Governors of Iowa: Harold Hughes

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In a golden year for the Democratic Party, a rising star from the Great Plains would ascend the steps at the national convention. In summer 1964, Iowa Governor Harold Hughes would stand to formally nominate popular incumbent President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The deep baritone voice of Hughes would echo throughout the convention hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Harold Hughes: On behalf of the people of my native Iowa and our sister states in the Great Midwest, I take infinite pride in seconding the nomination of Lyndon Baines Johnson for President of the United States.

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Hughes' national political ascension in 1964 was swift and remarkable. Only years earlier, the World War II veteran turned truck driver from Western Iowa was in deep despair. A long-time battle with alcoholism had stripped Hughes of direction and led him to the brink of suicide. In less than a decade, Hughes would embrace public office and guide the state of Iowa through legislative battles, cultural turmoil and national controversy, all while displaying his own personal brand of progressive leadership, born again Christian ideals and a personal magnetism that captured the spirit of the 1960s.

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The story of Harold Hughes is one of tragedy, triumph and sympathy for others gripped by addiction. A man who connected with common Iowans but spoke eloquently of the future of America. A politician whose friendship with LBJ grew steadily until the reality of Vietnam ripped it apart. A Governor whose accomplishments set Iowa on a different path for decades to come.

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In the rolling hills of Western Iowa, the farming community of Ida Grove claims roughly 2,000 residents. The same number of Iowans lived here a century before, when a young Harold Hughes, his brother Jesse and their parents spent formative years piecing together a living during the Great Depression.

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Russell Wilson: Hughes grew up in poverty. When he was born in the hospital in Ida Grove, the farm that his father had rented burned down, both the barn and the house and it literally destroyed all of their promise. His father after that had to simply work for other farmers to make a living. And that is the circumstance under which Harold Hughes grew up.

The Hughes family as 150 miles away from the state's capital city of Des Moines and any thoughts of a future in politics was a distant daydream.

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The Hughes boys built a reputation and nicknames for their larger than life presence.

David Yepsen: Harold Hughes was a big man. He was six foot three, 235 pounds, his nickname was "Pach" and that came from in high school when he and his brother, who was also big, were called pachyderms and it stuck.

After high school, Harold would enroll briefly at the University of Iowa before dropping out. He would marry Eva Mercer of Ida Grove and soon begin building his own family. But tragedy would strike shortly after. In 1940 at the Hughes' rural farmhouse in Ida Grove, Harold's mother received a phone call from a local funeral director asking when to pick up the body. Mrs. Hughes was confused. Harold's brother Jesse had not come home from a drive to Storm Lake the night before. The funeral director mistakenly believed the local sheriff had already called. Jesse Hughes, his friend and their girlfriends had been caught in a rough thunderstorm, struck a bridge abutment and careened into a flooded stream. No one survived. Harold's big brother "Pach" was dead. On the phone with the funeral director, Mrs. Hughes collapsed in shock. The family was forever changed.

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The next challenges for Harold Hughes was an enemy thousands of miles from Western Iowa and another chapter of his life that would both strengthen is resolve and haunt his mind.

The Americans land in Sicily --

Governor Harold Hughes: I was a soldier in World War II. I was a Browning automatic rifleman. I wasn't an officer. I was a private. I saw a lot of combat. I was a combat soldier. I was attached to the 16th Infantry of the 1st Division. I was attached to the American Rangers in Sicily, the British Commandos in Italy. I was a part of an outfit that was used for firepower support for assault troops. We had suffered heavy casualties.

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Hughes would later write of the horrors of war. His time storming beaches in Sicily only to see close friends ripped apart by shrapnel. To be in an Italian foxhole under mortar fire and later see fellow Midwestern soldiers missing torsos and skulls.

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Hughes wrote, "The best way I knew to remedy the loneliness was to drink."

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Wartime drinking would only accelerate his existing alcoholism, leading to bar brawls and his eventual discharge from the U.S. Army years later.

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A man haunted by war returned to Iowa with a young family waiting for him and little direction for the future. Hughes would pick up truck driving as his profession and it would eventually lead to his path in politics.

Jack Kibbie: That's when he started drinking with his buddies and it got worse.

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But a local Ida Grove minister, Russell Wilson, would attempt to counsel a young alcoholic in his congregation.

