In 1976, Representative Morris Udall ran for President and lost - "second-place Mo" as he was known had struggles with fundraising, name-recognition and breaking out of a crowded pack to beat frontrunner Jimmy Carter. In the AH community that's all Mo's really known for, as another generic liberal candidate who fell wayside as the Carter juggernaut steamrolled all opposition in the Democratic primary on path to the White House. However, Udall had a more interesting ideological profile then just "liberal," and arguably given his background in Congress, relatively amiable relationship with Democratic leadership and openness to executive action, you can make the argument that he would've gotten more of his agenda enacted than Carter did if he became President.
I'm going to break this up into sections in spoilers, because I've noticed while writing this out that this is a biiiiig wall of text.
Personally I am less interested in how he gets the nomination and wins the election (there are serious doubts that he could - @zaffre noted in a discussion the other day that the Washington Post suppressed a story about Udall's infidelity because he was too minor of a candidate) then what he does once he's in office. His profile as a compromiser and deal-maker implies that he wouldn't pass everything he wanted with no qualifications, but I would think you would see some major movement on full employment, national health insurance, public intervention into the oil market, a firm environmentalist tack from the federal government and a much more isolationist foreign policy than you saw with President Carter. You also have to ask about who Udall puts in his Cabinet, and how he deals with the major political battles of the late 70's, like the ERA.
Here's a fantastic resource that's collected a bunch of speeches, writings and other statements made by Udall that gives in an insight to where he stood ideologically, and here's a collection of papers from the Carter Library that's been my primary source for almost all of this.
I'm going to break this up into sections in spoilers, because I've noticed while writing this out that this is a biiiiig wall of text.
Udall was probably the best-known environmentalist in the race, having authored a bill that would strictly regulate strip mining (he did not support an outright ban and compromised on issues of public water rights, a running theme throughout his legislative history and an issue water rights activists would take problem with), and supported public - not private - exploration of offshore oil, the creation of a National Authority of Energy Management to control petroleum reserves and produce alternative energy sources, breaking up the energy conglomerates, and like his brother Stewart, was one of the biggest proponents of the expansion of public lands and wilderness areas in Washington. Interestingly enough, Udall had a reputation among even his fellow environmentalists as a compromiser, who would sometimes seriously sabotage his own legislation with the hopes of attracting popular support. To quote an internal report about Udall sourced from the Carter Presidential Library, "Udall sees himself as a negotiator, willing to listen and learn from both sides. He always keeps his mind and his door open. Environmentalists consider him one of the most accessible of all the Congressional leaders, but they also him frustrating to work with on legislative strategy. Although he has attracted a very good staff, he doesn't always pay enough personal attention to the details that are necessary to launch an aggressive legislative campaign. He is also too quick to compromise his positions, and sometimes backs off in anticipation of trouble that has not yet materialized. Thus Udall tends to give away too much in return for too little, and sacrifice provisions that would seriously undercut his programs in the hopes of attracting broader support. As a result, other members of the Interior Committee. sometimes take tougher positions than Udall, who is worried about selling his bills to the rest of Congress and getting them past the President's desk." Udall had an unfriendly relationship with Wayne Aspinall, the Chairman of the Interior Committee, but would often cave in to Aspinall's demands and compromises instead of fighting against him with his fellow conservationists and environmentalists on the committee. Where Udall did assert himself was on reforming the Interstate Commerce Committee, which he saw as both an enemy of the environment and America's economic health. He called for the outright abolishment of the ICC, a mass reform of its codes on trucking to award trucking routes so drivers wouldn't travel for thousands of miles with no shipments, and supported a significant national program in restoring and building thousands of miles of new... drumroll please... railroads! "In sum, Udall would give heavy emphasis to restoration of railroads, a change to consumer cars and diversion of the highway trust fund into mass transit programs as key elements as to achieve energy conservation and increase employment opportunities in the future. Udall deserves high praise for his far reaching policies as well as past efforts to encourage expansion of efficient transportation programs."
Udall was also a supporter of national land use planning and was its primary advocate on the Hill, having a bill that provided federal grants to states to develop and enact land use planning and management programs be defeated only by an organized campaign from the Chamber of Commerce that called it a "national zoning ordinance." He was however much more lenient when it came to agricultural use of land, supporting bills that would expand land grants to small farmers and he made ending federal production quotas on agricultural products a part of his '76 platform.
Udall was also a supporter of national land use planning and was its primary advocate on the Hill, having a bill that provided federal grants to states to develop and enact land use planning and management programs be defeated only by an organized campaign from the Chamber of Commerce that called it a "national zoning ordinance." He was however much more lenient when it came to agricultural use of land, supporting bills that would expand land grants to small farmers and he made ending federal production quotas on agricultural products a part of his '76 platform.
Udall was arguably speaking, the most left-wing candidate on foreign policy in the race (not that he didn't have competition). He was a signatory to Ron Dellum's bill that tried to recall 70,000 troops from overseas conflicts, called for a cancellation in development of the B-1 Bomber and new aircraft carriers, supported a cap on R&D spending and generally just wanted to cut the DoD's budget down to size after Vietnam. He was also unrelentingly vocal about his beliefs with foreign policy, bluntly saying that Ford wanted to start another Vietnam in Angola while out on the campaign trail. Udall was quite vague when it came to Israel and Middle Eastern policy, saying that the U.S. should recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel once a "settlement" had been reached and had been supportive of Kissinger's negotiations between the PLO and the Israeli government.
