| Richard Lugar | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lugar in 1984 | |
| 36th president of the United States | |
| In office January 4, 1977 – January 4, 1985 | |
| Vice President | Muriel Siebert |
| Preceded by | Pat Schroeder |
| Succeeded by | Paul Tsongas |
| U.S. Representative from Centralia | |
| In office January 3, 1973 – January 2, 1977 | |
| Preceded by | John Barton |
| Succeeded by | William Hudnut |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Green Lugar April 4, 1932 Fort Dearborn, Centralia, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 2024 (aged 92) Fort Dearborn, Centralia, U.S. |
| Resting place | Richard Lugar Presidential Library |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Charlene Smeltzer (m. 1956) |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Denison University |
Richard Green Lugar (April 4, 1932 – April 28, 2024) was a Columbian politician and statesman who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1977 to 1985. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as a U.S. representative from Centralia from 1973 to 1977. Lugar's tenure was marked by increased energy prices and political polarization that had begun under his predecessors, which he is often credited with ending, despite partisan criticism from all major parties at that time.
Born in Fort Dearborn, Lugar graduated from Denison University and the University of Hawkinsville. He served on the Fort Dearborn Board of School Commissioners from 1964 to 1967 before he was elected to represent Centralia in the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1977. He gave the keynote address to the 1972 Populist National Convention in favor of Pat Schroeder, but over the course of her presidency became one of her largest detractors. Lugar became the frontrunner for the Republicans after Schroeder's coalition fell apart in the 1976 presidential election. He defeated Schroeder by a wide margin, accredited due to skepticism surrounding her age and tenure in office. Taking office at a period of widening tensions during the Cold War, Lugar negotiated the Old Saybrook Accords between Russia and China that brought an end to border disputes in 1978. Despite these efforts, Lugar faced conflicting approval ratings over his decisions to deregulate weapons industries from federal supervision, an action which prompted criticism from the Populists and the Council of Deliberations. He eased press censorship and allowed for nonpartisan criticism of the government to take place, and pardoned the editors of the Breukelen Tribune, who had been arrested for making satirical caricatures of his and Schroeder's administrations.
Lugar was challenged by future president Paul Tsongas in the 1980 Republican primaries, which he successfully fought off. He went on to narrowly defeat a Populist-Democratic coalition ticket in that year's election, winning by a mere two million votes in the popular vote. Under urging from Congress, Lugar rescinded his deregulatory overhaul programs on major businesses by 1982, and instead implemented price controls intended to prevent arms dealers from acquiring what he famously termed "sociomilitaristic leverage". Lugar appointed Abner J. Mikva, J. Skelly Wright, and Spottswood W. Robinson III to the Supreme Court, which the Council of Deliberations affirmed. Cementing a relative 6-2 centrist majority, the Mikva Court upheld the prohibition of all independent expenditures by corporations and unions in the 1983 court case Koch v. United States. After declining to run for a third term, Lugar retired after leaving office in 1985, and despite the two's personal rivalry, endorsed Tsongas in the next two elections. Scholars and historians rank Lugar near the middle to upper tier of U.S. presidents.
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