Russell Wilson: I was minister of the Church of God in Ida Grove, interested in a couple of families that attended my church, but the men, the fathers didn't attend and I started asking around what was going on with them and discovered that they were both alcoholics. So I talked with the Methodist minister. He said, well, you need to meet Harold Hughes.

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Hughes' alcoholism was fracturing his life and his psyche. One night with his wife and daughters away, he grabbed a shotgun, a pair of shells and prepared to end his own pain. He would later call this moment the largest turning point in his entire life.

Russell Wilson: He was despondent, discouraged with his drinking and with his life. He climbed into the bathtub with a shotgun.

David Yepsen: Alcohol clearly defined him. He had such a problem with it that at one point in his life he was ready to kill himself, lying in a bathtub with a shotgun in his mouth. And it was at that point that he found God.

Russell Wilson: He had a spiritual awakening, something just said to him, Harold, don't do this, don't do this. And it so influenced him that he got out of the bathtub and laid down on the bed, simply talked himself out of committing suicide.

Governor Harold Hughes: I committed my life to God for whatever direction God would give me in it and I meant it. For me to drink was to die. The only way I could live was without it. I had messed up my life. I had hurt the people that I loved the most. I didn't run around telling people that I had made this sort of a commitment, my life was suddenly revolutionarily changed, but I did make it in my soul, my heart and I tried to follow that commitment over the years. In the middle '50s I for two years took correspondence courses with the thought and idea of entering the ministry.

David Yepsen: So he was very open about this. He was very open about his faith and got progressively more so as it went along. And I think that politically, I don't think it was a political calculation, but it clearly wore well with Iowans, particularly rural Iowans, Iowans generally religious folks. They liked that.

Russell Wilson: I think it impressed people that he had walked through that deep valley and come out on the other side, the towering individual that he became. It was pretty remarkable.

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In the early 1950s, Harold Hughes was a registered republican in conservative rural Western Iowa. But that changed when he was personally rejected at a county republican convention seeking to become more involved in local politics.

Russell Wilson: They wouldn't accept his credentials. So he sat up in the balcony and watched the proceedings of the republicans that day. And it disgusted him that he became a democrat.

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Governor Harold Hughes: I became concerned about rate filing and tariff rates and that sort of thing and I came to Des Moines, Iowa to protest some of the discrimination against smaller truckers and small truck lines and truck regulation in Interstate commerce and in intrastate commerce and getting no satisfaction there I went to see the Governor, or to his office. Much to my amazement, I got to see him. The Governor at that time was Herschel Loveless back in the 1950s. And when I complained to Herschel about what was going on, Governor Loveless, he said something to me that aroused my curiosity more or less. He said, if you're so damned upset by what's going on, why don't you run for the office yourself?

David Yepsen: Iowa was very much a republican state in the '50s and at the start of the '60s but it was changing. You had the arrival of the World War II generation, can do, young, energetic, confident, they just won a war and they were going to come back and do things.

Russell Wilson: When he told me that he was going to run for the State Commerce Commission, I thought, no way, doesn't have the talent, the education. Was I wrong, really very wrong.

Governor Harold Hughes: When I first ran for the State Commerce Commission, no one expected me to be elected because of my lack of qualifications, my background which was questionable and everything else. So I had to overcome a lot of what would be considered by most people insurmountable odds in order to be elected.

David Yepsen: And he was familiar with rural people. He had a pretty good network around the state from his time as a commerce commissioner. He was a trucker. He got into politics because he was upset with the way small truckers were treated. What a network. Guys driving trucks all over this state putting his signs up.

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After winning election to the state's Commerce Commission in 1958, Hughes set his sights on the governorship. After a failed campaign in 1960, he came storming back to the race in 1962 as the state was enthralled in a public policy dispute over liquor by the drink. It was a long standing state policy formed in a post-Prohibition Iowa. But it created a unique opportunity for Hughes to make a stand against incumbent Governor Norm Erbe.

Dwight Jensen: What we called key clubs and they were essentially night clubs where you could bring a bottle and put it in a cupboard or on a shelf. If you wanted to have a drink, you could have your drink made with the bottle you brought in. Now, that was the way it was supposed to work. Things went way past that. 66 of the 99 counties had some establishments that were violating the law.

