Walter M. Pierce
17th Governor of Oregon
In office January 8, 1923 – January 10, 1927
Preceded by	Ben W. Olcott
Succeeded by	I. L. Patterson
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOregon's2nd district
In office March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1943
Preceded by	Robert R. Butler
Succeeded by	Lowell Stockman
Member of theOregon State Senate
In office 1917–1921
In office 1903–1907
Personal details
Born	Walter Marcus Pierce (1861-05-30)May 30, 1861 Morris, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 27, 1954(1954-03-27) (aged 92) Salem, Oregon, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Clara Rudio Pierce (died, 1890) Laura Rudio Pierce (died, 1925) Cornelia Marvin Pierce
Alma mater	Northwestern University(LLB)
Profession	Lawyer

Walter Marcus Pierce (May 30, 1861 – March 27, 1954) was an American politician, aDemocrat, who served as the17th Governor of Oregon and a member of theUnited States House of Representatives fromOregon's 2nd congressional district. A native ofIllinois, he served in theOregon State Senate before the governorship, and again after leaving the U.S. House. Pierce was an anti-Catholic supporter of compulsory public education and signed a law banning parochial schools, resulting in lawsuits and theUnited States Supreme Court case ofPierce v. Society of Sisters. He was also a eugenicist and supportedProhibition. He advocated unsuccessfully for a state income tax and vehicle license fee.

Pierce was born to Charles M. and Charlotte L. (née Clapp) Pierce,Jacksonian Democrat farmers inMorris, Illinois on May 30, 1861. At the age of 17, he began teaching school despite having only a secondary education.

In 1883, motivated by both his recent diagnosis of tuberculosis and the idea ofManifest Destiny as propounded byHorace Greeley, Pierce moved west. After arriving inPortland, Oregon in June 1883, he was not able to find work. After a period during which he worked the wheat fields ofWalla Walla, Washington, he earned enough money to settle inMilton, Oregon inUmatilla County. There he returned to a career in education and established a successful farm.

As an educator, Pierce was drawn into local politics. He became well known for his pro-temperance views, and regularly spoke out against saloons selling alcohol to his students. In 1887, he married one of his students, Clara R. Rudio, who died during childbirth only three years later. The child was named after her mother. He married Clara's sister Laura in 1893. They had five children: Loyd, Lucile, Helen, Edith and Lorraine. Laura died of cancer in 1925. Pierce's third wife wasCornelia Marvin, theOregon State Librarian, whom he married in 1928.

From 1886 until 1890, Pierce served as superintendent ofUmatilla County public schools. From 1890 until 1894, he served as Umatilla county clerk, and earned enough money from land transactions to further his education. He then returned to Illinois with his family to attendNorthwestern University, earning hisBachelor of Laws degree in 1896.

After graduation, the Pierce family returned to Oregon, where Walter set up a successful law firm inPendleton. From 1896 to 1906, he managed a power company, speculated in land, and became one of the state's most renownedHereford cattle breeders. He was again elected county clerk and served 1899 to 1903.

Pierce won a seat in theOregon State Senate in 1902. In his first term, he failed to win passage ofprohibition legislation, while winning passage of a state subsidy of $6 per child for education. He was defeated at the polls for reelection, and retired from politics for a decade beginning in 1906.

While out of politics, Pierce continued local and statewide activities. He was a founder of the Oregon Farmer's Union and the Public Power League, headed the State Taxpayers League, and took a seat on the board of Regents ofOregon Agricultural College from 1905 to 1927. He began advocating for using theColumbia River forhydroelectric power during this time. Pierce was also the promoter of the Hot Lake Sanatorium Company inUnion County.^[1] He and fellow ownerParish L. Willis were accused of fraud by another investor, but cleared by the courts of any wrongdoing in 1918.^[1] The formersanatorium is now theHot Lake Hotel and is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.^[2]

Pierce won the Democratic nomination for theUnited States Senate in 1912, but lost toHarry Lane in the general election. In 1916, he was once again elected to the state Senate. In 1918, Pierce ran, unsuccessfully, as a progressive Democrat against incumbent GovernorJames Withycombe. In the next election, in 1920, he lost his Senate seat by twenty-seven votes.

