Guest Columns

I learned of Ted Strickland’s passing with genuine regret. He represented a generation of Republican leaders who still believed in the importance of government and the positive role it can and should play in all our lives. Unlike many in the current crop of Republican legislators, who would have Colorado voters believe government is our enemy — that a return to frontier anarchy would constitute a net social improvement, Ted understood that, when properly channeled, government significantly improves the quality of life in Colorado. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a conservative.

During the Watergate fiasco, one interview stamped itself on my memory. Larry O’Brien was the national chairman of the Democratic Party, and it was his office that was broken into my Richard Nixon’s “plumbers.” O’Brien had a long political career in Massachusetts which concluded with his appointment as the manager for both John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson’s presidential campaigns. Johnson had rewarded him with an appointment as U. S. Postmaster General.

It’s easy to lose track of how short American history really is in the grander scheme of things. My grandfather was born in 1881 and his father and many of his uncles were Civil War combat veterans. During their childhoods, they, in turn, had met veterans of the American War for Independence. Both these struggles seemed as distant as the Crusades when I was in school. Yet, my grandfather was a very real presence in my life for whom I named my own son. Byron Howard taught me how to play baseball and he continued to play first base himself with an industrial league team in St. Louis well into his 70s.