When I was a student at Denver working on my Masters, I went to a political rally for Arizona Rep. Mo Udall. He was running against Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Presidential nomination and I liked his politics, his presentation, and his humor. Of course, he never made it, coming in second throughout the primaries and eventually dropped out at the convention. As a 30 year congressman he was influential and did a great deal for the environmental issues. It was a warm Spring Colorado day on the grassy campus of the University of Denver. I don't remember it being a large crowd, but we were still pretty pumped he was there. Not only did I go to the rally, but also shook hands with him and informed him boastfully that "Illinois is behind you." Turns out he received 0% in Illinois.
A funny, thoughtful, one-eyed man, he came in second in some primaries, but eventually, he lagged far behind Carter, so that's what we got for 4 years. At least with Mo we might have had a chuckle or two.
These are not my pictures.
One of the things I just recently discovered is that Mo died virtually alone in a Washington D.C. nursing home. And about the only one who came to visit was up and coming Arizona politician John McCain. You see, once you lose influence in Washington, the phone stops ringing. It stopped for Mo when Parkinson's disease forced him to resign from Congress. Mo had divorced his first wife, and his second committed suicide in 1988. More on the McCain friendship but first a few Udall tidbits:
1. He lost his eye at age 5 when he and a buddy were trying to cut string. he always fought for National Health Insurance because of that incident. His father took him to a drunk physician and he treated it with poultices. The eye became infected and he lost it.
2. In 1963 he proposed legislation to put cigarettes and other tobacco products under the control of the Food and Drug Administration. He favored putting the Government on a pay-as-you-go basis and slashing the Federal debt. He also promoted major legislation dealing with postal reform and land-use planning.
3. He was a Mormon. His experiences in World War II led him to cease being an active member of the Mormon Church. Citing the church's policy of not allowing black people to become priests (which it has since rescinded), he said, ''For more than 25 years I have held and expressed a deep-seated and conscientious disagreement with the church doctrine on the role of blacks.''
4. ''I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona,'' he would say, ''and you can't have a higher handicap that that.''
5. He tried enlisting in the war and during the eye examination he would place his hand over the fake eye during the test. He actually passed to until a guy ratted on him. They later changed the requirement and he enlisted.
6. He served as commander of an all-black squadron in Louisiana for two years. ''That really shaped my life,'' he later said. ''I fought their fights with them. We had some battles over local discrimination.'' He served in the South Pacific and achieved the rank of Captain in the Army Air Corps.
7. In 1946, he returned to the University of Arizona, where he was voted president of the student body and was a co-captain and all-conference forward on the basketball team. After completing his undergraduate work, he briefly played professionally with the Denver Nuggets.
8. He failed in a bid to oust Hale Boggs of Louisiana as House majority leader in 1970.
When he lost to Mr. Boggs, after promised support from some liberals failed to materialize, he turned his ''Mo'' campaign button upside down so it read ''Ow.''
9. "I have learned the difference between cactus and caucus," he quipped. "On a cactus the pricks are on the outside."
As the disease progressed Mr. Udall was confined to the veterans' hospital in Washington. And as time passed, his condition deteriorated. Michael Lewis, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, found that Senator John McCain, the conservative Republican from Arizona, was one of Mr. Udall's few visitors. Back when McCain was just starting out he would have McCain up on the dais with him and sometimes during the speech he'd turn to McCain and ask him what his views were on matters. Udall was a Democrat and McCain was a Republican and still he helped jump start his career.
As the disease progressed Mr. Udall was confined to the veterans' hospital in Washington. And as time passed, his condition deteriorated. Michael Lewis, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, found that Senator John McCain, the conservative Republican from Arizona, was one of Mr. Udall's few visitors.
''Mo reached out to me in 50 different ways,'' Senator McCain told Mr. Lewis. When he was elected to the House in 1982, he said, Mr. Udall took him in hand, although they did not think alike on many issues. Four years later, when Mr. McCain won the Senate seat of a retiring Barry Goldwater, he said he felt his deepest sense of gratitude not to his fellow conservative but to Mr. Udall.
''There no way Mo could have been more wonderful,'' Mr. McCain told Mr. Lewis, ''And there was no reason for him to be that way.'' Whenever he takes the Senate floor on behalf of American Indians or argues that the Republican Party should support environmentalism, the Senator said, he remembers his debt to Mo Udall.
