Constance "Connie" McCready, nee Averill, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1921. She studied journalism at the University of Oregon and was a reporter for the Coos Bay Times and the Oregonian newspaper before going into politics. She married Albert L. McCready on New Year's Eve, 1945. She was the first woman elected to the Oregon House of Representatives from the East Portland district. She represented Multnomah County in the Oregon House from 1967 to 1970, served on the Portland City Council from 1970 to 1979, and was mayor of Portland from 1979 to 1980. She died in 2000.
Published
Tape 6, Side 2. This oral history interview with Connie McCready was conducted by Clark Hansen at McCready’s home in Portland, Oregon, from March 21 to July 5, 1994. In this interview, McCready discusses her family background and early life in Portland. She also discusses her early career in journalism working for the Coos Bay Times and the Oregonian; and starting a family with her husband, Oregonian reporter Albert L. McCready. She discusses her involvement with the Republican Party, campaigning, her liberal politics, and her experience as a woman in the Oregon Legislature during the 1967 and 1969 sessions. McCready also discusses legislation she worked on, including taxes, fair employment, public transportation and TriMet, and her work on behalf of sternwheelers. McCready talks about some of the legislators she worked with, including Tom Mahoney, Bob Packwood, Stafford Hansell, and Jason Boe. She then discusses her time in the Portland City Council from 1970 to 1979, including the Mount Hood Freeway vote; the bureaus she ran, including fire, cable, and public works; her support for gay rights; and receiving death threats. She discusses the city commissioners and mayors she worked with, including Frank Ivancie, Neil Goldschmidt, Terry Schrunk, and Mildred Schwab. She also discusses her campaign against John Lorenz in 1976, and Portland's sister-city relationship with Sapporo, Japan.
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