It is said that until Reagan swept into domination in 1980, that there were two equally strong wings of the Republican party in contention, the conservative Goldwater wing and the liberal Rockefeller wing. However, except for former vice president and New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller himself, I never hear anyone talking specifically about who the liberal Republicans were. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is U.S. Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.), who lost his Senate seat to the more conservative Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), and who left the Republican party before or during his tenure as Connecticut governor in the 1990s.
So who were these other liberal Republicans? Just to set some parameters, I’m looking for names of people who were elected to the following offices after 1932:
U.S. president
U.S. vice president
U.S. senator
U.S. representative
state governor
state lieutenant governor
state senate majority or minority leader
state house speaker or minority leader
Also valid are people who unsuccessfully contested (in primary or general elections) for:
U.S. president
U.S. vice president
U.S. senator
state governor
state lieutenant governor
Mark O. Hatfield- He served as governor of Oregon 1959-1967, then was elected to the Senate in 1966 and served until 1997. He was best known for his anti-war positions, co-writing a book on nuclear weapons freezes with Teddy Kennedy. His views on Vietnam can be found here.
Bob Packwood- Before he self-destructed, he had been one of the leading proponents of women’s issues in the Senate, which makes his later actions somewhat ironic.
Tom McCall- Governor of Oregon 1967-1975-His record includes the first Bottle bill to reduce litter. Planning to reduce/hold back urban sprawl with the creation of LCDC. He was also a rather interesting character. “Oregon-Lovely place to visit, but please do not stay.”
Jacob Javits, George Romney, William Scranton, and Henry Cabot Lodge all spring to my mind. Also Big Jim Thompson of Illinois, to a lesser extent. And let us not forget John Anderson, also of Illinois.
I once considered myself a liberal Republican. But I am no longer welcome in the GOP. [GOPUSA](George Romney, William Scranton, and Henry Cabot Lodge)
John Lindsay. More well known as New York City mayor, he was a congressman earlier in his career. He was also a prominent liberal Republican along with Nelson Rockefeller.
Also note that Lindsay switched to the Democratic party in 1971, but until then he was a Republican, particularly during his years of national prominence in the late 60’s.
In more modern times, the “liberal Republican” label is often applied to Arlen Spector, and sometimes to John McCain (usually by undeniably conservative detractors), but it certainly isn’t a well organized wing of the party.
Liberal* GOP Mayors of NYC besides Lindsay: Fiorello LaGuardia (that always surprises the NYC Democratics. Ha!), Mike Bloomberg (current), and in many ways Rudy Giuliani.
Mind you, in NYC we grow the liberalest of liberals, so even left-wingers like Lindsay – who, in my opinion, wrecked NYC for a generation or more – were probably considered fascists by some.
So for those of us just slightly too young to remember them, what defines a liberal Republican? How can I tell if I spot one lurking, Coelacanth-like, in the murkey depths of Foggy Bottom?
Well, I’m a liberal Republican, but I’ll admit our numbers are getting pretty thin. I live in New York, one of the last places where even a moderate Republican can feel comfortable.
One an aside to Qadgop, that’s an interesting site you linked to and another example of the kind of thinking that I think is killing the Republican party. The author of the piece has already discounted the Democrats as being rivals; now he wants to purge the Republican party of anyone who fails to meet his idealogical standard.
I especially liked this gem: “in a recent op-ed Rep. Boehlert makes a case for using the power of government to require the nation’s auto-makers to once again increase their fuel efficiency standards (CAFE). This position flies in the face of everything the founders intended, not to mention common sense.” I’d like to respond back, asking for a cite on what Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison wrote on the issue of automobile fuel efficiency standards.
William Weld would probably qualify as a liberal in the Republican Party. Apparently uber-Republican Jesse Helms found Weld’s views on issues like gay rights and medical marijauna deviated from the party line to such a degree that he blocked his nomination as Ambassador to Mexico in 1997.
Captain Amazing already named Thomas Dewey.
I would also add John Anderson who was a Republican congressman from Illinois before his unsuccessful independent bid for president in 1980.
Between the early 1950’s and the early 1980’s, there were always a couple of dozen liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives. They tend to come from the East, along the line of states between Maine and Maryland, but there were some from the Midwest and the West Coast.
Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chaffee (as well as his late father John) is relatively liberal for a Republican. When Jim Jeffords left the GOP, people expected him to follow suit.
Do libertarian Republicans count? New Mexico’s former Republican governor Gary Johnson was pro-choice, favored drug decriminalization, and in general favored a live and let live attitude. But in economic matters he was a straight line conservative.
Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith and Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusettes.
Of course the definition of “liberal” shifted pretty much all the time. There were internationalists vs. isolationists, publics works vs. privatization, integration vs. states’ rights (although this was more often a Democratic issue), regulators vs. laissez-faire, etc. And that doesn’t even begin to get into the issue of Republican moderates.
There’s not one of my liberal-minded friends in Maine who sees any reason to vote against Republican Senator Olympia Snowe. Nor, for that matter, has she drawn as much conservative Republican fire as New Jersey’s Christine Todd Whitman.