Senator Charles H. Percy
Opposition from Phyllis Schlafly has melted away, but he will have to keep his coalition together to win a third term
By - ROBERT P. HOWARD
An observer of Illinois politics and government for 45 years, he is author of Illinois: A History of the Prairie State. Before retirement he was Springfield correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.
IN THE broad galaxy of past and present Illinois politicians, Chuck Percy
holds an all-time distinction. Although he did not mention it when he officially entered the 1978 campaign,
Percy is the only candidate from either party, in any election, who carried each and every one of the 102
Illinois counties. He did it in 1972 when he won a second term in the United States Senate. Other Republicans,
specifically Gov. James R. Thompson and Atty. Gen. William J. Scott, have polled more votes, but only Percy
has swept the entire state, including such Democratic strongholds as Christian, St. Clair and Union counties.
He also carried Cook County in 1966 when he replaced the eminent Paul H. Douglas, one of the great
Democratic vote getters.
But nothing is certain in Illinois politics, and no one is predicting another clean sweep for Percy, who 30
years ago was the boy wonder of the corporate world. For one thing, the 1972 balloting was somewhat tainted,
since the Democrats helped by running George McGovern for president and Roman C. Pucinski,
hardly a household name downstate, for senator. This time to oppose Percy they slated Alex R. Seith, a
lawyer from DuPage County with a modicum of political experience who presumably must be conscious
of the betting odds. He probably hopes that in the last six years the senior senator has alienated important
voting blocs. And undoubtedly Seith knows about the Republican right wing, whose gurus wish that someone
else could get as many votes as Charles Harting Percy.
Percy likes being senator, and professionals consider him an overwhelming choice to accumulate more
seniority in Washington, assuming that he is re-nominated. His hair might be graying and he does wear a
hearing aid, but he won't observe his fifty-ninth birthday until five weeks before the November 7 election.
Around him is still the aura of the grade school lad who was Country Gentleman's best urban salesman
and the young man who at the University of Chicago was named student marshal, the highest honor that
President Robert Maynard Hutchins could bestow upon a graduating senior. Now he is a millionaire who
turned public official after a business career in which he was closely involved with international affairs.
Freethinking and outspoken, Percy is supported by a broad-gauged coalition His voting record attracts
both liber and conservatives, and he gets the vote of many independents and some Den crats. The business
community a proves his senatorial record. Each ye by invitation, he addresses the state AFL-CIO convention,
an opportunity never granted Everett McKinley Dirk sen. Farm polls show that he is w regarded in rural areas.
For a Republi can he runs well among blacks. Nation-ality groups are at least not unfriendly Jewish leaders
protested when Percy gave them unwelcome advice about the Mideastern situation, but communica-tion has
been maintained without rancor. Educators and professional groups have a friendly attitude, and the senator
has carefully cultivated social security and medicare recipients.
A recital of strength does not negate possible anti-Percy trouble. The senator is vulnerable to hostility
from I influential Roman Catholic clergy because he has been a consistent sup porter of federal financing
of abortions. (In the same position is Gov. Thomp-son, who unsuccessfully vetoed anti-abortion bill.) So far
Percy has not announced a stand on the Panama Canal treaty, a potentially explosive issue now being
considered by the foreign relations committee of which he
8 / January 1978 / Illinois Issues
is a member. On another emotional
matter, Percy supports the Equal Rights
Amendment.
The biggest obstacle to Percy's future
vanished with announcement that he
would not be challenged in the primary
by the far right's superwoman, Phyllis
Schlafly of Alton, for whom petitions
had been circulated by her anti-ERA
followers. Schlafly stands on the far side
of Ronald Reagan and her rallying cries
of opposition to the canal treaty,
abortion and equal rights for her own
sex could have wrecked the G.O.P.,
which already has the status of a
schizophrenic minority party. A Percy-Schlafly contest would have been
memorable and the senator would have
been forced to spend the cold weather
months in an arduous and expensive
campaign. One reason why the conservative heroine stayed on the sidelines no
doubt is that the Percy camp, having
counted noses, was confident of the
support of the bulk of the party's
hierarchy. It is difficult to conceive how
a Schlafly candidacy could have succeeded in anything but giving a boost to
Democratic hopes in November. Still
remaining, of course, are the G.O.P.'s
basic troubles, one of them being a
cloud no larger than the Panama Canal.
