Wendell William Wyatt was born in Eugene, Oregon, in 1917, and moved to Portland, Oregon, as a teenager. He studied at the University of Oregon, but dropped out and worked at the Oregonian newspaper as a copy aide. He later applied and was admitted to the University of Oregon Law School, despite lacking an undergraduate degree. After receiving his law degree, Wyatt worked as an FBI agent, and then served as a Marine Corps pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II. After the war, Wyatt moved to Astoria, Oregon, and worked at the law firm of Albin Norblad, a former governor of Oregon and the father of U.S. Representative Walter Norblad.
Wyatt's political career began when he served on the Oregon State Republican Central Committee from 1955 to 1957. In 1964, after Walter Norblad died, Wyatt was elected U.S. representative to fill Norblad's vacancy. As a representative, he was a member of the House Committee on the Interior, and then a member of the House Appropriations Committee. In the latter role, he worked on legislation that established the Tualatin Reclamation Project in Washington County; a shipping channel in the Columbia River from Astoria to Portland; the Cascade Head Scenic Area in Lincoln City, Oregon; and the purchase of ranchlands along the Snake River for public recreation. Wyatt retired from Congress in 1975, but remained active in Republican politics. After serving in Congress, he worked at the law firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, served as a commissioner for the Port of Portland, and worked as a lobbyist.
Wyatt married Anne Elizabeth Buchanan (1920-2000) in the early 1940s. The couple had three children: Ann, Jane, and Wendell "Bill" Jr. The couple later divorced, and in 1962, Wyatt remarried to Faye Hill (1917-2007). Wyatt died in 2009.
Sources: Obituary in the Oregonian, January 29, 2009; "Wyatt, Wendell, 1917-2009," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,
The collection consists of papers relating to the life and career of U.S. Representative Wendell Wyatt. The bulk of the collection concerns Wyatt's political career. This includes correspondence from other politicians; photographs, programs, invitations, and ephemera relating to political events and gatherings; photographs autographed by political figures or with inscriptions from political figures to Wyatt, and guestbooks signed during Wyatt's tenure as U.S. representative. Politicians represented in this collection include George H. W. Bush, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Edith Green, Mark Hatfield, Jack Kemp, Richard Nixon, and Al Ullman. Other materials in the collection include personal and family papers, photographs, and ephemera; these include materials reflecting Wyatt's primary and secondary education, and his service during World War II.
Collection is open for research.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Wendell Wyatt papers, Coll 894, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of Wendell Wyatt, September 1999, and gift of Bill Wyatt, July 2020 (Lib. Acc. 24016; RL2020-024).
Artifacts were separated to Museum Collections, Oregon Historical Society.
Other materials relating to Wendell Wyatt at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library include: Oral histories with Wyatt conducted in 1988 and 1992, SR 1332 and SR 1228; a vertical file, Biography - Wyatt, Wendell; and Wendell Wyatt letters to Barbara Vatter in the Correspondence collection, Mss 1500.