Richard Lugar

Early life, education, and early career

Richard Lugar was born on April 4, 1932, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Bertha (née Green) and Marvin Lugar. He was of part German descent. Lugar attended Shortridge High School. During this time he attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts' highest. Later, he became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated first in his class at Shortridge High School in 1950 and from Denison University in 1954, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He went on to attend Pembroke College, Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar and received a second bachelor's degree and a master's degree in 1956. At Oxford, Lugar was a member of the Oxford University men's basketball team that won the 1955 A.B.B.A. National Championship. He served in the United States Navy from 1956 to 1960; one of his assignments was as an intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade.

Lugar managed his family's 604-acre (244 ha) Marion County corn, soybean, and tree farm. Before entering public life, he helped his brother Tom manage the family's food machinery manufacturing business in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis politics and mayorship

Lugar served on the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners from 1964 to 1967. He was elected mayor of Indianapolis in 1967, at the age of 35, defeating incumbent Democrat John J. Barton, and began serving the first of two mayoral terms in 1968. (A political cartoon of the time questioned how an Eagle Scout could survive in the world of politics.) He was closely associated with the adoption of Unigov in 1970, which unified the governments of Indianapolis and Marion County. The Unigov plan helped trigger Indianapolis's economic growth and earned Lugar the post of president of the National League of Cities in 1971. In 1972, Lugar was a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention. During this time he became known as "Richard Nixon's favorite mayor", owing to his support for devolving federal powers to local communities. When Nixon visited Indianapolis in February 1970, he stated during a speech that he would meet with Lugar and other mayors ahead of a conference with governors on environmental issues. On March 14, 1974, Lugar dismissed Police Chief Winston L. Churchill following allegations of widespread corruption in the Indianapolis Police Department. Lugar stated the dismissal came following meetings with dozens of policemen and after having had the counsel of a seven-member committee of citizens to aid in the investigation.

U.S. Senate

Elections

Lugar first ran for the United States Senate in 1974 and lost to incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Birch Bayh 51% to 46%. In 1976, he defeated Indiana's other U.S. senator, Democratic Senator Vance Hartke, by a margin of 59% to 40%.

In 1982, he defeated Democratic Congressman Floyd Fithian 54% to 46% to win a second term. Six years later, Lugar won reelection to a third term, defeating Democrat Jack Wickes 68% to 32%. In 1994, Lugar won a fourth term, defeating Democratic former U.S. Congressman Jim Jontz (67–31%). He became the first U.S. senator from Indiana to be elected to a fourth term.

Lugar went on to serve a total of six terms in the Senate, defeating Democrat David Johnson 67% to 32% in 2000 and defeating Libertarian Steve Osborn 87% to 13% in 2006 in a contest in which the Democratic Party did not field a candidate. His was the highest-percentage win of the 2006 Senate elections despite a Democratic takeover of Washington.

In 2012, Lugar ran for reelection to a seventh term. Due to Lugar's unpopularity among some Tea Party voters because of his positions regarding illegal immigration, voting to confirm then-U.S. Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the DREAM Act, the New START Treaty, some gun control bills, and congressional earmarks, he was challenged by Tea Party-backed State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in a Republican primary. Mourdock defeated Lugar, 61% to 39%, and went on to lose the general election to incumbent Democratic Representative Joe Donnelly. Lugar carried only three counties, Boone, Marion, and Tippecanoe. He was the first six-term U.S. senator to lose his seat in a primary election since Kenneth McKellar in 1952.

Tenure

Future governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels served as Lugar's chief of staff from 1977 to 1982. During the 1980 Republican National Convention, Lugar was rumored as a potential vice presidential nominee for presidential nominee Ronald Reagan.

In his first months, Lugar backed legislation prompting the Senate to adopt a stringent code of ethics intended to assist with the restoration of public confidence in Congress.

On June 30, 1978, the Senate voted to approve granting New York City long term federal loan guarantees of $1.5 billion that the city had cited as essential to its prevention of bankruptcy. The measure was a compromise proposal by Lugar and Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire. Later that day, during a news conference, Senator Jacob Javits (D-NY) thanked Lugar and Proxmire.