David Yepsen: And here was a truck driving, recovering alcoholic saying, we've got to fix this liquor by the drink issue. The issue was simply this, it was illegal to buy a drink over a bar. But illegally it was wide open. And bars were turned into private clubs and you could buy clandestine booze and it was making a mockery out of the law. But politicians didn't want to touch it because the religious community, the faith community, a lot of people there just were against alcohol and drinking. And lots of Iowans saw this as hypocrisy.

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Tonight's guests are Mr. Norman A. Erbe, Governor of the state of Iowa and candidate for re-election and Mr. Harold E. Hughes, currently State Commerce Commissioner and candidate for Governor.

It is being suggested that what the state needs is some way to buy liquor other than in bottle quantities. Mr. Hughes, you have made several statements on this in the past. Would you care to make a few comments on that at this time?

Harold Hughes: We're not fooling anybody by the terminology we're using in this. We're talking about liquor by the drink and that is what the press will always call it and therefore I think is what I as a candidate might as well call it. If we honestly intend to be dry, then we should believe in Prohibition. If this money that we obtained from liquor in the state of Iowa is tainted or that we would obtain from liquor by the drink is tainted, then we are already contaminated.

Governor Norman Erbe: I recommended to the legislature that something be done about this phony key club problem, which to my mind makes a mockery of the liquor laws which we have at the present time. I again hope that something will be done about this particular facet of the liquor problem.

David Yepsen: Hughes was seen as strong on the issue. Erbe was seen as waffling on the issue. And Hughes won.

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The man from Ida Grove had battled back from the depths of alcohol fueled depression to become Governor of Iowa. And the newspaper headlines ironically would proclaim "liquor mandate". He was the lone democrat to win statewide elected office in 1962 as the Des Moines Register front page cartoon depicted a large Hughes donkey at a dinner table alongside a group of disappointed republican elephants.

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In 1963, Hughes would immediately get to work on his signature campaign issue, fixing the state's liquor by the drink laws.

Jack Kibbie: I think his idea was well, we're either going to legalize it, clean it up, regulate it or we're not going to have it at all. He convinced enough republicans, it took us three days to pass the liquor by the drink bill in the House. I know Dave Stanley alone probably offered 50 amendments on how big the windows would be in the bar, no signs outside and control of the lights. It was ridiculous.

Governor Terry Branstad: Hughes was elected and he was a forceful leader that did what he promised to do. And he came in with a republican legislature and he still go it done. And that's leadership. I think people in Iowa look to the Governor as the chief executive of the state and they want the Governor to provide leadership and to make the tough decisions.

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Jack Kibbie: It was something that most people thought would not happen. But he personally got involved and being a former alcoholic himself he put a lot of pressure on the legislature.

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In the early days of Hughes' governorship, his staff allowed for an open door policy. Any Iowan could stroll into the Governor's office at any time to discuss any issue.

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Dwight Jensen: There were people who wanted favors. There were people who were angry about something. There were people who just admired him and wanted to get close to the great man. All those things. They all went past my desk to get to the Governor, but I didn't have much to do with them, the traffic pattern just went past me. I had other things to do. I don't think that open door policy lasted very long because it couldn't.

Hughes' staff was young, energetic and often in awe of a leader with a commanding presence.

Elva Pittman: He had such a strong personality and I don't know, I just believed in him. And everyone in the office, we never had a disagreement, the employees.

Fran Frazier: He did have a presence, he was a larger man. But he seemed very kind, he understood people. He came from a humble background. And he seemed to seek those people out.

Marilyn Osborn: His voice would fill the Capitol and he was not yelling, just his voice preceded him. Is that God? No, that's just Harold Hughes.

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Bill Hedlund: Handsome and a voice that just drowned out everything and commanded your attention.

We find ourselves either individually or collectively without a problem, then we better get on our knees and ask God why he has forsaken us, because a problem is an opportunity and it's a challenge. We will not shirk our responsibilities. We're going to meet those responsibilities that call for the future.

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In the first months of Hughes' governorship, a controversial execution was set to take place at the state's legendary Fort Madison prison. Victor Feguer was sentenced to the federal crime of murder after kidnapping then killing a young Dubuque doctor across state lines in Illinois. Hughes was morally opposed to capital punishment and called the President of the United States, John Kennedy, seeking a commutation.

Governor Harold Hughes: The only basis I could appeal for at all would be that --

 

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Dwight Jensen: The night before the execution I got a call from the White House Council asking me to pass along to the Governor that President Kennedy had considered the issue and he just decided there was no grounds to stay the execution.

