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About the Center - Founder
The Wayne Morse Chair for Law and Politics was established in 1981. Funds for
the Morse Chair came primarily from contributions to a memorial fund that
was established in 1974 following the death of Senator Morse. Charles
Porter, a longtime friend and member of the U.S. House of Representatives,
spearheaded fundraising along with staff at UO. The U.S. Congress also
contributed $190,849 under a challenge grant operated from the Department of
Education.
A significant gift by Ed Conklin permitted a significant expansion of the
activities of the Morse Chair. The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
was created in 1999 as a result of his gift which also funded the Morse
Commons in the Knight Law Center. Ed Conklin was a retired court reporter
and friend of Wayne Morse.
When Morse, then dean of the UO Law School, arbitrated a grievance between the longshoremen and the Waterfront Employers Association in 1938 for the Port of San Francisco, Conklin served as court reporter. During a 1995 interview, Conklin said that it was Morse's stubborn adherence to procedure that first brought the two men together: “Some arbitrators [had] lunch with the union or with the representatives of the employer. It was probably purely social but could have the appearance of impropriety. Wayne didn't have anything to do with something like that, so he and I, being the only two nonpartisan neutrals there, were thrown together by default.”
The two men's dedication and shared politics made them lasting colleagues. They developed a close friendship that lasted until Morse's death in 1974. Conklin raised money for Morse's Senate race during the 1940s and remained a strong supporter of Morse's political career. Morse once said that if it hadn't been for Conklin, he would never have been elected a United States Senator.
But in 1995 Conklin told Margaret Hallock, then co-chair of the Morse Chair Committee, that he didn't buy Morse's statement. “I take the position that he would have gotten there some way, and I just made things less difficult.”
Conklin agreed with many who called Morse “the ablest man in the Senate.” He told Hallock, “There's no question he contributed much as a United States Senator. There's no question that if the country had followed his exhortation son Vietnam, the country would not have been involved in it. [Morse] used to tell me that in the cloak room senators would approach and say, 'You're right, Wayne. But I come from a conservative state and if I took that position, I would never be re-elected.'”
During his lifetime, Conklin donated more than $2 million to the UO Law School, the bulk of it in support of the endowed chair established in 1981 in Morse's memory. After Conklin's death in 1997, his wife, Fran, fulfilled the wishes of her late husband by overseeing a $1.8 million gift from his estate to the University of Oregon, funding the Law School Commons, the Morse Chair office, and the launching of the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
Conklin's generous contribution continues of the bond of friendship between the two men. His gift to the University of Oregon in honor of his friend and colleague are a testimony to the dedication and public service of both Conklin and Morse.
Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
1221 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1221
Phone: (541) 346-3700, Fax: (541) 346-1564
