WOU Repository

Robert W. Straub’s political career in the state of Oregon spanned over 25 years. He started in 1955 as a member of the Lane County Board of Commissioners, which he served until 1959. He was elected State Senator for Lane County for one term from 1960-1962. During this time, Straub became an enthusiastic proponent of natural resource management and conservation.

Straub was elected Oregon State Treasurer in 1964 and served two terms until 1972. During his tenure as state treasurer, Straub earned a reputation of being fiscally conservative. He was well known for his favorable stance on the Oregon Beach Bill, defining Oregon beaches as public domain, and the Willamette Greenway Plan, making the Willamette River accessible to the public while making the river as pollution free as possible. Both of these bills were considered to be landmark environmental packages. Straub was elected Democratic Governor of Oregon in 1975, which he served for one term until 1979.

This digital collection contains a selection of documents, photographs, and video recordings related to Oregon’s beaches from 1965-1979. Special areas of interest include the fight over the Nestucca sand spit, ballot petitions for keeping Oregon’s beaches publicly accessible, his work with the non-profit organization Beaches Forever, Inc., and materials related to Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to the Oregon coast before the Oregon Democratic Primary in 1968.

Digitization of the Straub Oregon Beaches Collection was made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), administered by the Oregon State Library. This grant was awarded to Western Oregon University, Portland State University, Willamette University, and Pacific University in 2010 and completed in August 2012.

For more information about the Robert W. Straub collection at Western Oregon University Archives, please visit the finding aid in the Northwest Digital Archives.

The Bob Straub Oral History Project began in 2003 with the purpose to gather and make available recorded interviews of legislators, associates and family knowledgeable about the life and career of Governor Bob Straub. Western Oregon University partnered with oral historian Michael O'Rourke to record Governor Straub's colleagues and family members describing his extraordinary career and examining the role he played in Oregon politics.

This collection includes a few video excerpts of Janet McLennan and Ken Johnson, both longtime friends and colleagues of Governor Straub. These clips relate to Straub's role with Oregon beach policies, including the proposed highway change to U.S. 101 along the Nestucca spit outside Pacific City and his work with the organization Beaches Forever. Janet McLennan served as the organization's Executive Director and later served as Straub's Deputy State Treasurer and his Natural Resources Assistant.

The documents featured in this collection reflect Straub's public service related to Oregon's beaches through numerous political roles, including as a state senator from Lane County, as State Treasurer, and as Governor. These documents include press releases, correspondence, and even a "Beach Book" of drawings and quotes made by Oregon schoolchildren in 1968. Many more documents exist in the manuscript collection held at Western Oregon University Archives.

The photographs displayed in this collection all relate to Straub's time spent with the Oregon coast and its beaches, including both politically and for pleasure. Photographs from family scrapbooks capture their time enjoying the beauty of Oregon's beaches, Straub's work to stop the proposed widening of U.S. Highway 101 onto the Nestucca Sand Spit outside Pacific City, and images after the park at Nestucca was renamed Bob Straub State Park in his honor in 1987.

Bob Straub also had a unique experience as Oregon State Treasurer -- in May 1968, he spent time with Senator Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel when they visited Astoria and nearby Fort Stevens State Park. The Kennedys made a campaign stop in Oregon leading up to the Oregon primary election, only weeks before he was assassinated in California. These photographs offer a rare glimpse into a special day in Oregon history. More photographs are contained in the manuscript collection held at Western Oregon University Archives.

Beaches Forever, Inc. was launched by State Treasurer Robert W. Straub with Portland attorney Keith Burns and conservationist Janet McLennan, incorporated as an Oregon non-profit on March 26, 1968. The purpose of the organization was to promote the establishment, acquisition, and preservation of public ownership of Oregon ocean beach lands. Beaches Forever, Inc. was an outgrowth of the over 1,000 members of the Committee to Save the Beaches, which formed to oppose relocation of U.S. Highway 101 at Pacific City beginning in 1965, a few years before Oregon’s Beach Bill. Beaches Forever, Inc. was incorporated to spearhead the new campaign and its broader purpose – to guarantee the citizens of Oregon the use and enjoyment of the ocean beaches in perpetuity.

Straub had been a leader in the fight against the widening of U.S. Highway 101. After adopting the Nestucca spit issue as part of his gubernatorial campaign, Straub led 200 activists on a hike along the proposed highway route on Mother’s Day in 1966. Organized by Janet McLennan, Beaches Forever, Inc. provided buses for Portland residents to participate in the hike that started at Camp Winema, four miles north of Neskowin to the Nestucca River. Straub continued pressing for Oregon’s beaches to remain a public benefit for all to enjoy even after losing the gubernatorial race to Tom McCall.

Beaches Forever, Inc. called for a constitutional amendment to the Beach Bill (H.S. 1201) that would confirm public rights to the ocean beaches up to vegetation line. It authorized state acquisition of privately owned beaches and access by means of state bonds, to be paid for with a one cent per gallon gasoline tax on fuel for private motor vehicles over the course of four years. Beaches Forever, Inc. spent the next months gathering thousands of signatures to get their initiative on the November 1968 ballot. Volunteers canvassed outside public buildings in Portland to gather signatures and gain public support. The initiative was accepted and named Measure No. 6 on the ballot. The campaign included organizers and volunteers centered around the slogan “Beaches are for Kids, Not Cars” and included mailings, newsletters, rallies, hikes, and meetings around the passage of Measure 6.

Two other committees worked against Measure No. 6 – Family Highway Protection Committee (FHPC) led by K.E. Rinke, and the Committee to Save Oregon Beaches (CSOB) led by Dr. Robert L. Bacon and Lawrence F. Bitte. While CSOB worked for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing public beaches access, it did not prohibit building highways on or along the beaches. FHPC ran a campaign completely against Measure No. 6 with the advertisement and slogan “Beware of Tricks in No. 6,” built around voting against any gasoline tax.

Despite the campaign efforts of Straub and beaches Forever, Inc., Measure No. 6 was defeated in the 1968 November election. While it was clear that many Oregonians were in favor of keeping Oregon beaches public, they were heavily split over the gasoline tax. Straub was reelected for a second term as State Treasurer, and later served as a Democratic Governor of Oregon from 1976-1979.

Materials in this collection relate to the work of Straub and Beaches Forever, Inc. and feature both documents and marketing materials used in the campaign for Ballot Measure No. 6 in 1968.  The most common slogan, "Beaches are for kids not for cars" provided a lasting image that was sprinkled throughout literature and handouts leading up to the November election.