On the morning of March 15th, 1963, the last prisoner to be executed in Iowa had his last meal. A single olive he hoped would symbolize peace. As some prisoners gathered in prayer at the state penitentiary's altar, Feguer would tell his priest, "I sure hope I'm the last one to go in Iowa." He would die by hanging hours later from the temporary gallows in a prison garage.

Back at the Statehouse, Hughes was solemn but resolved to end the death penalty.

Dwight Jensen: It came from a man who fought some deadly battles during World War II in Italy and saw combat really, really up close. And that if anything reinforced his conviction that people shouldn't kill people.

Russell Wilson: But he actually visited with every man on death row, which I think was unprecedented. No Governor had ever done that before. I'm sure that his visits with them, talking with those men who were committed to death, influenced him.

David Yepsen: Hughes took the Commandments pretty literally and it said Thou Shalt Not Kill and he just had a tremendous moral objection to it. And it was very clear, Iowa was ready to move out of that, get rid of the death penalty and, again, Hughes was decisive, had the votes and got this state out of the death business.

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In an era of two year terms for Iowa's Governor, Hughes would quickly go into campaign mode in 1964. He would barnstorm the state with his public persona as a Governor of action.

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Governor Harold E. Hughes is a man on the move. And the state of Iowa is moving with him. In the Governor's own words --

Governor Harold Hughes: The old myth that it can't be done in Iowa and progress for the whole state is dangerous are not destroyed but they are mortally wounded. And the negative thinkers, those who would hold back the hands of the clock, are no longer in full control. People in Iowa are beginning to realize that things can be done here as well as anywhere else and that second best is not good enough for this state. We are beginning to realize that what benefits the entire state benefits every citizen in it, farmers, businessmen, working people, housewives, everyone. Iowa is moving as never before in its history. To keep it moving, we must plan together and work together so that we may prosper together.

Bill Hedlund: We decided that we needed to have a helicopter tour of the state of Iowa in a week, smaller towns. And I don't know, a helicopter probably brought people out too. But he would come in and the people would be standing there and he would get out and then in his booming voice talk about the campaign and everything and then take off. And it was a very successful time and really, really helped in the campaign.

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Well, we think Governor Hughes is a real strong Governor and has fulfilled many of his promises in the last 21 months.

As far as I'm concerned he is what the republicans have Abraham Lincoln but we have an honest Governor that is in the same league with Abraham Lincoln.

I think he's a very wise man and a good man. And I like the way he has been doing. And furthermore, I like his issues, I like the way he's going about taxes more so than the other fella.

I think as an executive he has shown very great abilities.

I think Governor Hughes is going to win it. And why, he's the best man and has the best program.

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The national political environment of 1964 was beginning to tilt heavily toward democrats after the presidential nomination of republican Barry Goldwater.

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David Yepsen: Today, Goldwater would not be seen as all that radical. He'd be more Libertarian. But at the time he was seen as dangerous, as reckless, as scary. And this set the stage for democrats to win elections because voters were going in all over the country, not just here, and voting straight for democrats because they were so concerned about what Barry Goldwater might do. And in fairness, he was running at an awful bad time. Lyndon Johnson had just become President after President Kennedy's assassination and there was still something of a halo around Johnson.

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The national profile of Governor Hughes was rising rapidly. The Midwestern democrat leading a former republican heavy state had caught the attention of then President Lyndon Johnson. LBJ would befriend Hughes and come to Des Moines in the fall of 1964.

Dwight Jensen: I think their relationship was really very good then. LBJ was a very dominant figure, even next to a guy like Hughes, who usually was the dominant figure. They were working then for the same things, a great society.

President Lyndon Johnson: And before I leave, I want to tell each of you how proud the rest of the nation is of the great state of Iowa for the responsible state government that Harold Hughes has given this state. We are proud of his education program. We are proud of his state responsibilities. We are proud of his state pride. He is a living and walking example of what bipartisanship can mean.

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Bill Hedlund: We were in Keokuk going to appear before a group and I got a call from Dwight Jensen in the Governor's office saying, head of the Iowa Highway Patrol has said that Hughes was picked up for drunken driving in Florida after he had said in a news article in Look magazine that he had quit at a certain time.

Governor Hughes, we're wondering why in an election year you were so frank about your problem of alcoholism?

Governor Harold Hughes: Well, when you use the terminology of a problem I have I think you're wrong. It's a problem I once had but no longer have.