Lugar attended the January 7, 1980, signing ceremony of the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 in the Cabinet Room. Lugar addressed President Jimmy Carter during the ceremony by thanking him for signing what Lugar called "very humane and compassionate legislation" that was important for the United States.

In the early months of the Reagan administration, Lugar supported its program to eliminate all restrictions on planting and marketing of peanuts. An April 30, 1981, vote by members of the Senate Agriculture Committee continued the restrictions.

On May 11, 1981, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in favor of implementing restrictions on American aid to El Salvador requiring President Reagan to verify the Salvadorian government was using the funds to implement human rights along with political and economic changes. The measure was opposed by Lugar who voted against the entirety of its conditions.

Lugar was one of four senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote against the Senate rejecting the nomination of Ernest W. Lefever for Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights on June 5, 1981.

On October 15, 1981, Lugar voted against the recommendation of the disapproval toward the Reagan administration's intent to sell Awacs radar surveillance planes and other air-combat equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Committee assignments

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

Committee on Foreign Relations

1996 presidential campaign

Lugar ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1996. He declared his candidacy on April 19, 1995, in Indianapolis. However, the announcement was overshadowed by the Oklahoma City bombing, an event the same day that was the most deadly act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil to date.

Caucuses and primaries began in January 1996. He ran on a campaign slogan of "nuclear security and fiscal sanity", but his campaign failed to gain traction. He came in 7th in the Iowa caucuses on February 12 with 4%, and 4th in the New Hampshire primary on February 20 with 5%. In the Delaware primary on February 24 he also won 5%, and in the Arizona and North Dakota primaries on February 27 he came in last with 1%. He was on the ballot in seven of the nine contests on Super Tuesday on March 5, winning 1% in Colorado, Connecticut, and Maryland, 2% in Massachusetts, 3% in Maine and Rhode Island and 14% in Vermont, which was the best result he managed, though he still only came in 4th.

Lugar quit the race the next day, March 6. His fellow senator and eventual Republican nominee Bob Dole won all nine contests and Lugar endorsed him.

Lugar remained on the ballot in a number of states because of legal timing restrictions, winning 2% of the vote in Florida, then 1% each in Oregon, Illinois, Ohio, and California, 5% in Pennsylvania, and 1% in North Carolina and West Virginia. He finished sixth overall, with 127,111 votes, or 0.83%, and failed to win any contests or delegates. Due to an unfavorable political climate that penalized bipartisan outcomes, David Corn of Mother Jones called his presidential campaign "ludicrous".

Post-Senate career

On February 15, 2018, Lugar made a joint appearance with Lee H. Hamilton at DePauw University for the program "Can We Talk?: Restoring Civility in Public and Political Discourse in the U.S. and Abroad".

The Lugar Center

Following his service in the Senate, Lugar established the Lugar Center, a nonprofit public policy institution located in Washington, D.C.

Under the leadership of Lugar, the Lugar Center seeks to become a prominent voice in many of the global issues that defined the Senator's work in Congress. There are four "focus areas": Global Food Security, WMD Nonproliferation, Foreign Aid Effectiveness, and Bipartisan Governance. Since its inception in January 2013, the Lugar Center has served as a source of education and awareness on these pertinent issues.

The center's initiatives include the following: working in conjunction with the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University to establish the Bipartisan Index, partnering with the Arms Control Association to establish the Bipartisan Nuclear and WMD Policy Dialogue Project, and compiling a comprehensive selection of bibliographical resources for researchers and policymakers interested in global food security. In addition, the Lugar Diplomacy Series brings together American policy- and opinion-makers and the Washington diplomatic community. Guests have included Elena Kagan, David Petraeus, and Howard Buffett.

In addition, the Lugar Center was awarded a grant by the Delegation of the European Union to conduct policy research regarding transatlantic cooperation. The grant permitted the center to partner with the German Marshall Fund of the United States to work on bolstering trans-Atlantic energy security and economic cooperation, particularly in relation to the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Political positions

Abortion

Lugar's 2007 rating from NARAL was 40%. His 2007–2008 rating from the National Right to Life Committee was 85%.

