Tom McCall Forum

Pacific University hosted the Tom McCall Forum, an annual political debate series, from 1982-2007. It brought together prominent speakers representing liberal and conservative interests to debate political topics of national interest. Originally called the "Annual Politics and Law Forum," it was renamed in former Oregon Governor Tom Lawson McCall's honor after his death in 1983. Participants included Robert McNamara, Pat Buchanan, Tom Daschle, Howard Dean, Richard Ralph Nader, Newt Gingrich, Alan Dershowitz, James Carville, Mary Matalin, William Safire, John Sununu, Pierre Salinger, Robert Bork, Jesse Jackson, Mario Cuomo, Dan Quayle, William F. Buckley, and others. A full list of of participants and the titles of their debates are listed below.

The forum was a major annual event for students and faculty at Pacific University, and it also had considerable public exposure. The debate originally took place on the Pacific University campus in Forest Grove, Oregon. With its growing popularity, it was moved to Portland in the early 1990s. Local television stations often broadcast the debates, and C-SPAN broadcast several of the later debates to a national audience.

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