The late Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who died Sunday at age 87, was one of the finest public servants America has ever known.
My colleague Erin Dunne has written in these pages about Lugar’s most celebrated accomplishment, that of being one of the most effective nuclear weapons de-proliferators in history. She, and all the others who have praised those efforts, are absolutely right that the world is tremendously safer because of his singular work on that issue.
Important as the de-proliferating successes were, though, they do not come close to encompassing Lugar’s massive record of public leadership. An Eagle Scout, a Rhodes Scholar, a Navy vet, a farmer, and a manufacturing executive, Lugar became perhaps the finest big-city mayor in the country from 1968-1976, implementing major reforms that set up Indianapolis as a model for municipal governance — a reputation it continues to hold today.
Elected to the Senate in 1976, Lugar immediately made an impression for level-headed, thoughtful conservatism, and Ronald Reagan seriously considered him for months on his short list of possible running mates in 1980. Eight years later, he was thought to be high on George H.W. Bush’s list for the same post, but again, his modest style was seen as too unexciting to inspire voters nationwide.
Throughout his 36 years in the Senate, Lugar served as an ideologically conservative, but cautious, leader on foreign policy not just on confronting the Soviet Union and then arranging for peaceful elimination of many of its nuclear weapons but on a whole gamut of diplomatic issues. His wise counsel aided greatly U.S. influence, human rights, and prosperity across the globe from Central America to the Philippines to Bosnia. He also helped focus attention on, and increase protections against, the dangers of chemical and biological weapons.
Yet, Lugar’s influence was significant on domestic policy too. A steady voice for and exemplar of both ethics and bipartisanship in government, Lugar provided a crucial aura of moderation and respectability to fiscally conservative, pro-growth policy initiatives. Many times, his efforts weren’t highly public, but Capitol Hill denizens knew that Lugar quietly built bridges both for Kempian tax-cutting and Phil Gramm-like budget cutting. For example, he supported President Reagan’s positions in the 1980s more than did any other senator.
Lugar was a particular champion for reintroducing the free market into the U.S. agriculture economy. Alas, some of his successes there, such as the 1996 Freedom to Farm law, were abandoned prematurely by subsequent Congresses at the first sign of a market jolt. What is perhaps Lugar’s best idea remains untried, namely a system of crop insurance that would provide a safety net without letting big agribusiness game the system to the detriment both of family farms and of consumers.
Indeed, a fitting tribute to Lugar would be for the Trump administration and a Democratic House to work together to create some sort of crop-insurance pilot project, to test Lugar’s ideas and let them prove their worth.
In all, conservatives who were frustrated by Lugar’s (mild) drift leftward in his last Senate term should not forget the good he did for four full decades before that term. Americans of all parties should thank his memory for the reduction in the worldwide nuclear threat he engineered and for the example of ethical, constructive, dignified public service he exemplified.