Agricultural reform

As Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Lugar built bipartisan support for 1996 federal farm program reforms, ending 1930s-era federal production controls. He worked to initiate a biofuels research program to help increase U.S. utilization of ethanol and combustion fuels, and led initiatives to streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reform the food stamp program, and preserve the federal school lunch program.

Bipartisan governance

Although Republican, Lugar often worked across the aisle, working alongside Democrats on many initiatives. For this reason, he commonly broke with traditional Republican lines, especially on non-domestic issues. Lugar's most well-known piece of legislation, the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Agreement, was co-sponsored with Sam Nunn, a Democratic Senator from Georgia. Lugar's bipartisan efforts earned him 24th place of 227 Senators' lifetime scores from 1993 to 2014 according to the Lugar Bipartisan Index, with a score of .668. Lugar continued to support bipartisan solutions and initiatives as one of the policy focus areas of The Lugar Center.

Climate change

Lugar was a firm believer in pragmatic, scientific solutions to climate change issues. In 2006, he co-sponsored Senate Resolution 312 with then-Senator Joe Biden, which encouraged American participation in international negotiations regarding mitigation agreements. Until his death, he continued to support multilateral initiatives for the deployment of innovative clean technology around the world.

Cuba

Lugar described U.S. sanctions on Cuba as a failed policy and wrote to President Obama that "additional measures are needed...to recast a policy that has not only failed to promote human rights and democracy, but also undermines our broader security and political interests". He supported the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (S.428), which would lift the restrictions on U.S. citizens visiting Cuba in place since the early 1960s.

Economy

Lugar took a conservative approach to economics. He voted for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. He voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Gun control

Lugar was a supporter of gun control and backed a number of gun legislations and weapons bans. He had an F grade from the NRA Political Victory Fund. He had an F grade from Gun Owners of America and a 53% positive rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Handgun Violence.

Health care reform

Lugar opposed President Obama's health reform legislation, voted against the Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Immigration

Lugar had a generally liberal stance on immigration, supporting the DREAM Act during the Obama administration and the McCain–Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill under the Bush administration, both of which died in Congress. Both were described by critics as "amnesty".

Iraq War

On June 25, 2007, Lugar, who had been "a reliable vote for President Bush on the war", said that "Bush's Iraq strategy [is] not working and... the United States should downsize the military's role".

Lugar's blunt assessment has been viewed as significant because it showed the growing impatience and dissatisfaction with Bush's strategy in Iraq. After Lugar finished his remarks, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), a sharp critic of the war, praised Lugar's "thoughtful, sincere and honest" speech, which Durbin said was in the "finest tradition of the U.S. Senate". Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to take a copy of Lugar's speech home over the Fourth of July break and study it before returning to work. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, in reaction to Lugar's speech: "When this war comes to an end, and it will come to an end, and the history books are written, and they will be written, I believe that Sen. Lugar's words yesterday could be remembered as a turning point in this intractable civil war in Iraq."

Two days later, on June 27, 2007, Lugar said that Congressional measures aimed at curtailing U.S. military involvement in Iraq – including "so-called timetables, benchmarks" – have "no particular legal consequence", are "very partisan", and "will not work".

Judicial nominees

Lugar believed that judicial confirmation decisions should not be purely partisan. His view was that if an appointee is properly qualified for the position, the Senate should show deference to the president and confirm the nomination.

Lugar introduced President George W. Bush's nominee for chief justice, John Roberts, to the Senate at the beginning of Roberts's confirmation process and was instrumental in securing votes to confirm Roberts to the Supreme Court. Lugar was among the few Republican senators to support President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and also voted in favor of his second Supreme Court nominee, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Lugar was one of only nine senators to vote against Bill Clinton's nomination of Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court. Lugar was the first United States Senator to declare their opposition to Breyer's nomination, citing, "substantial doubts about his prudence and good judgement." This was the only one of the thirteen Supreme Court confirmation votes which took place during Lugar's tenure in which he cast a vote against the nomination.

