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Policy Profile of Senator Richard Lugar
The following report will attempt to provide a brief, yet concise
policy profile of Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar. Beginning with
a short biographical review, the profile will proceed and concentrate on
Senator Lugar's major areas of public policy concern; Foreign Affairs,
Agriculture, and in part, his 1996 Presidential Campaign which encompasses
a myriad of issues, both foreign and domestic.
It would be impossible to include every aspect of Senator Lugar's
political career and personal life within the scope of this paper. Instead,
emphasis will be placed on the most important and critical points of his
tenure in American politics, at the federal level. However, in the
conclusion of this text a rational explanation will be offered to give
insight concerning Senator Lugar's motivations and tendencies to act in the
way he does.
Biographical Background
Richard Green Lugar was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 4,
1932. Attending Shortridge High School he excelled academically and was
the class Valedictorian. After graduation, Dick Lugar (as he is commonly
known) attended Denison University, in Ohio, and met his future wife
Charlene Smeltzer. In 1954 Lugar received his degree from Denison and went
on to be a Rhodes Scholar at Pembroke College on the campus of Oxford
University, in England. Richard and Charlene were married in September,
1956, and now have four sons and six grandchildren.
After completing studies at Oxford, Dick Lugar went to the American
Embassy in London, England and promptly enlisted in the Navy as an
intelligence briefer and was responsible for giving intelligence reports to
'high brass', including the President of the United States, Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
Along with Senator Lugar's political achievements, he has occupied
positions in the private sector, as well as a stint in the United States
Navy. As a young man Richard Lugar worked at, and managed the family
businesses, a farm, and a food machinery firm started by his Grandfather
over 100 years ago, Thomas L. Green & Company. Both are located in the
Indianapolis area.
In 1964, Lugar obtained his first political office with the
Indianapolis School Board. He then went on to win the Mayoral bid in 1968,
and served two terms at the head of city government in Indianapolis.
Senator Lugar's next stepping stone in politics would be a failed attempt
for the office of United States Senator in 1974, losing to incumbent Birch
Bayh, father of the current Indiana Governor, Evan Bayh. Suprisingly,
Lugar lost the election by only 75,000 votes, quite an accomplishment
considering the incumbency factor.
Lugar ran for the Senate again in 1976 and captured the seat from
Democratic incumbent Vance Hartke. Senator Lugar has since been reelected
two times (in 1988, he won by an overwhelming 68% percent of the total
vote) and is currently in the midst of a campaign for President of the
United States where he faces eight other challengers for the Republican
nomination.
Other achievements by Lugar that are worth mentioning are: His
selection to the vice-presidency of the National League of Cities in 1970.
He was appointed chairman, of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee
for the 98th Congress. Served as chairman for the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations from 1985 to 1987. He is currently the chairman of the
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Senator Lugar
also serves on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, and Foreign
Affairs sub-committees; Western Hemisphere and Peace Corps Affairs,
International Economic Policy, East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Trade,
Oceans and Environment. (101st, 486-489; 102nd,485-488; Directory,1399;
Miller, 95')
Foreign Affairs
Senator Richard Lugar is acknowledged to be one of the pre-eminent
national leaders in the realm of foreign policy. Some have even claimed
that he is in reality a "shadow Secretary of State", being recognized
around the globe for his involvement with international politics. Lugar's
involvement and membership to key Senate Foreign Affairs sub-committees,
and being the chair of the full committee for one session of Congress shows
his willingness and diligence to be involved in this policy area. Note,
however, Senator Lugar was forced out of the chairmanship and did not
voluntarily leave. (101st Congress, 486)
Lugar has four principle premises for good foreign policy. They are as
follows:
* " To defend and advance the cause of democracy, freedom, and human
rights throughout the world." * "To promote prosperity and social progress
through a free, open, and expanding market-oriented global economy." * "To
work diplomatically to help resolve dangerous regional conflicts." * "To
work to reduce and eventually eliminate the danger of nuclear war."
Senator Lugar has made an ernest attempt to embrace these ideas and employ
their definitions in most all areas of foreign policy. (Lugar, 28)
During Lugar's career in the United States Senate he has been afforded
many opportunities to use his foreign policy prowess. Among these
instances, some of the most notable shall be recognized within this paper.
Again, there are simply too many cases to list each and every account, and
one would be pressed to find them all. Those cases that were most visible
to the public will be examined here. The details are at a minimum, but
each will be represented by a brief synopsis of the matter at hand and
what role Senator Lugar played in the outcome.
To begin with, Richard Lugar is a major proponent of the North
American Free Trade Agreement. He strongly believes in the free market,
and stimulating its growth by increasing market share through unrestricted
trade with North American countries. Once criticized for his role in
pushing NAFTA through Congress, and its seemingly negative impact following
the collapse of the Mexican peso--Lugar defended the free trade accord by
pointing out that U. S. exports had soared to over one billion dollars and
Mexico's woes were due to mismanagement of their monetary unit and not the
new agreement.
Senator Lugar points out turmoil that many latin countries have faced
in recent years, and states unequivocally, these problems cannot be over-
looked in order to satisfy the skeptics' presumption's to free trade
failure. Instead, one must brace for some economic turbulence that was
bound to happen, and wait for the end result which will be beneficial to
all parties involved.(Times,26)
In another aspect of the global market, Lugar has staunchly supported
trade, investment, and loan guarantees to the countries of the old Soviet
Union. His reasoning is two-fold with emphasis on ensuring the young
democracies' survival in a period of time when they are certainly tested by
radical change and reforms in economic and political policies. However,
Senator Lugar also insists that Russia needs sufficient supports to help in
disarming nuclear warheads, disposing of the lethal components (enriched
uranium), and securing all facets of the processes.
