Maurine Neuberger-Solomon, best known as Maurine Neuberger (née Brown; January 9, 1907February 22, 2000) was an American politician who served as a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for the State of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

from November 1960 to January 1967. She was the fourth woman elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

and the tenth woman to serve in the body. She and her husband, Richard L. Neuberger, are regarded as the Senate's first husband-and-wife legislative team. To date, she is the only woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Oregon.

Early life

Neuberger was born in Cloverdale,

Tillamook County, Oregon Tillamook County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,390. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook or Killamook people, a Native American tribe who ...

. She attended public schools, the Oregon College of Education at Monmouth from 1922 to 1924, graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

in 1929 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

. She was an alumna of the

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...

sorority. She was selected to

Mortar Board Mortar Board is an American national honor society for college seniors. Mortar Board has 233 chartered collegiate chapters nationwide and 15 alumni chapters. History Mortar Board was the first national honor society for college senior women ...

National College Senior Honor Society in her junior year. She then undertook graduate study at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

from 1936 to 1937. Brown was a teacher in Oregon public schools between 1932 and 1944; in 1937, while teaching in a Portland high school, she met Richard L. Neuberger. The couple married in 1945, after Neuberger completed his service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Political career

Maurine Neuberger entered politics herself in 1950 when she was elected a member of the State House of Representatives and served from 1950 to 1955. In 1952, when she was reelected to the state House and her husband was reelected to the state Senate, she won with more votes than her husband. During this period she was also a member of the board of directors of the American Association for the United Nations. Richard was elected to the United States Senate in 1954. In 1960, Richard died of cancer. Maurine then won a special election on November 8, 1960, as the Democratic candidate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband. Hall S. Lusk had been appointed by the governor to the Senate upon Richard's death. After the election, Maurine completed Richard's remaining term from November 9, 1960, to January 3, 1961. At the same time as the special election, she won the general election for the term commencing January 3, 1961, and ending January 3, 1967; she was not a candidate for reelection in 1966. A 1965 article noted that Governor

Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Approp ...

addressed correspondence to the Senator to her married name, Maurine Neuberger-Solomon, with the intention of making her 1964 remarriage an issue in a potential 1966 campaign. Her activities in government focused on consumer, environmental and health issues, including the sponsorship of one of the first bills to require warning labels on

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

packaging. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed her to be a member of the

Presidential Commission on the Status of Women The President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women. It was created by John F. Kennedy's signed December 14, 1961. In 1975 it became th ...

. In 1965-68 she and Muriel Fox co-chaired then-Vice President

Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing ...

's task force on Women's Goals.

Later life

Maurine married Philip Solomon M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

and Physician-in-Chief, Psychiatry Service,

Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...

, on July 11, 1964 in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

. They divorced in 1967. Following her time in the Senate she was employed as a lecturer on consumer affairs and the status of women, and as teacher of American government at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, and

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

. She was a resident of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

until her death on February 22, 2000 at the age of 93, of a bone marrow disorder. She is interred in Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

References

External links

*
Papers, 1966–1969.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Biography
from the Oregon Historical Society. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuberger, Maurine Brown 1907 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians American Unitarians Boston University faculty Democratic Party United States senators from Oregon Female United States senators Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives People from Tillamook County, Oregon Radcliffe College faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Oregon alumni Women state legislators in Oregon American women academics

Early life

Political career

Later life

See also

References

External links