Briefly could you tell us what caused your alcoholism? Do you really know?

Governor Harold Hughes: I doubt that anyone really knows the cause of a drinking problem. As I stated in the article, alcoholism is a triple threat disease. It's a combination of a physical and a spiritual and a psychological problem, which results in a person probably never being able to drink in a capacity that society chooses to call normal.

The issue that had tormented Hughes, alcoholism, would come storming back into his life. He had publicly assured Iowans he had overcome the disease. But his political opponent, State Attorney General Evan Hultman, attacked Hughes in a debate only days before Election Day. Hultman questioned Hughes' integrity. The Governor's response became an Iowa political legend.

David Yepsen: Hultman was trying to make an issue out of the fact that Hughes had said he quit drinking but here was this record that showed, in Florida I believe, that showed he had still been drinking. Well, Hultman didn't make it very clear and it clearly backfired on him.

Governor Terry Branstad: Where he was accused of being an alcoholic, of course he was a reformed alcoholic. So it really backfired.

Hughes rose to respond saying alcoholism would always define his past but never his future.

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The crowd roared and Hughes rolled to victory.

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In the early morning hours of Election Night 1964, the phone rang in the Governor's mansion in Des Moines. The caller was from Texas. It was the newly re-elected President LBJ checking in on his Governor from Iowa.

 

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David Yepsen: It was huge. There were people elected to the legislature that year as democrats who some of them didn't really know they were coming to Des Moines. Some thought they were going to Washington. It was just totally unexpected. You had people who just were filling a space on the ballot.

Jack Kibbie: That's when we elected 101 democrats out of the 124. Some of them only went to the courthouse or wherever and signed an affidavit to get their name on the ballot, never did a lot of campaigning, never spent any money and most of them had never been in the State Capitol before.

David Yepsen: And so they come in with a national tidal wave, with an Iowa tidal wave and they were full of energy. And a lot of them really didn't care about getting re-elected. They just thought this is great, we're going to get some things done.

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Democrats in the Iowa legislature set their sights high in 1965. More than 100 democrats resided in the Iowa House alone, a unique situation fueled by a 1960's reapportionment that created a chamber of more than 120 seats. The young Governor pressed fellow democrats to take action, passing nearly 500 bills during the session. The 1965 legislature would fully ban capital punishment in Iowa, raise the gas tax for road construction, create the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, increase state spending to a new record, initiate 8 constitutional amendments and reorganize public school districts. But perhaps the crowning achievement was the creation of a new post-graduate education system designed for all Iowans, rural and urban alike. Hughes led the charge on educational opportunities while rural legislator Jack Kibbie championed vocational schools, later known as community colleges. The community college programs enacted in 1965 would spur career development, rural economic stimulus and training for hundreds of thousands of Iowans in the coming half century.

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Bill Hedlund: Because of the control of both bodies of the legislature we were able to do a lot of things and pass a lot of things that we enjoy yet today.

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But the era of full democrat control in the state legislature was short-lived. It would take another 50 years before a similar trifecta of progressive politicians would control state government.

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Behind the scenes, Hughes and fellow democratic governors were growing concerned about President Johnson and the war in Vietnam. Johnson would return to Iowa in campaign 1966 and the President would renew his war on Communism in a Des Moines speech.

President Lyndon Johnson: I am here to tell you tonight that the only wise policy to follow in Vietnam is the policy that has worked so successfully for two decades. If we abandon our effort to keep stability in Asia, every single nation there will once again be an easy prey for these hungry, yearning Communist appetites.

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In 1966, republicans would bounce back while Governor Hughes would still win re-election.

David Yepsen: The '66 election, both in Iowa and nationally, was very much the pendulum swinging back, which is nothing new in American politics about that. Same thing, it affected Congress, democrats lost a lot of their seats in Congress and they lost control of the Iowa House in the '66 election. They kept it narrowly in the Senate. And most of the statewide offices, except Hughes', went back to the republicans.

During his 1967 Condition of the State Address to legislators, Hughes would proclaim Iowa's renewed economic development amidst growing international concerns.

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Governor Harold Hughes: It is now predicted that Iowa's per capita income for 1966 will exceed the national average or at least equal it for the first time in nearly two decades. One thing is certain, Iowa in this January of 1967 is a peaceful and prosperous garden spot on a troubled globe. Our future is unlimited. Thank you very kindly.

