once declared martial law on New Year's Eve 1913 in order to shut down liquor-selling establishments in the town of Copperfield, Oregon. He then dispatched National Guard troops, chaperoned by his own personal secretary Fern Hobbs on January 2, 1914 to enforce the order and shut down the saloons. The move made headlines across the country. Sterilization and emasculation advocate Known for his moral reforms, West pushed the 1913 Oregon legislature to adopt its first eugenics law in response to the Portland Vice Scandal of 1912 involving the arrest of gay men in Portland, Oregon. West called for sterilization and emasculation of the "degenerates who slink, in all their infamy, through every city, contaminating the young, debauching the innocent, cursing the State" and others who would come before the state's courts for similar sexual transgressions in the future. Reputation and legacy Bend Mayor George P. Putnam criticized West in a New York Times interview shortly after the Copperfield affair. Putnam asserted that the Governor's theatrical methods, and his inordinate attention to the affairs of local communities, detracted from the governance and national image of the state as a whole. West's time as governor is still felt in Oregon today because of his work to protect the state's natural resources. It was under his administration the beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean were protected for public use; the office of State Forester and the Bureau of Forestry were established; and the Fish Commission and Game Commission were created. West served only one term, opting not to run for re-election in 1914. Instead, he moved his family to Portland where he practiced law. He was the Democratic party's nominee for the United States Senate in 1918, but lost to Charles L. McNary. After the run he largely limited his involvement in politics to spirited letters to the editor but was an influential adviser to Governor Charles H. Martin in the 1930s. He retired from his law practice after suffering a heart attack in 1945. West died in Portland on August 22, 1960, and is buried in the Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem, Oregon. Oswald West State Park on the Oregon Coast is named in his honor, as is West Hall, a student residence hall on the campus of Oregon State University. See also List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States References Further reading West, Oswald. "Reminiscences and Anecdotes of