Senator Dick Lugar's
Personal History and Accomplishments

Dick Lugar has served in the U.S. Senate longer than any other Hoosier. He is the Republican leader of the Foreign Relations Committee, and a member and former Chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Senator Lugar was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976. In 2006 he was re-elected to his sixth term. No other Hoosier Senator has been elected to more than three terms. He has been elected with a two-thirds majority in his last four elections.

Education and Family

Richard Green Lugar was born April 4, 1932, in Indianapolis. He was the oldest of three children of Marvin and Bertha Lugar. An Eagle Scout, he graduated first in his class at both Shortridge High School, Indianapolis and Denison University, Granville, Ohio. At Denison, he was co-president of the student government with his future wife, Charlene Smeltzer.

In 1954, he went on to Pembroke College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he received an honors degree in politics, philosophy and economics. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he has been awarded 41 honorary degrees from colleges and universities in 14 states and the District of Columbia.

The Lugars were married on September 8, 1956. They have four grown children: Mark, Robert, John and David, along with thirteen grandchildren. They are members of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Indianapolis.

Early Career

Senator Lugar volunteered for the U.S. Navy in 1956 and served as an officer from 1957 until 1960, ultimately being assigned as the intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations. Upon leaving the Navy, he returned to Indianapolis where he ran, with his brother Tom, the family's food machinery manufacturing business.

Senator Lugar was elected to the Indianapolis School Board in 1963. He worked for voluntary public school desegregation and promoted the Shortridge Plan, a forerunner of the magnet school concept. In 1967 he was elected Mayor of Indianapolis. As a two-term mayor (1968-75), he envisioned the unification of the city and surrounding Marion County into one government. Unigov, as his plan was called, revitalized the downtown area and set the city on a path of uninterrupted economic growth. In 1971, he was elected to a term as President of the National League of Cities. Senator Lugar is one of only two current Senators to have served on a school board, and he is the only Senator with experience both as a school board member and as a mayor.

The Lugar Energy Initiative

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 has launched the Lugar Energy Initiative.

On January 4, 2008, Senator Lugar offered an answer to the prospect of $100 per barrel oil in a speech to the Indiana Renewable Energy Forum at IUPUI. "In the absence of revolutionary changes in energy policy, we will be risking multiple hazards for our country that could constrain living standards, undermine our foreign policy goals, and leave us highly vulnerable to economic and political disasters with an almost existential impact," Senator Lugar said. "A credible energy security agenda demands that we break free from partisan divisions. This will require tremendous leadership from the President, who must speak plainly to the American people and special interests."

National Security Leader

Senator Lugar has gained wide recognition as a leader on national security policy. Foremost among his initiatives is the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. With the fall of the Soviet Union, he saw the grave proliferation risk presented by the Soviet Union's vast arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Working with then-Senator Sam Nunn, Senator Lugar crafted an ambitious program to safeguard and dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.

U.S. Senator Dick Lugar (right), former Senator Sam Nunn (left) and U.S. Ambassador to Russia Bill Burns (not pictured) became the first Americans to ignite the solid fuel in a rocket motor that was removed from an SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missile. Sergei Shevchenko (center), a senior official at the missile technologies directorate of Russia’s space agency, gave the destruction order.

The Nunn-Lugar program has dismantled a huge array of bombers, missiles, submarines and other launch vehicles, and it has destroyed more than 7,200 nuclear warheads. Tens of thousands of scientists formerly engaged in research on weapons of mass destruction have been employed in cooperative pursuits under Nunn-Lugar. It also facilitated the safe removal of all nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, thereby turning the countries with the third, fourth, and eighth largest nuclear arsenals into nuclear weapons-free nations.

Senators Nunn and Lugar have traveled extensively in Russia to build support for weapons dismantlement, highlight new non-proliferation projects, and share ideas with officials and technicians.

In 2007, speaking at the Brookings Institution ahead of a meeting between Presidents Bush and Putin, Senator Lugar urged increased transparency between the U.S. and Russia on weapons dismantlement, warhead security and plutonium disposition.

During his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1985-86), Senator Lugar was instrumental in promoting democracy around the world. He played a pivotal role in the 1986 Philippines election that brought Corazon Aquino to power. As the head of an American election observer team, he recognized Corazon Aquino as the legitimate winner and spotlighted corrupt activities of supporters of former President Ferdinand Marcos -- ultimately convincing President Reagan to back Aquino. He also lead the Senate effort to secure passage of the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which imposed economic and political sanctions on South Africa. More recently, he was the original author of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which promotes trade and encourages African countries to integrate into the global economy.

Senator Lugar played key roles in Senate ratification of the START I, START II, and INF treaties and the Chemical Weapons Convention. He was an early supporter of NATO enlargement, and he helped usher in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic as new members in1998. He is one of the leading supporters of a second round of NATO expansion in 2002.

Senator Lugar's 1988 book, Letters to the Next President, remains a primer of basic principles of presidential leadership in foreign policy, and one of the few first-hand accounts of the Philippines elections, the South Africa sanctions debate, and the implementation of the Reagan Doctrine.

Agricultural Leader

Dick Lugar has been involved in agriculture since he worked as a boy on his family's 604-acre farm in Marion County, Indiana. He continues to manage the farm, which produces corn, soybeans and walnut trees. As a life-long family farmer, Senator Lugar believes that the best course for rural prosperity is planting flexibility, tax relief, an aggressive export policy, conservation incentives, and less regulation for farmers.

As Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee (1995-2001), he built bipartisan support for federal farm program reforms and passed the 1996 Farm Bill. During the 2007 farm bill debate, he offered a FRESH approach to U.S. agriculture policy that would alleviate hunger, improve the environment, promote energy independence, and reduce the deficit. The Farm, Ranch, Equity, Stewardship, and Health (FRESH) Act would provide a true safety net for all farmers and save taxpayers $4 billion.