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Governor Harold Hughes: I think we have to understand that with the numbers of people, who I think by 1970 about 60% of our population will be 25 or younger, have never really experienced a total war as the adults of this country have.

Hughes would travel with fellow governors to Vietnam, inspecting the American war effort. His concerns for the loss of life only grew stronger.

Governor Harold Hughes: I was a strong supporter of Lyndon Johnson after President Kennedy was assassinated. I gave a seconding speech for his nomination when he ran for his first full term of office, only full term of office. I was a guest at the White House on a number of occasions. I supported the President strongly is what I'm trying to say. I believe that the Congress had taken action in the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, that they would have never have taken unless our own intelligence had indicated that what they said happened had happened. Now, that sets the scene for why I supported the war strongly in the early '60s.

David Yepsen: Democrats had some sense of party loyalty at first, certainly Hughes did. There was also a patriotic sense. We're at war. This was shortly after World War II. Yeah, we're going to rally around our troops. And gradually, not just Hughes, but a whole lot of people in the country said, wait a minute. What are we in here? We don't know what victory looks like. Hughes went from being supportive to being a leading opponent of the war.

Governor Harold Hughes: I believe that, first of all, that my President would never lie to me. Secondly, that when my country blew the bugle and said it's time to charge, every young man in America ought to take up the flag and charge. That was my heritage, my background. And I was again faced with one of the toughest political confrontations of my life. I found out beyond any reasonable doubt that we had been totally misled.

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Governor Harold Hughes: That what we were hearing was not the truth. That we had been lied to as a people. And that a President that I loved was deliberately apparently misleading us.

Tension between Hughes and Johnson would reach a crescendo at an emergency meeting between governors and the President in Texas. Hughes led the effort to confront LBJ, demanding a different course of action on Vietnam. Johnson was furious. Hughes was resolute. And their friendship dissolved into outright hostility.

David Yepsen: You didn't generally cross Lyndon Johnson, and Hughes did. Hughes wasn't intimidated by Johnson. Remember, Hughes is a big guy too.

Bill Hedlund: Secret Service guys at that time was a friend I knew from Ames, Iowa and he was out on the gate in Texas and they were there and he got a call and, Ernie, you've got to get up here. So, Ernie Olson went up and he said, look through the window. And there were LBJ and Harold Hughes standing in front of each other jawing. And they were both about the same size. And they said, we have never seen anybody stand up to LBJ like that. Came out of there and they had a press conference afterwards and kind of smoothed it over a little bit.

Governor Harold Hughes: Communication was very open and very frank and the problems that each governor felt that existed in his particular state, he was given the opportunity to present them. And I think the meeting as such cleared the air for all of us as governors.

And I think Governor Hughes made it clear that some people are paid to provoke fights and some are paid to prevent them and our job is to prevent them. We democrats have never been known for suppressing our differences.

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The Vietnam thing is going bad. We've got negotiations going but everybody is jumping in and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. I think he's just a plain damn traitor, that's what I think about Hughes.

Hughes was now a three-term Governor with little interest in a political future. He would decide to retire from politics until another national figure would convince him to take his fight to Washington, D.C.

Governor Harold Hughes: Because Robert Kennedy, my good friend, has convinced me that I should run for the Senate after I had already made a decision that I was going to retire from politics. He said, you can't do that, you've got to run for the Senate because your voice is needed in the Senate of the United States. We need to end this war. We need to continue this civil rights battle. We need to finish what we're about and your voice has got to be one of the leaders in the country to do it.

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Governor Harold Hughes: So I changed my mind and ran for the Senate.

Hughes would then call on his friend Robert Kennedy to help raise campaign money and stir excitement back in Iowa. On March 9th, 1968, RFK would fly to Des Moines on the cusp of his own decision to potentially challenge President Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy would bolster his friend Harold Hughes and speak of a different path for America.

Robert Kennedy: I come here because I think Harold Hughes will not only make a great senator from this state, but as one of the governors said, he'll make a great United States Senator.

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Robert Kennedy: Actually I expect to be back to Des Moines this coming summer. I expect to be back here in August.

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Robert Kennedy: As we go before the American people, we must demand of ourselves the same high standards of courage and selflessness that we ask of the people themselves. We must account to them in honesty and candor and truth, proud enough, proud enough of our successes to admit our past shortcomings, be open enough about our failures so that we can put them right for the future.