Even if they would prefer a certified
conservative, the G.O.P. county chairmen and their blood brothers presumably did learn something from the
Goldwater debacle of 1964 and the
Ralph T. Smith defeat of 1970, in which
rank-and-file candidates suffered heavy
losses. In both cases the ticket leaders
disregarded Rule One for political
campaigning, which advises candidates
to take a firm position in the middle of
the political spectrum, since special
circumstances are needed if extremists
are to succeed. Smith, who had been
appointed senator upon the death of
Dirksen, ran for a full term by appealing
to conservaties. Thereupon Adlai E.
Stevenson III moved into the vacated
center and won easily. Two years ago by
hard work former Gov. Richard B.
Ogilvie kept the Illinois delegation from
going to Reagan. Since the Republican
rank-and-file has shown its willingness to
vote for Percy, the leadership has no
option but to back an incumbent who
has twice been a winner. Long-established
Democratic doctrine is that there
is small merit in nominating a loser and,
conversely, that the ability to win is
more important than fraternalism and
orthodoxy. The danger to Percy would
be that a low voter turnout in bad
weather might leave the outcome to
followers of Schlafly and Congressman
Philip Crane (R., Mount Prospect).
Like most politicians, Percy has never
had experience competing with a woman who is personable, fluent and well-financed. Back in 1930, Sen. Charles S.
Deneen lost the Republican primary to
the well-heeled Ruth Hanna McCormick, but the nomination was valueless
when she ran against the urbane and
courteous James Hamilton Lewis who
His voting record
attracts both liberals
and conservatives,
and he gets the votes
of many independents
and some Democrats
won in the first of the depression-era
Democratic landslides. As a political
shortcoming, it might be hazarded that
in certain situations Percy is too much
of a gentleman. In his losing campaign
for governor in 1964, he failed to go for
Otto Kerner's jugular. The Republican
nominee kept to the high road while
Kerner quickly replaced his campaign
manager and revenue director, Theodore J. Isaacs, in the first of that
administration's scandals. That time it
involved the impropriety of the state
purchasing envelopes from a company
organized by Isaacs, who thereafter
used the back door to the governor's
office. In time, both Isaacs and Kerner
became prize exhibits in the prosecutory
record of the present governor. The
1964 defeat no doubt was a good thing
for Percy, since latter-day state executives have trouble winning second terms
and not for 84 years has one of them
gone directly from the Executive Mansion in Springfield to the Senate Office
Building in Washington.
Other men of considerable wealth,
some of them in the millionaire class,
have served in the legislature or as local
party leaders, but they don't feel a
kinship with Percy, who in his twenty-ninth year became president of Bell and
Howell. Privately, some resent Percy's
political success on the ground that he
started at the top. It is true that he was a
precinct committeeman in 1946, but
Republican majorities are automatic in
Kenilworth. So far as party workers are
concerned, he first came to their attention in 1955 as president of the United
Republican Fund of Illinois, a position
in which he raised more than $4 million
in three years. Then, as a young protege
of President Elsenhower, he held major
national posts.
Republicans who want their senator
to be true-blue conservative do not give
him bonus points because he is the
father-in-law of the Democratic governor of West Virginia, one of the Rockefellers. In truth, the basically moderate
senator has carefully mixed conservatism and liberalism in a manner that has
grass roots appeal and has been the
foundation for the coalition support he
has assembled. Old-line Republicans do
not criticize his handling of economic
problems. The difficulty is that he isn't a
conservative all of the time. Worse yet,
he never gave complete loyalty to
Richard M. Nixon. Percy opposed the
Supreme Court nominations of Judges
Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. and G.
Harold Carswell, and he voted against
the supersonic transport and antiballistic missile programs. In the first unfolding of Watergate he went further into
the doghouse by advising that a special
prosecutor be appointed. Those black
marks were starkly visible on Percy's
record in the 1972 campaign when he
carried all 102 counties.
