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11/11/2007

Four years after graduating from prestigious Bates College in 1936, Muskie began practicing law in Waterville. His career was interrupted twice by service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, but Muskie returned to serve three years in the state legislature.

In 1954, he became Maine's first Democratic governor in 20 years. Muskie defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Frederick Payne handily to earn his first term in the U.S. Senate four years later.

Muskie's rise to political prominence hardly stopped there.

Running for President in 1968, Vice President Hubert Humphrey chose Muskie as his running mate. Richard Nixon won that election in a landslide, but the man who had revitalized the Democratic party in Maine went right back to work in the Senate.

He had not forgotten what it was like growing up in Rumford, next to the Androscoggin River that was one of the most polluted in the country. He sponsored 10 major bills addressing environmental concerns between 1963 and 1976.

Muskie also was a key supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency, established in 1970.

He was briefly a presidential candidate himself in 1972. Viewed early as the frontrunner, Muskie was overtaken by left-wing dark horse George McGovern. Muskie won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

But his emotional response to character attacks led to the demise of his campaign. The press reported that Muskie had broken down and cried during a snowstorm outside the Manchester Union-Leader, though he stated later that what appeared to be tears actually were melting snowflakes.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Muskie as his secretary of state in 1980.

A year later, Muskie retired to his Washington home. He died of congestive heart failure in 1996, two days prior to his 82nd birthday.

-- Larry Grard

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