Harvey W. Scott--patrician journalist, "schoolmaster" of the Oregon press, Shakespeare-quoting editor of the Portland Oregonian--was more than the editor of the state's largest and most influential newspaper. He was, for forty-five years, a major leader of political thought in Oregon and a leading spokesman for the region. He and his newspaper were credited by friends and foes alike with almost singlehandedly transforming Oregon from a Democratic into a Republican state. His forceful editorials had an influence beyond the thousands of Oregonian readers they reached: small-town editors of Republican newspapers statewide looked to the Oregonian for guidance on political issues of the day, modeled their thinking after Scott's, and often reprinted his editorials verbatim or commented on them at length. Under Scott, the Oregonian's editorial voice became nationally recognized.

For more than four decades, Scott was the intellectual leader of Oregon journalism. He assumed editorship of the...