During a lunch in the summer of 1989, I introduced a friend to then-General Services Administrator Dick Austin by saying, “Dick’s also an ex-Marine.”
“That’s FORMER Marine!” Austin shot back, puffing on his ever-present Camel cigarette, offering the standard answer of the band of brothers dubbed “Leathernecks,” and winking slightly.
He thereupon spelled out what every Marine Corps veteran knows by heart: a former Marine served with valor and is willing to be called back under any circumstances; an ex-Marine is someone who served but their service is hopefully forgotten, such as presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald or Texas Tower sniper Charles Whitman.
That moment spoke volumes about Richard G. Austin, who died December 4 at age 74. Having covered him since he was the Republican nominee in Illinois’s Springfield-based district back in 1984, and then as the overseer of federal government offices, transportation, and property under George H.W. Bush, I always sensed that with Austin, everything went back to his being a Marine.
At age 17, fresh out of high school, Austin signed up for the Marine Corps and saw action in Vietnam from 1965-68. He was awarded 11 Air Medals and, upon returning stateside, he spent two more years in the Marine Corps reserve. It was at that time Austin earned his associate’s degree from Lincoln Land Community College and then received a bachelor’s degree from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield) in 1973.
Political science was his major and politics and public service swiftly became his great loves. The ink was barely dry on his diploma when Austin was working as legislative aide to Republican State Rep. Joe Gibbs. He joined the state's Department of Central Management Services as director of governmental services and then became an assistant Secretary of Transportation under Republican Gov. Jim Thompson. In 1977, Thompson tapped Austin as his administrative assistant.
An active Republican, Austin was elected to the Sangamon County Board in 1978 and quickly became its chairman—a part-time position but roughly the equivalent of a big city mayor.
“From the time he was a legislative aid to Joe Gibbs to county board candidate being backed as the 'project' of our Sangamon County YR Club, Dick Austin epitomized that all politics is local,” former Young Republican National Chairman Terry Campo recalled to Newsmax, “You have to know the people who vote, know their kid's names, and where they go to school.”
When he decided to run against freshman Democratic Rep. Dick Durbin in 1984, the future seemed bright for Austin.
Two years before, controversy had swirled around then-Rep. Paul Findley for his association with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) head Yasser Arafat. This fueled big dollars for the little-known Durbin and, in a Democratic year, he eked out a win of about 1400 votes over Findley. So, with Findley gone and President Ronald Reagan leading the Republican ticket, Austin’s campaign was one Republicans throughout Illinois were watching and supporting.
But it was not to be. Durbin, now U.S. Senate majority whip, had performed well at constituency service and was visible districtwide after returning home every weekend without fail. He rolled up about 55 percent of the vote over Austin.
In 1986, Reagan tapped Austin to be regional head of the GSA and he soon moved up to its number two position. He moved to the top job at GSA two years later and served until the Bush Administration ended in 1993.
As he was pursuing his political career and helping wife Susan raise their three daughters, Austin nonetheless missed the spit-and-polish and the discipline of his days in uniform. He joined the Army National Governor in 1981— a source of needling from his old Marine comrade s— and, in short order, was commanding a small unit in Springfield. By 1995, he was Major General Austin and Republican Gov. Jim Edgar tapped him as adjutant general of Illinois.
"He always did well no matter what he did,” Tony Libri, former Sangamon county clerk and GOP county chairman, told the State Journal Register after Austin’s death. “He was a two-star general when I was a colonel [in their reserve unit] and he got me interested in politics. You knew he was going to finish on top somewhere. What an impressive career and what an impressive life. He helped so many people like he helped me, and I'll be forever grateful to Dick."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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