Much of Pierce’s policies were rooted in racism, including supportingeugenics. He also supportedbirth control andProhibition.^[3] In1922, Pierce ran a successful campaign for governor against incumbentBen W. Olcott. At the time, theKu Klux Klan was growing in influence and power across the state and had drafted the overtly anti-Catholic andanti-semiticCompulsory School Act, a bill to require all school-age children to attend public schools. Governor Olcott defiantly refused to work with the Klan in any way.^[4] Pierce tacitly accepted the Klan's endorsement and lent his support to the school bill.

As governor, Pierce was at odds with a Republican-dominated legislature. His administration was able to continue the road-building policies of the previous two administrations, but could not win passage of a state income tax or assessed value license fees for automobiles. He attempted to gain support from progressive Republicans on issues of prison reform, reforestation, and hydroelectric development, but he divided thestate Democratic Party by endorsingRobert M. La Follette for President in 1924. The Ku Klux Klan, which had endorsed him only a few years earlier, began an unsuccessful recall effort.

In the 1926 elections, RepublicanI. L. Patterson defeated Pierce. Upon leaving the Governor's office, Pierce returned to his ranch inLa Grande, Oregon.

The Compulsory Education Act was later struck down by theSupreme Court of the United States in its 1925Pierce v. Society of Sisters decision, on the grounds that it violated theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In 1928, Pierce ran unsuccessfully for the 2nd Congressional District seat. He declined to run for governor in 1930, but tried once more for Congress in 1932. He was elected amid excitement over the landslide presidential election victory ofFranklin D. Roosevelt. Pierce would become a staunch supporter of Roosevelt'sNew Deal, serving in Congress until his defeat in 1942.

Pierce joined the majority of his party in opposing anti-lynching legislation in 1940.^[5]

One of the oldest politicians in Oregon history, Pierce retired from politics at age 81. He and his wife Cornelia retired toEola, Oregon. Pierce and his wife both became involved in the anti-Japanese movement duringWorld War II, in response to a concern on the part of local residents about the success of Japanese truckers in certain areas of Oregon.^[6]

Pierce died on March 27, 1954, nearSalem, Oregon, at the age of 92 and was interred at theMount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem.^[7] His third wife Cornelia died on February 12, 1957.Eastern Oregon University named its library after him and Cornelia, butremoved the name Pierce from the library in November 2020 due to the governor's views on race.^[8]

• Arthur H. Bone (ed.),Oregon Cattleman/Governor, Congressman: Memoirs and Times of Walter M. Pierce. Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, 1981.
• M. Paul Holsinger, "The Oregon School Bill Controversy, 1922-1925,"Pacific Historical Review, vol. 37, no. 3 (Aug. 1968), pp. 327–341.In JSTOR
• Karl Klooster,Round the Roses II: More Portland Past Perspectives. Portland, OR: K.T. Klooste, 1992.
• Robert R. McCoy, "The Paradox of Oregon's Progressive Politics: The Political Career of Walter Marcus Pierce,"Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 110, no. 3 (Fall 2009), pp. 390–419.In JSTOR
• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (eds.), "Walter M. Pierce," inBiographical Directory of the Governors of the United States 1789-1978. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982; volume 3, pp. 1276–1277.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWalter Pierce.

• United States Congress."Walter M. Pierce (id: P000339)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Oregon State Archives: Pierce Administration-Photo and some public speeches of Walter M. Pierce as governor.
• Guide to the Walter Pierce papers at the University of Oregon

• 1861 births
• 1954 deaths
• Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States
• Democratic Party governors of Oregon
• Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni
• Educators from Oregon
• Democratic Party Oregon state senators
• People from Morris, Illinois
• People from Polk County, Oregon
• Burials at City View Cemetery
• Educators from Illinois
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon
• American anti-communists
• American eugenicists
• American birth control activists
• American white supremacists
• Progressivism in the United States
• Ku Klux Klan in Oregon
• 20th-century Oregon politicians
• People from La Grande, Oregon
• Oregon lawyers
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 20th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2012
• Commons category link is on Wikidata