Historic Tidbit: In his book, Too Funny To Be President, Mo Udall recalls receiving a letter, I read where Congress is staying up late at night trying to find something else to regulate or tax. Have they thought about sex? It is a luxury; would not produce undue hardship; could be spread over a large segment of the population: would let the teenagers contribute; would give the oldsters a tax break; and is not discriminatory to race, religion, or national orgin.”
Normally, when a Senator appears on Nixon’s “enemies list,” opposes a Balanced Budget amendment, conservative judicial nominees, enjoys strong backing from labor, and attacks the “New Right,” that person would be a Democrat. But not Charles McC.Mathias. The three-term Senator from Maryland was called “one of the last unabashed Senate liberals in the GOP,” by the Washington Post, and was among the most popular politicians in the state, so much so that in his last re-election in 1980, he carried every county in the state.
For Mathias, if it sometimes felt as though the only thing he had was his Senate seat itself, that sometimes was the case. In a state like Maryland, outreach and partnership with Democrats was a must and his popularity suggests he was quite successful. But in Washington, it would prevent his career from going maximum speed.
The Almanac of American Politics called Mathias a “model of probity and integrity…one of those Senators whose balance is considered sound and whose judgement on difficult issues is respected and sought.”
With his middle name McCurdy, Mathias was known as “Mac.” He long had a career in western Maryland, serving as the Frederick Attorney and being sent to Annapolis as a State Senator. He won a seat in Congress in 1960 partially by attacking his opponent for voting too much with the ADA, perhaps not realizing that he would soon become an ally.
On the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Mathias’ had a key role. He attempted to do the same with open-housing provisions in ’66 but was not successful. Mathias met Martin Luther King Jr in Selma and at the start of the new Congress in 1965, was among 22 members (17 Democrats, 5 Republicans) that advocated not seating the Mississippi delegation due to the exclusion of African-American’s at polling places during the previous election. He authored a paper, “How to end the Draft: the Case for an All Volunteer Army.”
Charles Mathias (The Washington Post)
When Mathias decided to challenge U.S. Senator Daniel Brewster in 1968, his odds were not great. But neither were Spiro Agnew’s when he had sought the Governorship, and he had been elected just two years before. And in a strange twist, Brewster had been Mathias’ roommate at the University of Maryland. But he was also an alcoholic, which by then was no secret in Washington, and Mathias attacked him as a “messenger boy” for labor.
Agnew’s place on the national ticket gave Mathias an additional boost. The Nixon/Agnew ticket narrowly lost Maryland but, it’s probable that Mathias was able to swim on his home. George Mahoney, a conservative Democrat (“A man’s home is his castle”),who often waged quixotic but losing bids for office, was running for the seat as an Independent. Mathias himself used his opposition to the war and his support for busing and D.C. home rule to cut into Brewster’s support among liberals, who were upset with Brewster for backing the war. This allowed Mathias to beat Brewster with 48%. The incumbent took just 39%.
Mathias immediately showed that his independence was genuine.
He marched with liberals, including Gloria Steinem, in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. He championed campaign finance, and undertook a 450 mile tour of the Chesapeake Bay, which he made a major undertaking to preserve. Keeping Maryland battlefield’s such as Antietam intact was also high on his list.
Mathias opposed Nixon’s two controversial Supreme Court nominees, Carswell and Haynesworth. Of the latter, he said “The only conclusion to which I can bring myself, is that his confirmation would lower all judicial standards at a time when the public is anxious to see them raised.”
This earned him a place on Nixon’s “enemies list.” The Post said supported his Republican colleagues only 31 percent of the time during his first term and compiled a voting record more liberal than those of most Democrats.” But he also favored reigning in certain Presidential powers which the Nixon Administration may not have appreciated.
Eventually, he had become known as the “Conscience of the Senate.” This undoubtedly helped him in the Watergate year against a brash, determined social worker named Barbara Mikulski, against whom he carried every county except for Baltimore — where he came close, to retain his seat with 57%.
Mathias bemoaned those who sought to pigeonhole his ideology. “I’m not all that liberal. In fact, in some respects I’m conservative. A while ago I introduced a bill preserving the guarantees of the Bill of Rights by prohibiting warrantless wiretaps. I suppose they’ll say it’s another liberal effort, but it’s as conservative as you can get. It’s conserving the Constitution.”
Campaign finance was another passion. “Watergate is the turning point in our nation’s history,” he said in 1973. “If we turn our backs to the grievous attacks that have been made on the Constitution and the laws of the land under the vague incantations of one man’s view of national security, we will have lost our right to hold the precious gift of freedom won for us almost 200 years ago by men of courage, integrity and intelligence.”
Mathias’ disenchantment with the system enabled him to seriously flirt with making a Presidential bid in 1976, but he withdrew o serious support.
After the 1976 elections, Mathias rightfully should have assumed a place as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But more rank’n’file Republicans opposed his ascension and reluctantly persuaded Strom Thurmond, who was more senior to Mathias, to abandon his own cushy ranking member position at Armed Services to bump Mathias.
Thurmond continued at Judiciary when Republicans took control of the Senate in 1980. Mathias, who at first wasn’t even awarded a consolation sub-committee Chairmanship, was eventually given the helm of the unglamorous Patents, Copyrights, and Trademark Chairmanship. Eventually, Howard Baker gave him a full committee chairmanship, Rules, but that was more internal. Mathias had complained that “New right” Jerry Falwell backed candidates were “cannibalizing” the party.
On economic and defense matters, Mathias was no less independent. He opposed an amendment retaining funds for the “Star Wars,” defense research program, school prayer, and the Balanced Budget Amendment, the latter on which his vote was pivotal. He joined just three other Republican Senators in opposing President Reagan’s plan to stop COLA increases for Social Security.
Even in routine election matters, Mathias often proved a thorn in the spine of his party. He refused to serve on the steering committee for Ronald Reagan in 1980, the same year he was facing the voters or a third time.
This jarred Mathias somewhat as he faced renomination that same year, as Republicans called him a “communist’ and “baby killer.” Conservative GOP Congressman Robert Bauman toyed with the idea of taking on Mathias, who considered standing for a third term as an Independent. but didn’t (having been implicated in a sex scandal a year later, Maryland’s Democratic Governor would have chosen his successor had he won). Five opponents would hold Mathias to 55%. But the general was no contest, as he dispatched his Democratic opponent with 66%, this time carrying Baltimore.
In 1985, Mathias announced his retirement (“the season has arrived to shift to a new field of activity.” While he predicted the age of the Republican moderate would rise again, he must’ve known that it would not come in his lifetime, for in 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama for President, writing “my great-grandfather ran for the Maryland Senate from Frederick on the anti-slavery Republican ticket.” At the top of that ticket was Abraham Lincoln.”He died of Parkinsons in 2010.