LGBT issues

Lugar held a socially conservative approach on LGBT issues. He voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, limiting the definition of marriage to one man and one woman. However, he also voted in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act, which expanded the federal hate crime statutes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. In October 2010, Lugar voted against repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy—which prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. Although Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced on November 18, 2010, that Lugar promised to vote to repeal the policy the next time it comes up for a vote, Lugar voted against DADT repeal in both the cloture and final votes on December 18, 2010.

Middle East

In a television interview on September 11, 1983, amid President Reagan not defining the penalties for American casualties in the Middle East, Lugar stated the US position in Lebanon was "clearly defensive", but concurred that issue was debatable.

On May 6, 1986, Lugar was among 22 senators to vote in favor of the Reagan administration-backed proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia, warning other senators prior to voting that they "were taking a headlong plunge in opposition to the President of the United States". Lugar and fellow Senator Bob Dole, both of whom supported the arms sale proposal, stated that Reagan would be crippled in his role in the Middle East peace settlement in the event that he was unable to deliver a reduced arms package to the moderate Arab state.

On August 7, 2012, Lugar called for the United States and Russia to work in collaboration to eliminate the stockpile of chemical weapons in Syria during an interview. He noted that the proposal had been turned down by Russian officials, who noted Syria had not previously supported the Chemical Weapons Convention, and that other countries saw the stockpile of Syrian weapons as "influencing very adversely the potential for peace and stability in the Middle East".

Nuclear stockpile

Lugar was influential in gaining Senate ratification of treaties to reduce the world's use, production and stockpiling of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and spearheaded many bipartisan nonproliferation initiatives. In 1991, he initiated a partnership with then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn aiming to eliminate latent weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. By 2003, the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program has deactivated more than 6,000 nuclear warheads. In 2004, Lugar and Nunn were jointly awarded the Heinz Awards Chairman's Medal for their efforts. He was an integral figure in the passing of the New START Treaty (which passed 71–26).

Pakistan

In October 2008, Lugar and Joe Biden, his partner in the Committee on Foreign Relations, received the Hilal-i-Pakistan (Crescent of Pakistan) Award from the government of Pakistan for their continued support of the country. In July 2008 Lugar and Biden introduced a plan that would give $1.5 billion in aid per year to support economic development in Pakistan.

Other international policy achievements

Senator Lugar supported Nelson Mandela's fight against South African apartheid. When President Reagan vetoed economic sanctions against South African leaders as a punitive measure for apartheid, Lugar turned against his own party and led the charge to overrule the veto successfully with bipartisan support. As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he declared on the Senate floor, "We are against tyranny, and there is tyranny in South Africa."

Lugar was also instrumental to the fall of the dictatorial Marcos regime in the Philippines and overseeing the 1985 presidential election there, urging intervention from the Reagan administration.

In addition, Lugar coauthored the Cardin–Lugar Amendment to the Dodd–Frank Act, which required all U.S.-listed oil and mining companies to report their payments to governments. Nearly identical pro-transparency measures, aimed at curbing natural resource-related corruption in the developing world, were subsequently adopted by the European Union and Canada, making extractive industry payment disclosure a global standard.

Views on Trump administration

In a November 2017 interview, Lugar stated that President Donald Trump had not "demonstrated civility in his leadership" and that his usage of Twitter and "other bombastic avenues" were not solving issues.

Awards and honors

Lugar received numerous awards, including Guardian of Small Business, the Spirit of Enterprise, Watchdog of the Treasury, and 46 honorary doctorate degrees. In 1970, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2001, Lugar received the Democracy Service Medal of the National Endowment for Democracy. In 2010, Lugar received the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site Advancing American Democracy Award. In June 2012, he was conferred with the Grand Collar of the Order of Lakandula by President Benigno S. Aquino III for his contributions to the enhancement of the Philippine-US alliance and friendship as well as Poland's Knight of Freedom Award for his actions and support of the Polish accession process to NATO structures.

On August 8, 2013, President Obama named Lugar as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The award ceremony was held November 20 of that year, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The citation in the press release read as follows:

"Richard Lugar represented Indiana in the United States Senate for more than 30 years. An internationally respected statesman, he is best known for his bipartisan leadership and decades-long commitment to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. Prior to serving in Congress, Lugar was a Rhodes Scholar and Mayor of Indianapolis from 1968 to 1975. He currently serves as President of the Lugar Center."