The implications, according to Lugar, are not acceptable. There are
many unstable political entities in the modern world who would think
nothing of perpetuating a nuclear strike, perhaps even against the U.S..
Countries such as North Korea, Iraq, and Iran are considered by many
experts to be potential nuclear threats if they should be allowed to obtain
sufficient amounts of enriched uranium which is required to make nuclear
weapons.
This type of threat may seem far-fetched in certain ways, but recent
arrests in west european countries have been for possesion of, or
attempting to smuggle raw nuclear materials such as uranium and plutonium.
Unfortunately, inventory accounts are believed to be skewed and no one
knows for certain how much radioactive material needs to be accounted for
in the Eastern Bloc countries. However, Lugar suggests that risks can be
reduced by assisting the soviets economically. Overall, he asserts that
the U.S. plays the fool in resisting assistance, because we have so much to
gain by stimulating a new, virtually untouche economic market that thrills
to western technology and fashion, whereas the new democracies of the
Eastern Bloc have nothing to lose. (Will, 29; Forbes, 27)
Senator Lugar has openly and emphatically tried to persuade two
administrations, those of Bush and Clinton, to take a proactive role in
the the Bosnian conflict, making requests repeatedly for military
involvement. Lugar insists that an effort by the U.S. is needed to ensure
the peace process of the war stricken region. It is his opinion that the
United States is only adding to its negative image by not becoming involved.
America should step in to promote talks and maintain cease fire conditions
to prolong an atmosphere conducive to a positive peace agreement.(Cohen,
971; Madison, 1469)
Lugar has also been recognized, in part, for the recent release of
Americans David Daliberti, and William Barloon who had been detained, tried,
and sentenced for illegal border crossing by the Iraqi government. Lugar
went on the record stating that the U.S. must,"...indicate that we are
considering full diplomatic possibilities, and military options...We ought
to do so publicly, firmly and quickly." Many insiders believe that this
stance by a generally level headed senator sent a message to Saddam
Hussein---the current leader of Iraq---that the U.S. means business and is
willing to enter a combat situation in order to have these American
citizens released.(Greenhouse, 3)
As one might conclude from the aforementioned refrences, Richard Lugar
is a very active statesmen in the realm of foreign affairs. He
acknowledges that this degree of involvement could be potentially harmful
to a presidential candidate, but offers some solice by suggesting that
America needs a president for two primary reasons. One, to make sure the
financial state of the country is in good shape, taking every action to
remove the national debt. Secondly, to be an effective foreign policy
initiator, an example for the world, a dominant leader of the free
world.(Miller, 95')
Agriculture
Recent headlines spell out the current political climate in Congress.
It is a climate of complete contempt between members, and between the
legislative and executive branches. What is all the fighting about? The
96' budget of course, and no one appears to be making headway. In fact, at
the time of this writing, there has already been one special resolution to
extend the deadline to keep the federal government from shutting down. It
is only a matter of days before hundreds of thousands of federal employees
will be placed on furlow because the government will be unable to make the
payroll without proper appriations by the President and Congress.
However, there does seem to be some shining stars out there. Senator
Richard Lugar may be one of those stars. Richard Lugar is a quite recent
appointtee to the Senate's Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
It has been the duty and focus of this committee to develop and forge an
acceptable budget measure within the scope of its jurisdictions. The
negotiations have been extensive commencing early in the spring when Lugar
presented his own proposals to cut over fifteen billion dollars in
expendutures over a five year period.(Hosansky, 1167)
Lugar proposed massive cuts in the farm subsidies programs which were
created during the depression era to help farmers stay afloat. He suggests
that they are merely another form of welfare. Much of the disagreement
with Lugar's proposal stems from the idea that Lugar is from Indiana which
traditionally does not see negative impact on farming conditions like most
other farming states. Opponents argue that Lugar's plan was not realistic
and that he must seriously consider new proposals to solve the
discord.,,,and he did...his ability to compromise on tough legislation has
been a factor in his effeciveness as a lawmaker and policy formulation.
The newly proposed legislation has a very good possibility of passing
because it has already been agreed on by the House and the Senate, and has
also gotten the nod from President Clinton. The new measure calls for cuts
in the amounts of subsidies, but not nearly as drastic. The new bill calls
for $13.4 billion in cuts over the next seven years in the area of farm
subsidies. It would also prevent the Department of Agriculture from
adopting a rule requiring a ban on 'fresh' labels in the case of poultry
chilled below 26 degrees.
The new measure will provide $27.6 billion for the federal food stamp
program, as well as an increase of $260 million in the Women, Infants, and
Children nutrition program. Both programs fall under the jurisdiction of
the agriculture department. It appears that all sides have been satified
in this particular budget matter for the time being, however, it is
unfortunate that the rest of the gang on the hill cannot come to such an
agreement.
A couple of points are worth addressing in this section. Mainly
because of Senator Lugar's reluctance and refusal to protect measures
concerning agricultural legslation. First, it has been noted by many of
his colleagues that Lugar is from a farm state, in fact, he still operates
the family farm in central Indiana. A farm which benefitted from more
relaxed subsidies of the past, it collected over $2,500 in subsidies during
94' alone. Lugar maintains that subsidies are simply taking money from one
taxpayer and giving it to another---welfare for farmers.
Presidential Campaign
Mentioned earlier in this paper was the idea that Senator Richard
Lugar has political ambitions that include being the next President of the
United States. Lugar can remember wanting to seek the presidency when he
was still Mayor of Indianapolis. The following provides a brief overview
of Lugar's policy stances on general issues, especially domestic matters.
This is not intended to be complete and absolute platform, but instead a
cursory glance to the vision Richard Lugar has for American public policy.
POLS 431 Legislation Dr. Meyer
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