Bob Oliver interview on Atiyeh

Title

Bob Oliver interview on Atiyeh

Description

An interview of attorney Bob Oliver (1931-2019) on the topic of Oregon Governor Victor Atiyeh, recorded on August 24, 2015. Oliver served as the legal counsel to Governors McCall and Atiyeh, playing a particularly important behind-the-scenes role as Public Safety Coordinator during the Rajneesh crisis. The interviewer, James Moore, was as professor of political science at Pacific University and was Atiyeh's biographer.

The interview includes: how Oliver began his legal career; meeting Atiyeh in 1959 when he was a newly-elected state representative; contacts with Atiyeh in the 1960s-1970s; Oliver's status as a Democrat and how this was not a major issue for Atiyeh; how Gov. McCall used to speak negatively about Atiyeh; writing texts on behalf of both governors; how Atiyeh's first Chief of Staff, Lee Johnson, asked Oliver to serve as Counsel; land use policy changes during the McCall, Straub and Atiyeh administrations; the Recession of 1981-82; the arrival of the Rajneeshees in Oregon; meeting with the Rajneeshees Jayananda and Ma Anand Sheela; how Oliver visited Rajneeshpuram overnight in place of Atiyeh, who declined to visit; learning of the Rajneeshees' plans to arm themselves; balancing civil rights concerns with public safety during the Rajneesh crisis; Attorney General Frohnmayer's denial of tax revenues to the Rajneeshees; another meeting with Ma Anand Sheela in which Oliver and Gerry Thompson again declined a visit by Atiyeh to Rajneeshpuram; the first signs regarding the Rajneeshee's bioterror attacks using salmonella; concerns regarding state officials being bugged / surveilled by the Rajneeshees; Atiyeh's relationship with Lee Johnson; Atiyeh's hands-off style as a manager; the transition to Governor Goldschmidt's administration from the point of view of Atiyeh's staff; and the Duane Samples clemency case.

This recording is accompanied by a transcript.

Identifier

PUA_MS161_052

Date Created

Aug 24, 2015

Creator

Oliver, Bob

Subject

Atiyeh, Victor

Oregon--Politics and government

Rajneeshees

McCall, Tom

Goldschmidt, Neil

Extent

1 audio file (1 hr., 35 min.)

Date

2015

Contributor

Moore, James

Format

MP3

Spatial Coverage

Oregon

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/