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As Senator Kennedy has so ably put here this evening, the tremendous problems that all of us face together in this nation, the interdependence that we have one for another from the farm to the great sprawling urban areas of this country, the interdependence we have one for another abroad in the world for all the peoples on the face of the Earth and the challenges that are ours.

After the speeches, Hughes assembled a group of democratic governors to press Kennedy. In a smoke-filled hotel room in downtown Des Moines, they pleaded for RFK to challenge LBJ.

Governor Harold Hughes: I had seven governors come here to Des Moines and we met with him after that fundraising dinner for most of the night trying to convince Bobby to run against the President.

Kennedy made no commitment that night in Iowa. The next day in California, he would confide to close aids he had decided to run for President. Just 5 days later, Kennedy would hold a press conference in Washington.

Robert Kennedy: I am announcing today my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies.

By the end of March 1968, President Johnson would address the nation.

President Lyndon Johnson: I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President.

Governor Hughes in the race for Iowa's U.S. Senate seat hoped to be on the November ballot alongside Robert Kennedy. It was only the beginning of one of the most tumultuous years in American political history. Civil rights issues would begin to dominate the national conversation. Hughes took notice.

Governor Harold Hughes: The eye of the hurricane is the racial issue, although it must be recognized that this is just one aspect of the overall crisis. Because of the recent outbreaks of violence in our cities, it commands our attention most dramatically.

Five nights after Johnson's address, Hughes would gather with members of Iowa's African American churches to help heal deep divisions over civil rights.

Russell Wilson: They met in a church over on the east of the Capitol, invited Hughes to come and speak with them.

Governor Harold Hughes: We had just finished eating dinner in the church here in Des Moines and a lady came to me and said, there is a very urgent call for you from Associated Press. And they said, it is so urgent that they insist on your coming to the phone. I didn't know whether -- I was just being introduced to speak -- to take the message or not. And I said, well who is it? I can't remember the name of the reporter but I knew them, knew they wouldn't insist unless it was urgent. So I went to the phone and they said, Governor, we're extremely sorry to have to interrupt your meeting, but it is our sad duty to inform you that Martin Luther King has just been assassinated in Memphis.

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Governor Harold Hughes: I was just standing there. What do you say? I was silent. But I had to go back and announce to that congregation and I think I was probably one of three or four white faces in the whole building at the time. I felt, I can't tell you what I felt, the sadness, the horror of what had happened. And I said, you know, I have the most unfortunate statement to make tonight that I think I've ever made in my life and that is to inform you that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has just been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Governor Harold Hughes: And you should have heard the congregation, the groan, the agony, the tears, the emotion. What happened next was astounding to me. The Bishop stood up and said, I would like for all of us to pray. And I guess what astounded me more than all was he prayed for the assassin first. And I'm thinking to myself, how could that be? It was a lesson in humility, understanding and love.

With the nation in turmoil, Hughes would take his message to the Iowa campaign trail and further welcome Kennedy family help on television with the support of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy.

Ted Kennedy: I'm Ted Kennedy. I'd like to talk with you for just a moment about your great Governor, Harold Hughes, who is now a candidate for the United States Senate. He has been a friend of the members of the Kennedy family for many years. But more than that, he is respected throughout our country for a man who has provided strong leadership for Iowa. Send Harold Hughes to the United States Senate.

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On June 6, 1968, Robert Kennedy would win the California Democratic Primary. Minutes later, he was struck down by an assassin's bullet. The next morning in Iowa, his old friend Harold Hughes would address reporters.

Governor Harold Hughes: We are feeling at this time the cruel impact of one of the unspeakable tragedies of American history. For many of us, Senator Kennedy's death means the loss of a dear friend as well as a great leader. This is a time for reverence and prayer, not for hate and violence. We've had enough of those. The only meaningful way we can honor Senator Kennedy's memory is to rededicate ourselves to the goals of equality, justice and human dignity for which he stood.

Governor Harold Hughes: Look what happened to us. Jack Kennedy was killed, Bob Kennedy was killed, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, all of these great tragedies were taking place. When I think of these men and what might have happened had they had a chance to live out their life and to move on, if the gun wasn't the final instrument of political decision, where if you don't have anything else to offer shoot them down. You can't kill ideas and you can't kill human rights. And that is what we were dealing with. Shooting the man didn't remove the mission. It will immortalize the individuals but it won't stop the mission. It's going to go on for all of time. No one can stop that.

