Following the news of Richard Thornburgh’s death at age 88 on December 31, almost everyone who had met the former two-term governor of Pennsylvania, and U.S. attorney general had a story about him.
What was perhaps most distinctive about Dick Thornburgh (he insisted everyone call him by the diminutive and in fact took the oath as governor by saying “I, Dick Thornburgh…”) was that he opened and closed his political career with races that he lost.
But possibly as a result of his own losses, Thornburgh devoted much of his career to encouraging and assisting young Republicans to pursue political careers of their own.
One of them was Melissa Hart, who won a spectacular upset over a Democratic state senator in 1990 and then went on in 2000 to become the only Republican woman ever elected to the U.S. House from the Keystone State.
“[Thornburgh] was at the head table at the annual Pennsylvania State Society dinner in 1990, and I was at a table in the ballroom,” she recalled to Newsmax, “And here he was, the former governor and U.S. attorney general, telling people ‘You’ve got to help her! She can win!”
She could and she did. And as Hart put it, “I was just a kid and Attorney General Thornburgh was helping me!”
Thornburgh made his own “maiden voyage” in politics as somewhat of “a kid.” That was in 1966, when Thornburgh, a graduate of Yale with a degree in engineering and of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, took on Democratic Rep. William Moorhead in the Pittsburgh-based 14th District. With wife Ginny vigorously organizing volunteers and Republican Sen.-to-be John Heinz as finance chairman, the young Thornburgh waged a vigorous campaign.
But the heavily Democratic district was too much. Moorhead defeated Thornburgh by 2-to-1. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concluded that “while he did not pick the right office or the right time, we hope he will be encouraged to stay active in politics so that the public can avail itself of his services on another occasion.”
He did. Following a stint as U.S. Attorney under Richard Nixon and then head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division under Gerald Ford, Thornburgh entered the crowded Republican primary for governor in 1978. The leading candidates were two fellow prosecutors, former Philadelphia District Attorney Arlen Specter and former U.S. Attorney Dave Marston, and state House Speaker Bob Butera—all from Eastern Pennsylvania,
Thornburgh topped the field by consolidating Republican support from his native Southwestern Pennsylvania. In November, he defeated Democrat and former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty by running as a certified corruption fighter, and a backer of lower taxes and welfare reform.
After two successful terms in Harrisburg, Thornburgh was named U.S. Attorney General by Ronald Reagan in 1987. George H.W. Bush kept him in the same job until 1991, when he urged his old friend to return to Pennsylvania and keep the Senate seat of John Heinz (who was killed in a plane crash) in Republican hands.
It was a bad calculation. As former Rep. Phil English, R.-Pa., recalled, “by 1991 Dick had inherited all of the discontents and communication failures of the Bush Administration and the negatives of an economic slowdown. They were overconfident and relied initially on a sterile economic development message. They misread the demand for healthcare reform [articulated by appointed Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford in a campaign brilliantly run by James Carville]. By then, Dick's achievements were forgotten.”
Wofford defeated Thornburgh with 55 per cent of the vote.
Lowman Henry, president of the Lincoln Institute in Pennsylvania, told us that Thornburgh’s interest in helping young people enter public service had a special origin.
“Perhaps because he had a special needs child he had a heartfelt interest in encouraging and helping young people,” said Henry, “He supported and mentored first time candidates, and sought to give young people that first step up the ladder when it came to jobs in his administration. He understood that cultivating the younger generation was a key to forging a more successful future for the Republican Party, and bringing new talent into the halls of government would result in a brighter future for Pennsylvania.”
“And he was an engineer by training,” observed Melissa Hart, “So he could carefully plan out things for tomorrow and help others with their careers. That’s pretty good training to have.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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