Upon hearing that Pete DuPont died Sunday night at age 86, reporters who covered him speculated about how the former Republican U.S. Representative (1970-76) and governor of Delaware (1976-84) might easily have stopped the First State's other "up-and-comer" of the 1970's — Joe Biden.
Along with former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp, DuPont was immediately tagged as a Republican star when they arrived in the U.S. House together in 1970. Having served one term in the state legislature before coming to the House, Pierre S. (Pete) DuPont, IV was clearly seen as a politician on the go.
And it certainly didn't hurt that the Princeton graduate and U.S. Naval Reserve officer was the heir to his state's most celebrated name.
In 1972, Delaware's Republican Sen. J. Caleb Boggs was clearly fed up with Washington and wanted to step down after two terms. DuPont was clearly interested in an open Senate seat. Few doubted that he could demolish New Castle County Councilman Biden — at 29, the "young man for tomorrow" of Delaware Democrats.
But President Richard Nixon would have none of it. Along with then-Republican National Chairman Bob Dole, he convinced Boggs to run again. With an aggressive volunteer campaign run by sister Valerie, Biden pulled off one of the major upsets of the year after outworking reluctant campaigner Boggs.
In 1984, talk of DuPont vs. Biden resurfaced. Biden was then a two-term senator and centrist Democrat who broke with his national party on issues such as abortion and school busing. DuPont was finishing his second term as governor of Delaware and had inarguably been a leader of consequence: his 1981 Financial Center Development Act led to the credit card and financial industry becoming a force in Delaware. The measure would lead to 40,000 new jobs for the state and credit card companies relocating to Delaware because bank profits were now being taxed at a lower rate than in New York.
Ronald Reagan and other Republican leaders urged DuPont to take on Biden and saw him as an easy winner. But with his successful governorship ending, DuPont had become far more interested in doing things from the executive branch of government than the legislative. He was eyeing another office.
"Keep your eye on GOPAC," a colleague told Newsmax, referring to the new organization DuPont and other party leaders had founded to help elected Republicans at the local level. "It'll do a lot of good for Republicans and it will be the 'Pete DuPont for President Committee.'"
GOPAC never actually became such a committee, but its success did help convince the Delaware man he could make a bid for the White House himself in 1988.
He did. And much as he caught Democrats and Republicans off guard with his credit card, DuPont presented an agenda that was stunning and challenging: phasing out farm subsidies, a national workfare program to get most Americans off the welfare rolls, and to offer as an alternative to Social Security — a private retirement plan not unlike the 401Ks that most businesses offer employees.
When DuPont addressed the moderate Republican Mainstream Committee in Chicago in April of 1986, supporters of then-Vice President George H.W. Bush for president feared the former governor would take away from their man's centrist support.
"You ain't gonna believe what happened," Bushman Ron Kaufman told the vice president's top political operative Lee Atwater the next day. "DuPont gave a speech kicking the s--- out of the moderate wing of the party!"
But it was not to be. Despite the endorsement of the conservative Manchester (NH) Union-Leader, DuPont placed fourth in the New Hampshire primary and faded from the race. With Bush, Dole, Kemp, and Rev. Pat Robertson, there were just two many better-established figures who claimed Reagan's mantle.
Pete DuPont continued to get new ideas about reforming government and pushed them as a syndicated columnist and head of a foundation.
"Pete du Pont embodied the best in Delaware," Julianne Murray, 2020 Republican gubernatorial nominee, told Newsmax. "He inherited a state in bankruptcy and created the Delaware miracle. He was truly a man before his time, as many of the ideas that he proposed were considered radical at the time are mainstream today. Pete always put the citizens of Delaware first over partisan politics. We could use this today."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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