Dick Lugar (R-IN-Senate)i

Dick Lugar Senator Indiana

Senate links: Dick Lugar (R-IN-Senate)i

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Dick Lugar Biography from Senate.gov

Biography of Dick Lugar

Dick Lugar is an unwavering advocate of U.S. leadership in the world, strong national security, free-trade and economic growth.

This fifth generation Hoosier is the U.S. Senate’s most senior Republican and longest serving Member of Congress in Indiana history.

He is the Republican leader of the Foreign Relations Committee and a member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976 and won a sixth term in 2006 with 87 percent of the vote, his fourth consecutive victory by a two-thirds majority.

Senator Lugar graduated first in his class at both Shortridge High School in Indianapolis and Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He attended Pembroke College at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, studying politics, philosophy and economics. Senator Lugar volunteered for the U.S. Navy in 1957, ultimately serving as an intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations.

Senator Lugar manages his family’s 604-acre Marion County corn, soybean and tree farm. Before entering public life, he helped manage the family’s food machinery manufacturing business in Indianapolis with his brother Tom.

As the two-term mayor of Indianapolis (1968-75), he envisioned the unification of the city and surrounding Marion County into one government. Unigov, as Mayor Lugar’s plan was called, set the city on a path of uninterrupted economic growth. He served three terms on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, including two terms as the Vice-Chair of the Commission, and served as President of the National League of Cities.

Senator Lugar has been a leader in reducing the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In 1991, he forged a bipartisan partnership with then-Senate Armed Services Chairman, Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), to destroy these weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. To date, the Nunn-Lugar program has deactivated more than 7,500 nuclear warheads that were once aimed at the United States.

As Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Lugar built bipartisan support for 1996 federal farm program reforms, ending 1930s era federal production controls. He has promoted broader risk management options for farmers, research advancements, increased export opportunities and higher net farm income. Senator Lugar initiated a biofuels research program to help decrease U.S. dependency on foreign oil. He also led initiatives to streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reform the food stamp program and preserve the federal school lunch program.

Combining his experiences on the Foreign Relations and Agriculture Committees and recognizing that energy security impacts every aspect of life in the United States, from the cars we drive and how much we pay at the gas pump to our vulnerability to foreign terrorism and our relationships with other countries, Senator Lugar launched the Lugar Energy Initiative.

Senator Lugar has promoted policies that spur economic growth, cut taxes, lead to job creation, eliminate wasteful government spending and reduce bureaucratic red tape for American businesses.

His Hoosier commonsense has been recognized many times including such awards as Guardian of Small Business, the Spirit of Enterprise, Watchdog of the Treasury, and 46 honorary degrees from colleges and universities in 15 states and the District of Columbia. He was the fourth person ever named Outstanding Legislator by the American Political Science Association.

Richard Lugar and his wife, Charlene, were married September 8, 1956, and have four sons and thirteen grandchildren.

Biography from Friends of Dick Lugar

Senator Dick Lugar combines perpetual optimism about the future with energetic and enduring leadership to solve the problems facing Indiana and the United States. When faced with serious challenges, Dick Lugar provides bold solutions and works to implement them.

Helping Create Jobs by Promoting the Free Market

Dick Lugar has worked to eliminate government regulations that stifle business. He has led efforts to expand export opportunities for Indiana manufacturing and agriculture and has championed policies that create jobs. For his leadership in ensuring that the prosperity we have enjoyed in the past is not undercut by regulation and taxes, he has received top ranking awards including Guardian of Small Business, the Spirit of Enterprise and Watchdog of the Treasury. Lugar has consistently supported and voted to cut or eliminate taxes on Hoosier families and businesses, including the death tax and alternative minimum tax.

First Senator to Call for Abolishing the IRS

To reduce our nation’s deficit and improve the economic prospects for all Americans, Dick Lugar was the first Senator to propose scrapping the income tax and the IRS, replacing this burdensome system with a tax at the final point of sale and services. Now known as the FairTax, the plan has gained significant momentum since Lugar’s initiation.

Stopping Obama’s Job-Killing Agenda

Dick Lugar has also opposed all of the Obama budgets, voted at every opportunity against Obama’s health care plan and opposed the Obama stimulus-spending bill. A fiscal conservative who voted for a Balanced Budget Amendment 16 times, Dick Lugar opposed Obama’s ineffective “stimulus” bills, bankrupting budget plans, and big-government, big-spending agendas. In fact, Lugar led the fight to eliminate thousands of government bureaucrats and offices. Lugar will continue to fight to slash federal spending, pass needed entitlement reforms, and repeal the government’s takeover of health care. Dick Lugar remains a strong, conservative opponent of Obama’s job-killing agenda of burdensome regulations, bigger government, and a bloated, punitive tax code.

Working to make America Energy Independent

To reduce energy costs and dependence on foreign sources of oil, Dick Lugar has spent his career promoting U.S. sources of energy, free market approaches that reduce energy consumption and save consumers money, and research to expand U.S. energy leadership.

Lifelong Farmer and Champion of Indiana Agriculture

To make certain that the world’s growing population has enough to eat, Dick Lugar advanced legislation to help U.S. agriculture be the most productive in the world with Indiana farmers being the leaders. This includes eliminating depression-era federal farm programs that controlled supply and business decisions. He supports trade programs that help Hoosiers invested in agriculture to export their products. He has also encouraged research on how to increase crop yields.

Voice for Local Control of Schools

Dick Lugar’s first elected post was serving on the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners, where he learned the importance of keeping the federal government out of our classrooms. To improve education prospects for Hoosiers, Dick Lugar has established: programs to recognize outstanding schools and teachers; symposiums, scholarships, exchanges and internships for high school and college students; reading programs for grade school students; and a record of supporting proven approaches that improve academic achievements.

World Leader

To face the threat of thousands of ‘loose nukes’ falling into the hands of terrorists, Dick Lugar worked with Senator Sam Nunn to secure and deactivate more than 7,600 nuclear warheads, as well as destruction of chemical and biological weapons. Perhaps most importantly, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are nuclear weapons-free as a result of cooperative efforts under the Nunn-Lugar program. Those countries were the third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear weapons powers in the world.

Leader in the Battle to Shrink Government

To improve the vitality and economic prospects of Indianapolis, he proposed and successfully passed Unigov, which has led to the dynamic growth of the city. He has continued to advocate shrinking government by closing excess U.S. Department of Agriculture offices, reducing government staff and dumping surplus inventory. In his dedication to cut spending, Dick Lugar has returned more than $5.2 million in unspent Senate office funds. As mayor of Indianapolis, he cut taxes five times in eight years.

Fifth Generation Hoosier

Dick Lugar is a fifth generation Hoosier. He was first in his classes at Indianapolis’ Shortridge High School and Denison University. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholars and earned his degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University. While studying at Oxford, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to Officer Candidate School. He was hand-picked to be an intelligence briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations and legendary World War II Pacific War hero, Admiral Arleigh Burke.

He returned to Indianapolis to run his family’s farm and manufacturing businesses. He was elected to two terms as mayor of Indianapolis.

Husband, Father Grandfather

Dick and Charlene Lugar were married in 1956, and have four sons and 13 grandchildren.