Barack Obama decided he wanted to be President at the age of five, Cliff Hansen decided his goal was to be Governor of Wyoming at six. Both men’s dream would come true.
For those who preach family values, Cliff Hansen is the real thing. Married to the same woman for 75 years, the Wyoming Governor/Senator was faithful to the land, died doors away from where he was born, and had generations follow him into public service. In the process, his treatment of his fellow human being, from his staff to the lowest person on the capitol hill totem poll was second to none.
Hansen’s cattle drive to stop FDR from designating monument at Jackson Hole, 1943 (The New York Times)
Hansen was a proud son of Wyoming, but his impact on the frontier always leads me to the vs. from the show Oklahoma. “He’s always a man for the land. And the land is grand.”
Hansen was born to a ranch family in a log cabin in Teton County , perhaps the last U.S. Senator to be born in one. His early involvement in politics came when as, a Grand Teton County Commissioner, he organized a cattle drive to prevent FDR’s designation of a monument in Jackson Hole, a position he later regretted (“I have to appreciate, as everyone else does, the beauty and uniqueness of the area.”
Hansen’s aspiration to be Governor supposedly resulted from his speech impediment. “When I was alone riding on the range, I’d pontificate and make speeches to the cows.” He thought speaking would give him a better ability to address crowds which “scared the living tar out of me (years later, he’d he remembered trying to say, “Go–oo-d mor-nn-nn-ing.” In school, he excelled at math, because little speaking was involved. His parents sent him to the Bogue Institute for Stammerers in Indiana and Hansen was cured.
In time, Hansen became President of the Wyoming Stock Grower’s Association. He did become Governor in 1962 and his love for the land was so legendary that he was called the “cattle Governor.”
Hansen once asked his wife how many “important people” you think there are in this state. Her reply was, ‘I don’t know but one less than you think.”
Hansen may have been the “compassionate conservative” before it was cool. As Governor, he put through minimum wage increases and a state sales tax. Funding for mental health and alcohol addiction programs jumped as well. He said his “opposition seems to forget this is the 20th century.”
As senator, he was pro-choice and opposed the Nixon administration on the super-collider. But he was an ardent supporter of a “hand’s off policy” when it came to state land. The Surface Mining Act required reimbursement if minerals were found on a landowners property.
Many in the east here that Wyoming gets more in federal dollars than say, New Jersey. That is very much due to Hansen. He shepherded legislation that would raise the amount of mineral royalties on federal lands, which took Wyoming from 37.5 to 50 percent.
Politically, he backed pragmatic candidates. He flirted with Nelson Rockefeller over Goldwater in 1964 and actively backed Ford over Reagan in ’76.
It was said that when he would depart his office each night, Hansen would go to each of his staffer’s death and say goodnight. Invariably, he would ask the last person if they can use their phone. They would reply of course — he owns the phone. The call he would make would be to his wife to tell her that he was on his way home.
He would often engage the janitorial staff in conversations. One staffer, Pete Hansen, brother of Hansen’s future successor Al, said “if the cafeteria workers found out you worked for Cliff Hansen, you got special treatment.”
“All my life,” Hansen would say, “I tried to keep in mind that everyone is important.” he adds he used to say “jokingly that I had an idea to introduce a bill to tattoo the first name of every baby just above the eyebrow.”
In 1966, Hansen struggled to defeat the state’s lone-Congressman, Teno Roncalio, winning just 52-48%. But by 1972, his popularity was near universal. He would defeat Mike Vinich, whose son John would become a major force in Wyoming politics 71-29%.
Hansen could have had a third term for the asking but, decided to retire at 66. He went back to ranching, becoming a proud cowboy that in 1995 would land him a spot in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame as a “Great Westerner.”
Simpson said the frontier “country is special. It provides solace and power at the same time. There’s as pecific nurturing quality in it, and it has nurtured specific breeds of people — strong, independent, clear-thinking, forthright, trustworthy, authentic western types. No-nonsense, good humored, exuberant, full of warmth, larger than life. Close enough to creation to be at ease with all mankind, and thereby, able to serve them better.”
Hansen’s penchant for scrupulousness was so strong that he resisted Ronald Reagan’s call to become Secretary of Interior, because he owned grazing leases in Grand Teton National Park.
And the other family business continued as well. His daughter Mary challenged incumbent Governor Mike Sullivan in 1990 but lost big. But his grandson Matt Mead proceeded to do the same in 2010, winning a crowded primary and capturing the office. His grandfather would have been proud. He had died a year earlier, just after his 97th birthday. His last words were “whiskey.”
Bipartisanship was always Hansen’s top regard (with Democratic colleagues Jackson and Bumpers and Republican Fannin)