TBT: Opa's Career in Government

Today I visited my Oma and asked her what she thought Opa would say about this election?  I think he'd cover his ears and hope for the best.

My Opa (1925-2017) held a variety of jobs, starting with that of selling newspapers at the age of 6, earning 5 cents for selling 2 newpapers a week.  He went on to wash milk bottles, deliver milk for the Worland Creamery, work at the Pepsi Cola plant, and deliver Pepsi.  He had an academic scholarship for college but earned money for room and board by working for the Building & Grounds Department at the University of Wyoming.  During WWII he joined the Army Air Corps, finishing his bombadier training when the war ended.  He went back home and worked in banking, and took extra odd jobs at the sugar beet factory and officiating football and basketball games.

But the majority of Opa's career was spent working for the federal government (a total of 32 years).  And he was always a Democrat.

While working at the bank as a young adult, Opa became friends with Chuck Gentry, the county chairman of the Democratic party.  In November 1948, the Democratic Governor of Wyoming, Dr. Lester Hunt, was elected a US Senator.  In the Spring, Senator Hunt called Chuck to ask for a recommendation for a young man to work on the Senator's staff, and he recommended Opa.  Opa was hired soon after, and he and Oma and their baby girl left for Washington, D.C. three weeks later.  After about a year, Opa was promoted to work in Senator Hunt's personal office.

Senator Hunt and his staff - Opa is seated on the right side.

While working for Senator Hunt, Opa witnessed some of the McCarthy hearings and sat on the House Floor for President Truman's State of the Union Address in 1950.  This was also during the time of the Korean War.  On Saturday, June 19th, 1954, Opa was in the office when it was discovered that Senator Hunt had shot himself, apparently due in part to Senator McCarthy and other Republicans blackmailing him, and in part to health problems.  (Read more about Senator Hunt here and here.)

Opa and his family returned to Wyoming, where Opa had some odd jobs and ended up getting into banking again.  While in DC, Opa had studied accounting and in 1958 he decided to run for Wyomoing State Treasurer.  He lost in the Primary against a man named Carl Johnson.  He said, "I found out during the primary election which I lost that I was not nearly as well known as I had thought, and that there was at least one prominent Carl Johnson in every county of Wyoming.  Many of those who voted against me thought they were voting for the Carl Johnson who lived in their county."

Opa was able to return to government service the following year when he served as Legislative Assistant for Senator Gale McGee, during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of Pres. Kennedy.

He began work in the Department of the Interior in Dec. 1963, working on Secretary Stewart Udall's staff in the Congressional Liaison Office.  He was the Assistant Secretary for the Administration during Vietnam and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He worked for the National Park Service beginning in 1968 as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and during one of his assignments he "helped preserve the historic character of the French Quarter and still protect the view of the Mississippi River."

Some time between 1969 and 1971 Opa worked in the Congressional Liaison Office of the NPS, helping with the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Yellowstone in 1972.  He continued in this capacity until his retirement in 1986.  A few notable events during this period were the Watergate scandal and Iran Hostage Crisis.

It's thrilling to think about the exciting events Opa witnessed firsthand; how he really was a part of history.  And his absolutely flawless memory means that we can have some appreciation of the experiences he had by reading his personal history.  I love this: "These were difficult years, because the Carter Adnimistration never did learn to work with Congress, but we in the Park Service had a very good reputation so we continued to have success on Capitol Hill."

In his personal history, Opa talks about the reputation he had for working with both political parties.  The first Secretary to have Opa on his staff assigned a Republican staffer to meet with Republican Congressmen/women and Opa to meet with Democrats, but soon enough Opa demonstrated his ability to get along with members of both parties (and the Republican turned out to be a drunk) and Opa became the sole liaison.  He said, "I had almost as many Republican friends as Democrats.  Representative Skubitz used to tell the Secretary and his staff that he got more cooperation from that '(darned) Democrat' in the Park Service than he got from his own party."

Yesterday one of my siblings asked our family text thread why Opa was a Democrat?  My brother, who's worked in the political arena for his entire professional career and talked to Opa about his experiences had a great response:

Opa was a new deal Dem - he was raised in the Great Depression and saw first hand how Hoover and the Republican Party dismantled a lot of common sense economic policies that led to the Great Depression - and then witnessed during his formative years the FDR plan that brought back prosperity and worldwide respect. He caught early on to the 1960's era of equal rights and that solidified his lifelong support in the face of overwhelming opposition especially in his home state that led to his lone public office campaign defeat.

During our visit today, Oma and I talked about it a little bit.  She said, "Ira was very, very strong Democrat.  And he was not afraid to say so, you know?  His parents were that way and I would imagine his grandparents were, cause they were pioneers."