Early life Charles Martin was born near
Albion, Illinois, on October 1, 1863. He attended Ewing College (
Ewing, Illinois) for two years until he was appointed to the
U.S. Military Academy. He would actively serve in the
Spanish–American War,
Philippine–American War, and
Boxer Rebellion after graduating from West Point in 1887, 19th in a class of 64. Among his classmates included several men who would later rise to the rank of brigadier general or higher in their military careers. They included:
Charles B. Wheeler,
Edward C. Young,
Richmond P. Davis,
Edgar Russel,
George O. Squier,
Ernest Hinds,
George W. Gatchell,
P. D. Lochridge,
Nathaniel F. McClure,
William C. Rivers,
William Weigel,
Thomas G. Hanson,
Herman Hall,
Marcus D. Cronin,
Alexander L. Dade,
Charles S. Farnsworth,
Charles Gerhardt,
James T. Dean,
Ulysses G. McAlexander,
Edmund Wittenmyer,
Frederic D. Evans,
Michael J. Lenihan,
Mark L. Hersey and
Frank H. Albright. In 1920, when the army's authority to maintain
Jim Crow regulations seemed threatened, Martin wrote that "the negro is of very little importance... the average negro is not by any means equal to the average white man." Martin was later a division commander of the famous
Blackhawk Division during World War I and served as the U.S. Army Assistant Chief of Staff from 1922 to 1924. and retired from the Army as a major general on October 1, 1927, after commanding the
Panama Canal Department for three years. His DSM citation reads:
Congressman and Governor in Salem Martin embarked on his second career after retiring to
Portland, Oregon with his wife. From March 4, 1931, to January 3, 1935, he served as a conservative Democratic Representative to the U.S. Congress from
Oregon's Third Congressional District. Martin was elected governor in 1934, during a time of intense labor turmoil and the middle of the
Great Depression, earning a reputation for restoring state finances. The major issues that Martin dealt with during his time in office were economic recovery from the Great Depression, reconstruction of the
Oregon State Capitol, the planning and construction of the
Bonneville Dam, and the development of statewide port and highway infrastructures. When the Depression eased, he opposed the full restoration of wage levels for state employees, who had suffered a 50 percent pay cut. Martin became known as a pro-business governor in early May 1935 when timber workers began to strike, declaring, "These pestiferous peewees would go to any lengths to embarrass me and my administration." In private correspondence and public appearances he railed against the
National Labor Relations Board, declared union organizers to be gangsters and
Bolsheviks, and considered
Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins to be the head "red" in the Roosevelt administration. Martin threatened to fire Columbia County Sheriff Oscar Weed for not responding harshly enough to striking workers, instructing the state's sheriffs to "beat hell out of 'em!" and "crack their damn heads! Those fellows are there for nothing but trouble – give it to them!" On May 23, 1935, Martin ordered the state police and National Guard to protect strikebreakers at the Stimson Mill strike in the Washington County town of
Gaston. The National Guard was again called out to harass, intimidate, and arrest striking longshoremen in 1937. Martin grew in his vocal opposition to Roosevelt's
New Deal, especially to the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the President's labor policy. In 1937, the NLRB failed to settle a jurisdictional dispute between the
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the
American Federation of Labor (AFL) that had closed all Portland sawmills. Martin stepped in and held his own elections, which led to the reopening of the mills. He made himself the enemy of what many saw as corrupt labor leaders, particularly by his appointment of Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody to prosecute many union people accused of arson and assault. In 1939, Martin welcomed
Harry H. Laughlin's proposal to chloroform the feeble-minded, stating, "The theory is a fine thing in principle. Civilization must find some way to best deal with this distressing situation. It is one of the problems for the young people of today." In 1936, he suggested that the state could save $300,000 in the next two years by putting 900 of the 969 developmentally-disabled patients at the
Fairview Training Center in Salem "out of their misery." Martin also believed that military action was necessary against Jewish communists and Irish people. Martin showed sympathy for fascism. Asked about the possibility of a communist takeover, he dismissed the threat, referencing
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy."There are enough strong men left in the country to handle it properly. The Italians organized their
black shirts. The Germans had their
brown shirts and
Hitler. I don't believe Americans will submit."He was often quoted for his rephrasing of President Roosevelt's famous pronouncement on fear, saying, "We have nothing to fear from the future except our own foolishness and slothfulness." His criticism of
President Roosevelt, however, cost Martin a bitterly contested bid for the
Democratic Party of Oregon's gubernatorial nomination in 1938.
Death and legacy After losing the nomination, Martin retired from active politics to his Portland home. He died on September 22, 1946, and was interred at
River View Cemetery in Portland. ==Footnotes==