Dorothy McCullough Lee

Dorothy McCullough Lee (April 1, 1901 – February 19, 1981) was an American politician and attorney in the state of Oregon. She was the first female mayor of Portland, Oregon.

Early life

Dorothy McCullough was born in Oakland, California on April 1, 1901. She was the only child of Flora Hill and Frank E. Mccullough, who became a Rear admiral in World War I. Her early life involved a great deal of travel including Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, China, Guam, and much of Europe. When her father was stationed in Washington, D.C. as assistant surgeon general she snuck out at night to listen intently to the suffrage debates in Congress.

Her formal education was limited until she entered Rogers High School in Newport, Rhode Island where she graduated at age sixteen. She was determined to become an attorney (against her parents wishes). She earned a B.A. during her prelaw education from the University of California, Berkeley in the spring of 1921 and a J.D. degree at the same institution in June 1923. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in January 1923 and practiced law in San Francisco until July 1924. She married William Scott Lee on June 11, 1924 and moved to Portland, Oregon where her husband, a chemical engineer, became an executive for the Standard Oil Company. Dorothy was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in October 1924 and began a small private legal practice in December. In 1931, Dorothy and Gladys M. Everett created Oregon’s first all-woman law firm, opening their firm in Portland’s Failing Building.

Oregon State Politics 1929–1943

Dorothy was a representative in the Oregon House for two terms from 1929 to 1931 and was appointed by the Multnomah County commissioners to a vacated seat and then campaigned and won office for five terms as a State Senator 1932–1943. She came up one vote short of becoming president of the Senate. Although she was seen as a conservative Republican, her politics also included liberal facets.

City Commissioner 1943–1948

Dorothy resigned from the Oregon State Senate to assume the vacant city council seat of Clark D. Van Fleet appointed to her by Mayor Earl Riley (on the recommendation of the man who became her most consistent opponent, commissioner Fred. L. Peterson). She also vacated her law practice, then in the American Bank Building, to devote her full attention to city business. She became the first woman on the Portland City Council, and was the commissioner of public utilities. In office, she extended city water, modernized the traction system (battles with the Portland Traction Company earned her the nickname `Dauntless Dottie’), and applied United States Department of War methods including the loan of a U.S. Army bomber to effectively control mosquitoes. She was elected in 1944 to office. The city council rotated the president of the council position when the mayor was out of town. She became, technically, the first female mayor on January 16, 1946 when Mayor Riley was out of town.

Mayor 1949–1953

After a scandal in the mayor’s office involving Earl Riley and police officers and bribery, Dorothy was petitioned to run for office. She ran for and won a term as mayor defeating seven candidates including Riley. She said “The forces are evil are pretty deep-seated in this city” and promised to “clean up sin, gambling, and prostitution”. She was sworn in on January 1, 1949. She started her term of office by shaking up the administration of the police department. She forced the removal of slot machines from American Legion, Eagles, and Shrine facilities and even the prestigious Multnomah Athletic Club. She reorganized the police department, ferreting out corruption and enforced city ordinances against vice. Her administration instituted one-way traffic patterns in the downtown and revitalized the Housing Authority of Portland. She also promoted an ordinance that passed unanimously prohibiting anyone from being excluded in a public place in Portland. She survived a recall effort in October 1949 and derision in the press (she was called "No Sin Lee" after closing the Chinese gambling establishments) but her anti-gambling stance likely cost her a second mayoral term, since influential citizens of the city believed it would destroy the private clubs.

According to historian E. Kimbark MacColl "Mrs. Lee was probably more qualified by experience and training to serve her office than anyone in Portland's previous history. But she lacked the degree of enlightened support from the leadership ranks of either business or the general community that could have provided her administration with a vital forward thrust".

Later career

Dorothy was appointed to the U.S. Board of Parole by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 7, 1953. She was appointed to the Subversive Activities Control Board on September 4, 1956, and appointed chairman on January 2, 1957 (her new position becoming effective January 21). She resigned this position in August 1962 to resume her law practice and to serve as a lecturer at Portland State University and the University of Portland.

Awards

Western Airlines honored her first birthday as mayor by naming a new Convair CV-240 airliner “The Dorothy McCullough Lee”. The Woman’s National Press Club selected her as one of the nation’s six most distinguished women in April 1949. She was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Mills College in Oakland in June 1949.

Personal Information

Dorothy has been described as a blue eyed, tall, willowy woman, fragile looking and exquisitely groomed – five feet six and 115 pounds (at age 55). She had two children adopted as infants, David Scott Lee (born July 4, 1936 and received by the Lees five days later) and Priscilla Dorothy Lee (adopted in October 1937). Her husband, William Scott Lee, died on February 6, 1976. Early in 1981, Dorothy suffered a heart attack. Early on the morning of February 19, 1981 she died at Park View Nursing Home. She is buried in Portland’s River View Cemetery in the McCullough family plot beside her parents and her husband.

Archival Papers and Unpublished Biography

The papers of Dorothy McCullough Lee are housed at Radcliffe College, in the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America [1] The Oregon Historical Society includes an untitled biography of Dorothy McCullough Lee written by her husband William Scott Lee (MSS 2772, OHS Research Library).

References

• “Lawyer from the West”, New York Times, September 1, 1956, p. 7
• MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950. Portland, The Georgian Press, 1979.
• “Mrs. Lee Trained to Run Portland” New York Times, May 24, 1948, p. 10.
• Neuberger, Maurine. “Portland’s First Lady” New York times, November 21, 1948, p. SM33.
• “Not All is Prim in `Spinster City’” New York Times, February 28, 1957, p. 20.
• Pitzer, Paul C. “Dorothy McCullough Lee: The Successes and Failure of `Dottie-Do-Good’” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Spring 1990 vol. 91
• “Woman Mayor Cites Portland, Ore., As Proof Gambling Can Be Halted”, New York Times, May 13, 1950, p. 9.

External links

• Dorothy McCullough Lee: A Woman of Firsts

Preceded by Earl Riley

Mayor of Portland, Oregon 1949–1953

Succeeded by Fred L. Peterson

Persondata
Name	Lee, Dorothy McCullough
Alternative names
Short description	Mayor of Portland, Oregon
Date of birth	1902
Place of birth	Oakland, California
Date of death	February 19, 1981
Place of death