Former long-time U.S. Senator Richard Lugar has died

Richard Lugar has passed away. A long-time fixture in the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the Republican Party.

Lengthy as his Senate career was, it was ultimately cut short. Both parties began trending to the extremes in the bases. It made things difficulty for the centrist Lugar and ultimately it cost him his Senate seat. Despite this, he had a distinguished life of service.

His political life began in the 1960s

Accomplishments began a young age for Lugar. During his youth in Indianapolis, he became an Eagle Scout. While attending Denison University in Granville, Ohio, he was class co-president with Charlene Smeltzer.

The two would marry, have four children and remain together until his death.

Lugar was also a Rhodes Scholar, eventually receiving a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Oxford. Afterward, he became an officer in the United States Navy. Among his assignment were serving closely with Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke.

Lugar's first political office was as a member of the school board of Indianapolis. He would later serve two terms as the city's mayor. During his mayoral tenure, he presided over the National League of Cities.

His first run at the Senate was unsuccessful, losing to incumbent Democrat Birch Bayh in 1974. After finishing his time as mayor, Lugar briefly taught at what is now the University of Indianapolis.

In 1976, he made another attempt at the Senate, this time with very different results. Lugar defeated the incumbent Democratic Senator and Chairman of Veterans Affairs Committee, Vance Hartke by nearly 20 points.

Lugar's first chief of staff as a senator was Mitch Daniels, who had been on his staff as mayor. Daniels would later serve two terms as governor of Indiana.

Eventually, Lugar would serve two terms each as chair of the Foreign Relations and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committees. Arguably his most heralded foreign policy move was not when he chaired that committee. He created with Democratic Georgia Senator Sam Nunn the Nunn-Lugar Act. In part, the act helped remove nuclear weapons from countries that had been part of the Soviet Union.

Before and during his time as chair of the agriculture committee, was instrumental in the creation of two landmark farm bills. As USA Today reports, he was also a champion of biofuels.

At least twice, Lugar was considered for the vice presidency. In 1988, he was passed over in favor of his fellow Indiana Senator Dan Quayle. He also made a run at the presidency himself before the 1996 election. As Politico suggests, he never gained much momentum for campaign.

After being re-elected five times to the Senate, Lugar was ousted in a Republican primary in 2012. Primary voters seemed to want somebody less bipartisan as the Republican nominee. They would go with Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock over Lugar.

Ironically, the general election went for a moderate in Democratic U.S. Representative Joe Donnelly.

Had received a number of honors in retirement

Following the conclusion of his Senate career, Lugar created The Lugar Center. A nonprofit institution, it focuses on public policy.

Democratic President Barack Obama bestowed Lugar with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. A few months before, he had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II as a member of the Order of the British Empire. Similar honors he received during and after his career include ones from the Philippines, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

Lugar was also noted as a critic of President Donald Trump. He died on April 28th in Annandale, Virginia. Lugar was the second former Indiana senator to die in 2019, following his former rival, Birch Bayh.