Oregon History

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How Oregon’s GOP governor teamed up with hippies to throw a festival and prevent clashes in the streets

In August of 1970, at the height of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon was slated to come to Portland, and so were thousands of antiwar protesters. That's when some young liberal Oregonians teamed up with Republican Gov. Tom McCall on a plan to lure thousands of potential antiwar demonstrators into the woods for a weekend of rock 'n' roll and avoid a projected violent clash in the City of Roses. This is the story of Oregon Vortex 1: A Biodegradable Festival of Life.






The 2 years Oregon had 2 Thanksgivings

It was brief, but for a moment, Oregon was the undisputed Thanksgiving capital of the nation. The state officially held Thanksgiving twice in 1893 and again in 1894.




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