Washington is only a few hours away
from the state's airports, but incumbents find that the congressional workload makes it difficult to meet the
demand for speeches and handshaking
tours. Nevertheless, Percy goes into his
third term campaign in a position of
strength. He has advanced in seniority
until he ranks thirty-ninth among the
one hundred senators and twelfth in the
Republican minority. Retirements and
attrition will permit advancement by
several more steps after the election. The
senior senator's name is attached to
important legislation and he will tell his
constituents that, if they approve, he has
the opportunity to accomplish more.
Before the November election he will
talk much about reform of the federal
bureaucracy. As an accomplishment in
the Senate, Percy points to the budget
reform act of 1974, which he co-sponsored with Democrats Sam Ervin
9/ January 1978/ Illinois Issues
He has advanced in seniority until he ranks thirty-ninth
among the one hundred senators and twelfth
in the Republican minority
and Edmund Muskie. In hope of budget balancing, it requires annual resolutions setting ceilings on federal spending. In a third term, Percy says, he will see to it that the law "makes a reality of efficiency in government." As unfinished business, he predicts early passage of a regulatory reform bill, a major piece of legislation he sponsors with Robert E. Byrd (D., Va.), the majority leader, and Abraham Ribicoff (D., Conn.). It seeks to promote efficiency and economy by "getting government regulators off our
backs and mountains of paperwork out of our hair." President Carter also advocates regulatory reform and can achieve it only through Percy's bill.
Percy maintained independence
through the long Senate debates on
energy. Critical of many of the stands
taken by his Senate colleagues, he sided
with the President by holding that a
crisis exists and that reliance on foreign
oil must be reduced and ultimately
ended. His major emphasis has been
that energy sources must be conserved
by reducing waste. To that end he is
chairman of an Alliance to Save Energy,
a private, nonprofit and bipartisan
agency he organized to focus attention
on conservation. The Senate accepted
his gasohol amendment to exempt from
federal taxes any fuel containing alcohol. He also won approval for experimentation with blended fuels in a test
fleet of 1,000 cars. Rebating of wellhead
taxes to states that support conservation
also was accepted by the Senate, an idea
for which Percy gives credit to Gov.
Thompson.
The television exposure the senator
received during the Bert Lance hearings
came from his best committee assignment, that of ranking Republican on the
government affairs committee and its
subcommittee on investigations. It had
an unfortunate aspect in that the
senator, handicapped because corporation
presidents are not trained as
prosecutors, at one point apologized to
the budget director for making an
unverified allegation. The committee
minority won its point when Lance
resigned, but Lance was the only man in
the Carter administration with whom
Percy's old friends in the business world
could talk over their problems.
The senator, who has specialized in
international matters, also sits on the
foreign affairs committee which for
several weeks had conducted hearings
on the Panama Canal treaty. Presumably a ratification vote will come before
the primary. A vote against the treaty
would be out of character for Percy,
who in the current uproar has kept silent
until all the evidence is in. He is the top-ranking Republican on subcommittees
dealing with international relations and
with arms control, oceans and international environment. The second
especially is important in view of the
possibility of an agreement with Russia
on limitation of strategic arms. In the
Senate Percy has worked three years for
a law, which he expects to be enacted
soon, to cut down on nuclear proliferation.
Access to sizable voting blocs is
provided by the senator's membership
on a special committee on aging and a
select committee on nutrition and
human needs. He has been concerned
about the prices of eyeglasses and
abuses in the hearing aid industry. His
own hearing aid, needed because of
World War II service as a naval gunnery
officer, is a badge of courage since it was
the first worn by a U.S. senator.
Until Gerald R. Ford moved into the
White House, Percy was an unannounced candidate for the 1976 presidential nomination, regardless of
whether the conservative party leadership in Illinois would have supported
him. Now he says that time has passed
him by and that he has no ambitions to
run for president. One reason, of course,
is that in 1980 it will be Gov. Thompson's turn. Congress is not covered by a
mandatory retirement law, however,
and Percy could be excused if he dreams
of reelection in future years, as well as
1978. If he gets his third term he will
rank eighth in length of service among
the 41 men who since 1818 have been
U.S. senators from Illinois. The champion in that category is Shelby M. Cullom (1883-1913), who was elected
five times.
10/ January 1978/ Illinois Issues