In Memoriam: Richard G. Lugar (1932-2019)

For the second time this year, Indiana mourns the loss of a transformational political figure.

Richard Lugar has died, and I doubt we will never see another man like him in Indiana politics.

For me, it seems like he's always been here. I remember watching his career since I was a child. He was the Mayor of Indianapolis when I was born, and he served on the Senate for most of my adult life.

His accomplishments as Mayor paved the way for the city we know today. He had the vision of Indianapolis as a major player in the Midwest, and he put the chess pieces in place for that to happen. When he became a U.S. Senator, he brought his Hoosier sensibilities to the Upper Chamber of the U.S. Congress, and he served with a record of national and global distinction.

While a reliable vote for the GOP, Lugar was not afraid to put his state and country ahead of his party, and he did that without apology on occasion.

Unlike many before him and after him, Senator Lugar did not gain his power by corruption or through scandal. When you look back at his record, the only whiff of a scandal was that he chose to maintain an address in Indianapolis while living near Washington, D.C. rather than reside in Indianapolis or somewhere in Indiana full time. The Constitution says that one only needs to be an inhabitant of the state they serve, and it was ruled that, while he would spend time in hotels when he was back in the state, maintaining the address was enough to satisfy the Constitution. I always thought it was a silly scandal because Lugar served his constituents so well.

In fact, it was because Senator Lugar did the work that he earned his power. His constituent services were second-to-none. The many times I wrote him on issues, I always received back a personalized letter that sounded as if the Senator executed it on his own computer. He would provide concrete reasons for his positions and would promise to take my views into advisement. They weren't partisan missives written in generality.

He conducted himself in the same way in the international sphere. Few Senators were as respected at home or abroad as Lugar. He was above party and always pro-country. From IPS School Board Member to even his work post-Senate, Senator Lugar was trying to help the city, the state, and the world be a better place.

When I got into politics and then began to write this blog, he became someone I wanted to meet. It always seemed that I was a step or two behind when trying to accomplish this goal. Finally, I attended an event put on by the Decatur Township Education Foundation in honor of the school system naming the site of the Blue and Gold Academy after Lugar.

He spoke off the top of his head about his diplomatic work. He talked about helping to secure loose nukes in the former Soviet states in Europe and Asia. He also even talked about the trip with then-Senator Barack Obama where they were briefly detained in Russia on a diplomatic trip. After the speech, Senator Lugar greeted everyone who waited for him. He took every picture and signed every autograph. I shook his hand and told him how much I admired him even though I was on the opposite side of the aisle. He smiled and thanked me. I then watched as his staffers tried to pull him away from the others, but he ended up being nearly the last person in the room. He only left when no one else wanted to meet him. That's an enduring image I'll have of the Senator.

In retrospect, it might have been that statesmanship that cost him his seat in the Senate. Richard Mourdock used that diplomatic fact-finding trip Senator Lugar took with then Senator Barack Obama that I referenced earlier as a rallying cry to knock off Lugar. He mocked him as "Obama's favorite Senator" and decried bipartisanship. When Senator Lugar had to say goodbye to the Senate, his farewell speech was memorable.

Lugar's Farewell Speech

So, as we again mourn the death of one of the greatest Indiana politicians, we must also mourn the death of one of the greatest Hoosiers. Like Birch Bayh who passed just weeks ago, individuals like Richard Lugar come along very rarely, and we were all better for having lived in his time. He enriched our world and our society.