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Congressional Quarterly calls Robert H. Michel "one dog-gone decent son of a gun." The phrasing is pure "Michelese," the editors note. So are the down-to-earth values. After more than four decades in Washington, the 71-year-old Peoria native still believes in face-to-face dialogue across party lines. After more than a decade as House Republican leader, he still believes partisans should go at it "hammer and tongs" on the chamber floor, then share a "little toddy " in a back office. Increasingly, his is a minority view. Michel retires from his 18th District seat at the end of the year. When he does, the style and strategy of the House GOP will shift. The Republicans will take control of the House, and Michel's successors are younger, more ideological and more strident. With little patience for the leadership climb and no taste for accommodation, they've taken to waging their battles on C-SPAN.

But if Michel might well be discouraged by what he's called a lack of comity, he has reason enough for equanimity, too. Over the years, he's watched presidents come and go. He's seen his party on the ropes, and he's seen it rebound. And as Michel prepares to leave Congress, President Bill Clinton has awarded him the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Illinois Issues asked Michel to reflect on his experiences in Washington. He talked with Illinois Issues editors Peggy Boyer Long and Donald Sevener.

Q: An incredible number of events has taken place in the 38 years you've served in Congress. What stands out for you as a defining moment?

A: I remember — I guess it was as far back as '57, my first year in the Congress — when the Russians launched Sputnik. That little "beep, beep." That's all we were hearing next morning on the national news.

I remember being interviewed, I think in the lobby of the First National Bank Building in Peoria. "What do you think of this, congressman?"

I said, "Well, it's kind of the dawning of the Buck Rogers age."

"What are you talking about? Ray guns and stuff?"

I said, "It's not far fetched." Oh, they all thought I was a little bit kookie, I guess, at the time. But so many things have happened since then. Egads, when you think of the whole space effort.

Q: You've seen an increase in technology.

A: Oh, absolutely. Just equate what's happened in communications. When I first went to Congress, television was just emerging. The Army-McCarthy hearings were the first ones that got that kind of public exposure. So much exposure that four members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities within a span of four years went to the Senate with all the publicity they got.

Of course, what it did in the Congress. We used to have long committee tables. And the chairman would be up at one end, and then the ranking member and the members along the other sides. At least you could communicate with one another. The advent of television made for all these large committee rooms where you see those great big daises. And the chairman's up there. Man, you've got to shout all the way down here, then down there. Why? To give every member exposure to television.

The electronic coverage of the Congress, my gosh. I was skeptical at first, thinking, "Oh boy, how much showboating are we going to get? How will this really work? You'll have these hotshots hogging a camera." And we've had some of that. I had to dress down a couple of members. I remember one member once came on with a sack, looking like Halloween. But those things, in my judgment, discredited the House.

Then, the down side of that coverage is the fact that now members can monitor what's going on on the floor of the House so well back in their offices that they don't have to be on the floor. They hear the debate and when the vote comes they can run over quick and vote. In the old days, shoot, you had to be there to hear the debate and for voting on amendments. When you're forced to stay on the floor of the House, it's natural that there's more camaraderie. You get to know your colleagues. And you also reach across the aisle. Now, it's dog-eat-dog. For me, it's lost so much of its old character.

Q: Is that bad for the country?

A: I don't think it's been good for the country. We used to rely on our letters. If people had a little more money, they'd telegram. As a last resort, a telephone call. It was still expensive in those days. Now, shucks, communication is relatively cheap for everybody. But the thing that's made a lot of difference is the talk show artists — radio, television. An issue comes up in the morning and by late afternoon the fax machines are rolling. And,

20 / December 1994 / Illinois Issues

Photos by Ginny R. Lee

man, it's influencing the Congress within hours. Should we be legislating in that kind of environment?

Q: You served with nine presidents.

A: Actually, my first inauguration was Harry Truman's, because I was an assistant to my predecessor. Of course, I got to Washington before the inaugural — it was the latter part of '48, the election year. Putting up the stands and all that sort of thing. I went over to stay at — shall we say some modest hotel near the Capitol, kind of an el cheapo really.

Then, to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue — I was just a young man — and think, my gosh, here I am in the nation's capital. Who would have thunk it. And the Capitol's all lit up on one end. The White House on the other end. Here is little Bobby Michel from Peoria. What are you doing here?

Q: Those presidents have had different personal, political and governing styles. Which one stands out for you as the most effective?

