[2] After graduating, Patterson passed the State Bar and set up a law firm in Hillsboro, Oregon, in 1926.

The law firm launched Patterson's political career, starting with a position as the Deputy District Attorney of Washington County from 1926 until 1933.

[1] Governor Douglas McKay resigned in 1952 to accept President Eisenhower's appointment as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

[3] Governor Patterson assumed office with a low political profile statewide, but proved to be popular.

As with his other Republican contemporaries, he was fiscally conservative, but accepted federal money for unemployment aid, transportation projects, and water management programs.

An enduring legacy of Governor Paul Patterson is his opposition to a state sales tax without a popular vote.

Patterson had the backing of Portland's influential Arlington Club, some of whose most powerful members assisted his election campaigns.

Republicans hoped to pick up Senator Wayne Morse's seat in the 1956 election, and considered the popular governor as the party's best chance.