While I've only found a brief mention of this in a Udall pamphlet, he did support the creation of an "Atlantic Union to promote peace and trade." I don't know a lot about this particular proposal and whether it was more widespread than just Udall, it is an interesting tidbit that some of you guys might know a lot more about.
While I've only found a brief mention of this in a Udall pamphlet, he did support the creation of an "Atlantic Union to promote peace and trade." I don't know a lot about this particular proposal and whether it was more widespread than just Udall, it is an interesting tidbit that some of you guys might know a lot more about.
While he never would go as far as Scoop Jackson, Udall was on the party's left when it came to the energy crisis, alternative sources, OPEC, the Oil industry and all that. Udall, for example, supported introducing a public competitor into the Oil market (there are some comments that can be read as calling for outright nationalization a la Jackson, but they're rather vague and woolly), breaking-up the major conglomerates and if that failed, prohibiting them from mutual ownership of energy sources along with prohibiting companies from engaging in more than one phase of the oil extraction and selling - "either exploration and production, or transportation, refining and retailing. This would provide a cutting edge that will sharpen the needed real competition in the domestic oil industry." Campaign literature also called for "strong domestic conservation measures, coupled with a mechanism to limit imports to break cartel prices and reduce the petrodollar drain; commitment to a 2 percent annual energy growth rate, compared with the 4.5 percent figure of recent years and special taxes on inefficient automobiles." Gas rationing was another policy he called for, and I don't see a world where that goes over well with the American people.
Udall was in broad terms anti-Nuclear, preferring to opt for subsidizing other alternatives like solar and geothermal and researching into "clean" coal and fossil fuels. Energy conservation was also a major part of Udall's platform, as he publicly commented that the U.S. should artificially slow energy growth to 2% and end research into "wasteful" energies like shale so consumption could be spread out over a period of decades instead of years.
Udall was in broad terms anti-Nuclear, preferring to opt for subsidizing other alternatives like solar and geothermal and researching into "clean" coal and fossil fuels. Energy conservation was also a major part of Udall's platform, as he publicly commented that the U.S. should artificially slow energy growth to 2% and end research into "wasteful" energies like shale so consumption could be spread out over a period of decades instead of years.
Udall was also leaning into the hip new thing in 1976, anti-consumerism! "No longer can we continue our blatant waste of the world's limited supply of raw materials. Conspicuous consumption must be eliminated from our lives, if we are to survive the long haul. No longer can we as a nation afford the energy waste of gas-guzzling automobiles and meaningless mobility. No longer can we overindulge ourselves with frivolous electrical appliances and gadgets cluttering up our kitchen counter-tops and our homes. No longer can we rape the land and our environment to satisfy unlimited greed and desire for luxury. No longer can American workers complacently sit be.ck, content with former successes. We must bring our productivity back up to what it once proudly was. No longer can we serve as the police force of the world. An oversized military establishment is now an unaffordable luxury." While he's no Jerry Brown or Tom McCall, it does seem to me that his environmentalist bona fides informed his beliefs on consumer consumption and the like.
Udall's own personal beliefs on abortion and his voting record are rather muddled, voting against a bill that allowed women to use federal funds to seek abortions from hospitals that refused them while supporting the Roe v. Wade decision and supporting a bill that allowed for the Family Planning Fund to pay for abortions. However, Udall interestingly enough was concerned with unchecked population growth, and proposed a Commission on the Population and the Environment in the late 60's that would review possible solutions to overpopulation.
Udall's healthcare policy and jobs policy were pretty one note - he supported Ted Kennedy's national health insurance bill that got nixed by Nixon, and he supported the Humphrey-Hawkins Act and aimed for full employment before 1980.
On gun control, Udall supported the outlaw of "saturday-night special guns" and promoted laws that would either ban or impose timed limits on convicted felons from purchasing firearms.
Udall's own personal beliefs on abortion and his voting record are rather muddled, voting against a bill that allowed women to use federal funds to seek abortions from hospitals that refused them while supporting the Roe v. Wade decision and supporting a bill that allowed for the Family Planning Fund to pay for abortions. However, Udall interestingly enough was concerned with unchecked population growth, and proposed a Commission on the Population and the Environment in the late 60's that would review possible solutions to overpopulation.
Udall's healthcare policy and jobs policy were pretty one note - he supported Ted Kennedy's national health insurance bill that got nixed by Nixon, and he supported the Humphrey-Hawkins Act and aimed for full employment before 1980.
On gun control, Udall supported the outlaw of "saturday-night special guns" and promoted laws that would either ban or impose timed limits on convicted felons from purchasing firearms.
Personally I am less interested in how he gets the nomination and wins the election (there are serious doubts that he could - @zaffre noted in a discussion the other day that the Washington Post suppressed a story about Udall's infidelity because he was too minor of a candidate) then what he does once he's in office. His profile as a compromiser and deal-maker implies that he wouldn't pass everything he wanted with no qualifications, but I would think you would see some major movement on full employment, national health insurance, public intervention into the oil market, a firm environmentalist tack from the federal government and a much more isolationist foreign policy than you saw with President Carter. You also have to ask about who Udall puts in his Cabinet, and how he deals with the major political battles of the late 70's, like the ERA.
Here's a fantastic resource that's collected a bunch of speeches, writings and other statements made by Udall that gives in an insight to where he stood ideologically, and here's a collection of papers from the Carter Library that's been my primary source for almost all of this.
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