Hughes would continue his run for U.S. Senate battling a tough opponent in republican David Stanley. In a strong republican year, with Nixon leading the national ticket, the strength of Hughes as a general election candidate was just enough to send the Governor to Washington by a margin of only 4,000 votes.

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Hughes would learn to develop his national profile while in the more collegial U.S. Senate. He would develop friendships with fellow Senators on both sides of the aisle. The champion of alcohol recovery would personally counsel congressmen on the tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and Hughes would be at the forefront of developing national programs for substance abuse and recovery. He would openly wear his spirituality on his sleeve. It would become an internal strength and an external quandary as Hughes would consider an even greater task, a potential run for President.

The nascent "Hughes for President" exploration fueled a dark horse candidacy. But as reporters began to circle Hughes, damaging stories emerged. Decades since his brother's death in Western Iowa, Hughes would tell aids that he had spoken with his dead brother and reports of séances began to emerge.

David Yepsen: Is this going to be a political problem for you? And I'm thinking specifically I recall in your book you discussed at one time you communicated with your dead brother.

Senator Harold Hughes: I know that that particular incident was real to me. I believe that it happened. I wouldn't have written about it or discussed it if I didn't. I'm sure I'll come under more scrutiny, be met with a lot of skepticism and by some thought to be a kook.

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The stories cratered any possible run for President. As President Nixon and Watergate would lead the nation to question its elected officials, Hughes would slowly begin to withdraw from his interest in politics. On September 5th, 1973, Hughes would address reporters.

Senator Harold Hughes: When my present term as United States Senator has ended, I will retire from the Senate and enter another field of public endeavor. Specifically I will take up work as a religious lay worker in connection with two foundations.

The news was a political shock wave in Iowa. The democratic juggernaut would walk away from the Senate and fully embrace Christian ministry. The era of Harold Hughes had come to an end. Seven years later, a local union in Newton, Iowa would convince Hughes to come back to the state for a fundraising dinner. The man from Ida Grove had not missed a step, his deep voice even thicker now, his mix of faith and politics at its highest point.

Governor Harold Hughes: And they are people of the Christian faith who are building an alliance with the political right wing in this country, a very dangerous concept. But I believe two people can follow Jesus Christ, two people can have faith in God, two people can read the same scriptures and pray devoutly and come up with different political solutions to the problems. I am for life and against death. I have opposed abortion. I have opposed capital punishment. I have opposed the war in Vietnam and I oppose war period because if one person in this society can be deprived of their civil rights and human rights, I don't know when the day will come that I will be deprived of mine because of what I believe.

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David Yepsen: Iowa was different politically. This was before Roe v. Wade. And so the abortion issue was a different sort of issue. You had democrats, Catholic democrats, they were pro-life as was Hughes. You had republicans, moderate republicans who were pro-choice. You wouldn't have that today. The parties have realigned over that issue. But that's just one example of how things changed. Blue collar Iowans tended to be democratic then. Unions were stronger.

Hughes defies modern political definition, his views blending 21st century concepts of progressive and conservative. Hughes would briefly entertain another run for Governor in 1982. But his Iowa residency was questioned and he would enter the last chapter of his life. On October 23rd, 1996, Harold Everett Hughes passed away in Glendale, Arizona. The 74-year-old former Governor and Senator had lived his retirement years with modest means. He was buried in his hometown of Ida Grove.

Governor Harold Hughes: The only thing I wish right now is that I was 40 instead of 70. I'm like an old fire horse, when the whistle blows I want to charge. I did everything I could that I knew how to do. I was at times dumb, I was at times insensitive, I was at times intolerant, but I learned. I hope that we can learn from our history.

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But his voice and his message as a champion of Iowa leave a lasting impression.

Governor Harold Hughes: When God created the Heaven and the Earth he must have looked back and saw that one thing yet needed doing. And he laid down his arms across the face of the North American continent and he created the valleys of the Great Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers and between these two great rivers he raised up a land that was the most abundant and bountiful garden spot of all of His creation. 25% of the grade A soil of America lies within the boundaries of the state of Iowa. The crops coming in from these fields this October and November are equal in value to all the gold mined in the world this same year. The Indians recognized the beauty of this spot we live in for they are the ones that called it Iowa and when interpreted to English it meant the beautiful land. Thank you very kindly.

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