A: Well, it's in different ways. I was elected in [Dwight] Elsenhower's second term, in 1956, when he actually lost two seats in the House of Representatives. I was one of 201. That's the highest number I've ever known of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

In that first year I was elected president of my freshman class. Les Arends was the whip at that time. And Charlie Halleck was leader. Charlie and Les Arends took me out to Burning Tree for my very first game of golf. That's where Ike played. And I actually got to play two times with Ike. So, for a freshman congressman that was something. And to be taken up to the second floor of the White House for a little toddy one afternoon. You know, that's pretty heady stuff. Through that first four years, when you're a junior member of Congress, well obviously you look at your president with awe.

And then, of course, after Ike was JFK. I only have one good picture in a group with [John] Kennedy. And none signed. Now, all the other presidents — even [Herbert] Hoover — I got a signed picture from. But I never got a signed picture from JFK. Well, I really have always regretted that.

Q: How did you get along with Johnson?

A: I got to know Lyndon Johnson more through [the late U.S. Sen.] Everett Dirksen [of Illinois] than I did being a junior member, because he and Everett Dirksen were good friends. I was Ev Dirksen's congressman, and I had the good privilege on occasion to go over in the late afternoons. He used to have some of the senators in his little back room having a toddy at the end of the day and talking things over. That's how I got to meet some of the senators, not the least of whom was Lyndon Johnson.

Man, he was a wheeler-dealer type. He liked the trappings of the office. There's a story they tell — there were a bunch of helicopters and someone said, "Which is yours Mr. President?" And he said, "They're all mine."

When I ran the first time, I ran for $15,000. Then came '82 and I spent $600,000. But it bothered me afterwards. The dog-gone job only pays one-tenth of that

But [Richard] Nixon. I will always give Nixon credit for being the most knowledgeable about foreign affairs. Even after his — ah, it was a traumatic thing for me. I was in the room the night Nixon resigned. In the cabinet room with just a limited number of people. And I was the only one who had the presence of mind to take some notes on the back of an old envelope. Then the next morning I fleshed them out and eventually I sent them to the president. During Watergate, it was horrible to get up in the morning. You'd say, gosh, how much worse can it get? And then, of course, in '74, I was the chairman of the congressional campaign committee. And everything just went south. There were 68 congressional districts where I couldn't even find a Republican candidate to run because the times

December 1994 / Illinois Issues / 21

Q&A Interview

were so bad. The opposite of what it is for our party now. We were on the ropes.

But then [Ronald] Reagan, those were the most exhilarating years for me because I was elected leader in 1981. And he brought in a number of new seats. We were only 53 votes behind in the House. Those first two years, boy, we were really doing things. I kept my side together, 192 Republicans, solidly, on any number of key votes. A minimum of seven where we had everybody together and picked up 27, eight, nine, on the other side and would win by three or four votes. That changed the whole direction of things. And he was very good to me. I got invited to a lot of personal things. Nancy liked my wife, and always treated her as an equal. That's kind of nice when you've got that kind of relationship with a president. How could I think otherwise?

Q: Have you seen a shift in how people view their presidents, what they expect to know about them?

A: When you're in public life you're an open book. People have got a right to ask most anything, I guess. I don't know of anything that's off limits, hardly.

But today, boy, this negative advertising. Jeepers creepers. And the money. I'm concerned about the kind of money that's spent.

Q: What kind of impact does that have?

A: When I ran the first time, I ran for $15,000.1 had only six counties. Up until '80,1 spent somewhere around $75,000 at the peak. Then came '82, my real tough race, when I was in the first bi-election after a popular president. Now we had a recession to contend with, too. And I was running against Doug Stephens. And he nearly beat me. I won by 51.5 percent and I spent $600,000. A 10-fold increase. I was leader and people would say, "Hey, we've got to save Bob." They'd have fund-raisers for me, which I was grateful for.

But it bothered me afterwards. I'd think, "My God, does it take that much?" The dog-gone job pays one-tenth of that.

Q: You talked about what it felt like to be a young person arriving in Washington. Looking back, how does it feel now?

A: I think, boy, did I make any impact at all in the history of the country — 30, 40 years out of 200? What part did I play? It was frustrating because I never had an opportunity to really run the show, so to speak, as you would being in the majority, being the speaker. Under our system of two major parties, there is some accountability. But it's tough to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It's pretty dam hard to do it. 

22 / December 1994 / Illinois Issues