Gerald H. Robinson collection on Wayne Morse's political career, 1947-1974

Gerald H. Robinson (1927-2020) was an attorney and photographer from Portland, Oregon. He worked as an attorney and advisor for U.S. Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon.

Wayne Lyman Morse was born in 1900 in Verona, Wisconsin. He came to Oregon in 1929 and began teaching law at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Two years later, he was named dean of the law school, becoming the youngest head of a law school in the United States. During the 1930s, he acted as a labor mediator in shipping and dockworking negotiations. In 1944, he ran for the United States Senate and won. Although he ran as a Republican, Morse quickly established a reputation as a maverick, often voting with the Democrats. In 1952, he left the Republican party in protest of the Eisenhower-Nixon platform, which he believed had been hijacked by the party's reactionary wing. He served as an independent for over two years before becoming a Democrat.

Morse was reelected in 1956 and 1962. His opposition to the Vietnam War led him to support Republican Mark Hatfield, who was also a critic of America's involvement in Vietnam, in the 1966 Senate race. In 1968, Morse narrowly lost to Republican Bob Packwood in an election that concluded with a recount.

Morse spent much of the rest of his life attempting to regain his Senate seat. In 1972, he unsuccessfully ran against Mark Hatfield. At the time of his death in 1974, he was running against Bob Packwood.