Lugar was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for his efforts to reduce Weapons of Mass Destruction and supporting NATO. Lugar was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, from Germany, in 2013, for his work on fostering transatlantic cooperation. In 2014, Lugar received the Golden Laurel Branch award, the highest honor given by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lugar was recognized for his contributions to Bulgaria's accession to NATO.

In August 2016, President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine awarded Richard Lugar with the highest award for foreigners — Order of Liberty. In November 2016 he was awarded the 2016 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding. In 2005, Lugar was presented the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award by the American Foreign Service Association.

Other outside activities

Lugar was a member the Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, as well as a member of the Society of Indiana Pioneers, based on his descent from very early settlers in the state. He joined the Rotary Club of Indianapolis in 1957 and spoke at the club annually during his time in the U.S. Senate. He remained an active Rotarian. On February 16, 2013, Lugar was named the Rotarian of the Century. He served on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy from 1992 to 2001.

Lugar was a member of the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, an organization involved in international elections. He was a member of the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Lugar was on the Board of Selectors of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service.

Richard G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research

A biological research facility in Tbilisi, Georgia, is named after Lugar in honor of his efforts to reduce nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons around the world. The Richard G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research is a biological research facility funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to contain and house dangerous pathogens and support international research efforts. It and other upgraded bio-threat reduction facilities in the region are designed to stop diseases like plague and African swine fever from spreading globally.

Lugar, utilizing the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (CTR) which helped former Soviet Union states dismantle weapons of mass destruction after the Cold War, worked with the country of Georgia on biosafety, biosecurity and biosurveillance efforts through CTR's Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP). The main goal was to improve the biosafety, biosecurity, disease surveillance, and establish the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory.

In 2012, Georgian authorities renamed the facility the Richard G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research; it belongs to and is run by the Georgian National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC). In 2014, then-U.S. Ambassador to Georgia at the time, Richard Norland, signed an agreement with then-Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to transfer custody of the center to the NCDC during the 2014 World Congress on Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Science & Consequence Management. At the invitation of the Georgian government, a contingent of U.S. scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Global Disease Detection Program, and the U.S. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are co-located in the facility. They work collaboratively alongside their Georgian counterparts.

Personal life and death

Lugar married Charlene Smeltzer on September 8, 1956. The couple had four sons. He was a member of the United Methodist Church.

Lugar died in Falls Church, Virginia, on April 28, 2019, shortly after his 87th birthday, from complications of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Legacy

John T. Shaw assessed the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction as Lugar's landmark legislative accomplishment. The initiative would later be considered "one of the most prescient pieces of legislation ever passed, and the most important nonproliferation program ever".

In 2000, Eric Schmitt described Lugar as "a four-term senator, former presidential candidate and perhaps the most popular politician in Indiana history". Following Lugar's 2012 Senate loss, Peter Rusthoven stated, "Historically, this is not just one of the great senators now. This is one of the great senators in United States history. He is like a Daniel Webster, he is like a Henry Clay—names that I fear too many of our kids in grade school and high school don't even know anymore."

Lugar's defeat in the 2012 Senate Republican primary was written of as a sign of the national GOP base's escalation into strict support for the traditional views aligned with the right. Former Senator John Danforth said the loss told him "that there is an attempt by a lot of people to purge the Republican Party and to kick out of it people who do not hue a very strict party line". Geoffrey Kabaservice cast doubts on this view: "It may be that his bipartisanship and comparative moderation contributed to his loss, or his defeat may simply have reflected the political truism that young blood drives out the old. What's certain is that the Senate will miss his qualities, and in time so may we all."

On November 18, 2019, Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced that the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Richard G. Lugar (DDG-136) would be named in the late senator's honor.

In Indianapolis, the plaza in front of the City-County Building is named Lugar Plaza and contains a statue of Lugar by Ryan Feeney. A public housing apartment building in the city is also named in his honor. On the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, the School of Global and International Studies was renamed as Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies to honor Lugar and former U.S. Congressman Lee Hamilton.