The 1964 Death Penalty Referendum in Oregon

Abstract

In Oregon, six times in this century, the death penalty has confronted the voters at the polls. In 1964, in an event unparalleled in our history, the death penalty was abolished in public referendum by a wide margin. The strategy adopted by the Oregon Council to Abolish the Death Penalty included the following: organizing a statewide abolition group; mobiliz ing support from allied organizations; designing a mass media campaign especially for the populous region around Portland; raising a budget of $10,000; arranging radio and television discussions and spot announce ments late in the campaign; preparing research papers on the death penal ty for use as press releases and as speakers' notes; holding a national conference at a local college; and encouraging sermons in the churches statewide to explore the religious and moral aspects of the death penalty. Opposition was infrequent and unorganized, yet the campaign's success is difficult to explain. Defeat of the death penalty at the polls in that par ticular election was probably owing to an unusual combination of factors, difficult if not impossible to duplicate elsewhere.