The only other notable politician I shook hands with was Jim Leach from Iowa. He was just starting out and he stopped by the dorm at Iowa Wesleyan looking for support. He went on to have an illustrious 30 year career representing Iowa in Congress.
Pictures and information gleaned from Wikipedia and the New York Times obituary.
A funny, thoughtful, one-eyed man, he came in second in some primaries, but eventually, he lagged far behind Carter, so that's what we got for 4 years. At least with Mo we might have had a chuckle or two.
One of the things I just recently discovered is that Mo died virtually alone in a Washington D.C. nursing home. And about the only one who came to visit was up and coming Arizona politician John McCain. You see, once you lose influence in Washington, the phone stops ringing. It stopped for Mo when Parkinson's disease forced him to resign from Congress. Mo had divorced his first wife, and his second committed suicide in 1988. More on the McCain friendship but first a few Udall tidbits:
1. He lost his eye at age 5 when he and a buddy were trying to cut string. he always fought for National Health Insurance because of that incident. His father took him to a drunk physician and he treated it with poultices. The eye became infected and he lost it.
2. In 1963 he proposed legislation to put cigarettes and other tobacco products under the control of the Food and Drug Administration. He favored putting the Government on a pay-as-you-go basis and slashing the Federal debt. He also promoted major legislation dealing with postal reform and land-use planning.
3. He was a Mormon. His experiences in World War II led him to cease being an active member of the Mormon Church. Citing the church's policy of not allowing black people to become priests (which it has since rescinded), he said, ''For more than 25 years I have held and expressed a deep-seated and conscientious disagreement with the church doctrine on the role of blacks.''
4. ''I'm a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona,'' he would say, ''and you can't have a higher handicap that that.''
5. He tried enlisting in the war and during the eye examination he would place his hand over the fake eye during the test. He actually passed to until a guy ratted on him. They later changed the requirement and he enlisted.
6. He served as commander of an all-black squadron in Louisiana for two years. ''That really shaped my life,'' he later said. ''I fought their fights with them. We had some battles over local discrimination.'' He served in the South Pacific and achieved the rank of Captain in the Army Air Corps.
7. In 1946, he returned to the University of Arizona, where he was voted president of the student body and was a co-captain and all-conference forward on the basketball team. After completing his undergraduate work, he briefly played professionally with the Denver Nuggets.
8. He failed in a bid to oust Hale Boggs of Louisiana as House majority leader in 1970.
When he lost to Mr. Boggs, after promised support from some liberals failed to materialize, he turned his ''Mo'' campaign button upside down so it read ''Ow.''
9. "I have learned the difference between cactus and caucus," he quipped. "On a cactus the pricks are on the outside."
As the disease progressed Mr. Udall was confined to the veterans' hospital in Washington. And as time passed, his condition deteriorated. Michael Lewis, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, found that Senator John McCain, the conservative Republican from Arizona, was one of Mr. Udall's few visitors. Back when McCain was just starting out he would have McCain up on the dais with him and sometimes during the speech he'd turn to McCain and ask him what his views were on matters. Udall was a Democrat and McCain was a Republican and still he helped jump start his career.
As the disease progressed Mr. Udall was confined to the veterans' hospital in Washington. And as time passed, his condition deteriorated. Michael Lewis, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, found that Senator John McCain, the conservative Republican from Arizona, was one of Mr. Udall's few visitors.
''Mo reached out to me in 50 different ways,'' Senator McCain told Mr. Lewis. When he was elected to the House in 1982, he said, Mr. Udall took him in hand, although they did not think alike on many issues. Four years later, when Mr. McCain won the Senate seat of a retiring Barry Goldwater, he said he felt his deepest sense of gratitude not to his fellow conservative but to Mr. Udall.
''There no way Mo could have been more wonderful,'' Mr. McCain told Mr. Lewis, ''And there was no reason for him to be that way.'' Whenever he takes the Senate floor on behalf of American Indians or argues that the Republican Party should support environmentalism, the Senator said, he remembers his debt to Mo Udall.
The only other notable politician I shook hands with was Jim Leach from Iowa. He was just starting out and he stopped by the dorm at Iowa Wesleyan looking for support. He went on to have an illustrious 30 year career representing Iowa in Congress.
Pictures and information gleaned from Wikipedia and the New York Times obituary.
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