Monroe Sweetland
| Monroe Sweetland | |
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| Member of the Oregon Senate from the 11th district |
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In office 1955–1963 |
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| Constituency | Clackamas County |
| Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 7th district |
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In office 1953–1955 |
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| Constituency | Clackamas County |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 20, 1910 Salem, Oregon |
| Died | September 10, 2006 (aged 96) Milwaukie, Oregon |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Lillie Megrath |
| Alma mater |
Wittenberg College Syracuse University Cornell University |
Monroe Mark Sweetland (January 20, 1910 – September 10, 2006) was an American politician in the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly starting in 1953 for a total of ten years. A Democrat, he also twice ran and lost bids to serve as the Oregon Secretary of State and was a Democratic National Committeeman. Sweetland later served on the staff of the National Education Association, supporting passage of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968.
Monroe Sweetland was born on January 20, 1910, in Salem, Oregon. His father, Dr. G. J. Sweetland, was a doctor who also served as athletic director at Willamette University. When Sweetland was two, the family moved to Michigan where he remained until college. At the age of 11 in 1922 he and a friend organized a city caucus to elect candidates after learning that none had been scheduled. Sweetland graduated from Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930. He then entered law school at Syracuse University and later Cornell University. In 1931, he married Lillie Megrath whom he met in law school. They had two daughters, Barbara and Rebecca.
In the early 1930s, Sweetland was as an activist in the Socialist Party and a field organizer for the Student League for Industrial Democracy. He supported Norman Thomas, Socialist for president and SLID activist, in his 1932 campaign. In 1935, Sweetland and his family returned to Oregon to work as the Executive Director of the Oregon Commonwealth Federation (OCF), a liberal organization whose goals included public power, increased membership in labor unions, civil rights, and social security. Sweetland at that time left the Socialist Party to become a Democrat. The OCF helped engineer the defeat of conservative Democratic Governor Charles Martin in 1938. The winner of the primary, Henry Hess, was defeated in the general election, but the primary victory emboldened Sweetland and other liberals, who saw moderate Republican Governor Charles Sprague as an improvement over Martin.
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