Senator Lugar also has been the leader of initiatives to streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reform the food stamp program, and require daily price reporting by packers.

Recognizing that trade expansion is the key to the agricultural economy, Senator Lugar has long worked to improve trade opportunities for farmers. He has been a leader of the movement to limit counterproductive unilateral sanctions and exempt food and medicine from sanctions. He has supported normal trade relations with China, trade promotion authority (fast-track) for the President, and vigorous negotiating to lower foreign barriers to our farm products.

Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole described Lugar's influence on American agriculture policy by saying: "When Dick speaks, people listen -- and they get results."

Outstanding Legislator

Beyond agriculture and foreign policy, Senator Lugar has been the author of a wide array of successful legislative initiatives.

He is considered one of the foremost advocates of scientific research in the Senate. In 1998, he authored a law that provided funding for competitive agricultural research grants. He also authored the National Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals Act of 2000, which is designed to jump start research toward the production of cost-effective biofuels made from anything that grows, including weeds and agricultural wastes.

In 1996, Senator Lugar led the successful opposition to replacing the school lunch program with block grants in the welfare reform bill. He also has been a strong advocate of literacy and school reform efforts. He has aggressively promoted the research-based "Success for All" reform plan, which has boosted reading skills academic achievement in schools in Indiana and throughout the nation. He authored and passed the S-CHIP Improvement Act of 1999, which facilitated sign-ups for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

In 1985, Senator Lugar authored the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which became arguably the most successful soil erosion control program in history. Lugar complimented this legislation with the1996 Farm Bill, which extended the CRP and added a provision to improve rural water quality. He was also a lead co-sponsor of the Acid Rain Title of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. As the co-author of the 1998 Tropical Forest Conservation Act and the 1989 Global Environmental Protection Assistance Act, he has been an active advocate of debt-for-nature swaps.

Senator Lugar was the co-author of the 1996 Nunn-Lugar-Domenici program, which has facilitated the training of first responders in more than 120 cities for the possibility of an attack by nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.

While serving on the Banking Committee from 1977 to 1982, Senator Lugar was recognized for his leadership on the Chrysler and New York City loan programs. In both cases he helped craft a compromise to bridge the differences between supporters of expansive bailout programs and Senators who opposed any federal help. His proposals, which were approved by Congress, required Chrysler, New York City, and their employees to make sacrifices in exchange for federal loan guarantees.

Senator Lugar, who served as a member of the 1993 Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, has been a strong advocate for improving the legislative process. He has been a leader of efforts to streamline appointment procedures, adopt a two-year budget, and limit the use of Senate "holds." Historically, his 98 percent lifetime voting participation record ranks first among the class of 18 Senators who were elected in 1976.

Senator Lugar was the fourth person to be awarded the prestigious "Outstanding Legislator" award by the American Political Science Association.

Community Endeavors

Since 1977, Senator Lugar has hosted the annual "Lugar Symposium for Tomorrow's Leaders." The Lugar Symposium brings together two juniors from each high school in Indiana for a day of dialogue and examination of current issues. More than 15,000 Hoosier high school students have attended a Dick Lugar symposium.

He also has hosted the Dick Lugar Health Fair and Fitness Festival every year since 1979. The family event, held in Indianapolis, brings participants together with nearly 60 healthcare and fitness representatives. The events include running and walk races on the Butler University campus. Senator Lugar has served as a co-chair of the Advisory Committee for the annual Capitol Challenge road race benefitting the Washington, D.C. Special Olympics. An avid runner, he is the only Member of Congress to finish this race every year it has been held.

In 1983, Senator Lugar established the Fund for Hoosier Excellence with private resources. The fund provides scholarships to minority students who pursue their college education in Indiana. He also is the founder of the annual Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series, which encourages Hoosier Republican women to pursue leadership positions in government. He serves on the Board of Trustees for both his alma mater Denison University and the University of Indianapolis.

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Lugar has been an advocate for international educational exchange programs. He has been involved in the development of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program, which allows German and American students to engage in cultural exchanges. He also serves on the board of Youth for Understanding, the parent group for a host of international scholarship programs.

In 2002, Senator Lugar launched the Veterans History Project in Indiana, in cooperation with the Library of Congress. The Project seeks to record the remembrances of Hoosier veterans on audio or videotape to ensure that their experiences are preserved for history. The material is provided to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and will be catalogued and stored for use by historians, students and researchers.

Charlene Lugar is a former member of the national board of directors of the March of Dimes and has established an endowed fund for fighting birth defects and infant deaths. The fund includes support for prenatal care provided aboard the "Mom-mobile," which tours Indianapolis neighborhoods.

Republican Party Leader

Senator Lugar has been an active Republican since his youth. He was the keynote speaker at the 1972 Republican National Convention, and he served in the Senate as an Assistant Republican Whip. He was on Ronald Reagan's final list of vice-presidential possibilities in 1980. During the 1983-84 election cycle, he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, successfully maintaining Republican control of the Senate in the 1984 election.

Senator Lugar ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 on a platform of prosperity, national security, and integrity. He continues to promote an agenda of economic growth, strong national security and U.S. leadership in the world. He was one of only 4 Senators to receive a perfect 100 percent rating from both the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business in each of the last six years.

In 2000 Senator Lugar introduced several good government innovations into his campaign for re-election. He proposed and participated in a revival of the Lincoln-Douglas debate format. Unlike joint press conference debates, in which candidates give sound-bite answers to questions, the Lincoln-Douglas debate format requires the candidates to speak at length on their vision with minimal notes. He also became the first member of Congress to voluntarily disclose all campaign contributors and the amount of their contribution on his own website.