"Richard Neuberger was a U.S. senator hard to imagine, in an Oregon now hard to remember. In 1954, he was the first Democratic senator elected from Oregon in 42 years. Before his election - and even while in the Senate - he was a volcanically prolific freelance writer, producing more than 750 articles and six books. He and his wife, Maurine, who would succeed him for a term in the Senate, were the first couple ever to serve in a state legislature together."
"Neuberger was elected with the active support of Oregon's other senator, Wayne Morse, a close friend for 20 years. By the end of Neuberger's time in the Senate - Neuberger filed for re-election two days before dying, the critical nature of his health having been kept from him - the two friends were not speaking, deep in one of the bitterest and most personal quarrels in Senate history."
"His new biography from Oregon State University Press, Richard Neuberger: Oregon Politics and the Making of a US Senator, makes a strong case for Neuberger's significance as both a politician and a writer. If Neuberger's career ended strikingly early - he died at 47, while many contemporaries elected in the 1950s would serve for decades - it also points out that his public prominence started early."
Richard Neuberger, elected in 1954 as the first Democratic U.S. senator from Oregon in 42 years, combined a vigorous political career with prodigious writing. He produced more than 750 articles and six books, and began writing for The Oregonian in high school. He and his wife, Maurine, were the first couple to serve together in a state legislature, and she later succeeded him in the Senate for a term. Neuberger championed conservation, mass transit, and mail balloting in the 1950s. He won election with Wayne Morse's support but later broke with him amid a bitter, personal quarrel. Neuberger died at 47, having filed for re-election two days earlier while his critical health was concealed.
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