other liberals by picking the runner-up, Senator Lyndon Johnson, as his running mate. In 1963, Sweetland taught journalism at a college in Indonesia, a country that had fascinated him since meeting Indonesians during World War II. Later life He and his family moved to San Mateo, California, in 1965, where Sweetland served as the National Education Association (NEA) representative to 13 states in the west until mandatory retirement in 1975. In that role he advocated the use of federal money to provide support to schools to encourage them to teach English as a second language in certain situations. This led to the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which he considered his most important contribution. After leaving the NEA he founded Western Wilderness Products, in San Mateo where he worked gathering rare plants until 1994. Sweetland's wife died in 1985. Sweetland returned to Oregon in 1994 and spent his final years as an elder statesman, including an unsuccessful run for his old state senate seat at age 88 in 1998. By that time he was legally blind, and in the election he lost to his friend, moderate Republican Verne Duncan for District 12. Sweetland was very active in organizations such as the Democratic Party of Oregon, The City Club of Portland, and the Wayne Morse Historical Park in Eugene. He often took a Metro bus from near his home in Milwaukie to downtown Portland, navigating the downtown streets by himself. Monroe Sweetland died on September 10, 2006, at the age of 96 in Milwaukie. Duncan delivered a eulogy at Sweetland’s memorial service, as did Governor Ted Kulongoski. Toward the end of his life, a scholarship was established in Sweetland's name at Portland State University, funded by his friends, most prominently King (NBC) Broadcasting executive Ancil Payne of Seattle. References External links Monroe Mark Sweetland - Obituary 1910 births 2006 deaths Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Democratic Party Oregon state senators Politicians from Salem, Oregon Wittenberg University alumni Syracuse University alumni Cornell University alumni People from Milwaukie, Oregon Oregon lawyers 20th-century American politicians Socialist Party of America politicians from Oregon Lawyers from Salem, Oregon 20th-century American lawyers