how to do a job and how to get along with people and, in the U.S., that is sometimes better than theory.

--TIME, Aug. 23, 1954.

Wayne Morse's brilliance has not ripened into political wisdom; the spirit of compromise which responsibility Brings has not brushed him. He plays to the gallery, in which he is his most appreciative audience. But he plays without chicanery --and there are few Senators who can match him in drive and analytical power.

--TIME, Jan. 17, 1955.

More than any other seat in the U.S. Senate, the Republican Party wants the one now held by Oregon's ex-Republican, ex-Independent, presently Democratic Senator Wayne Morse. Last week Interior Secretary Douglas McKay, onetime (1949-53) Oregon governor, announced that he will resign from his Cabinet post about June 11 to run against Morse. In its pitting of opposites, the Morse-McKay campaign shapes up next only to the presidential contest as the fight of the year.

Symbol v. Symbol. Chevrolet Dealer McKay and Lawyer Morse were never meant to be friends. McKay slogged his way up through Oregon's G.O.P. ranks, from mayor of Salem to the state senate to governor. Morse, propelled by his erratic genius, soared to position virtually independent of party. He served with distinction as dean of the University of Oregon Law School, later entered upon a glittering career under Franklin Roosevelt, first as chairman of the Railway Emergency Board, then as a member of the War Labor Board. In 1944 he ran for the U.S. Senate from Oregon on the Republican ticket--mostly, he now says, because the Democrats, who offered him their nomination, were short of campaign money.

In a rare concession to party regularity, Morse campaigned for McKay as governor in 1948 and 1950. But since 1952, when Morse bolted the Republican Party in mid-campaign, he and McKay have been the bitterest of wide-open enemies. As Interior Secretary, McKay is the symbol of the Eisenhower policy of "partnership" between Government and private capital on power and natural resources--and Wayne Morse is the symbol of opposition to those "giveaway" policies.

Opportunity v. Opportunity. Although the Morse-McKay race was a natural, McKay was drawn into it only by the death of Governor Paul Patterson (TIME. Feb. 13), who had been slated for the G.O.P. nomination. From President Eisenhower McKay had a letter offering "the highest commendation" for his decision.

Said McKay, in announcing his candidacy: "I can think of no more appealing task in public life today than to bring before the people of Oregon this opportunity to choose between the honor and objectives of the Eisenhower Administration and the slippery philosophy of Wayne Morse." Morse leaped to meet the challenge: "Not only Democratic and independent voters, but a great many Oregon Republicans will welcome the opportunity at the polls to repudiate his record as Secretary of the Interior."

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