It was a different political era where people involved in the process saw the difference between a competitor and an enemy.

And I really lament the fact that we are in such a divisive era.

[music playing] [tractor sounds] [insect sounds] [music playing] [eagle call] [music playing] The subject of politics and politicians seems often popular with people.

And few topics can be as sweeping in their history, scope, and impact.

My guest on today's show is former Missouri State Senator, Gary Nodler, who shares personal insight about some of his well-known colleagues and their historic accomplishments.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present OzarksWatch Video Magazine, a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

We'll have a very special guest today.

And it's kind of good to have you visit us up here in Springfield.

Good to be with you.

Yeah.

So we're going to talk about today about the Seventh Congressional District.

Obviously, there's 435 congressional districts.

And the Seventh District is one near and dear to your heart, Seventh District of Missouri.

And we're going to talk a little bit about the District, but mostly about the people that have served, the Congressional people that have served over the years.

And I know you've been in a unique position, because you seem to know quite a few of those folks pretty well, so-- Most of them.

Yeah.

In fact, I've met all of them going back to 1928.

Although, two of them, OK Armstrong, and Charlie Brown, I only met.

I was in OK Armstrong's home a couple of times, but I didn't really know him really well.

And Charlie Brown was just somebody I shook hands with a couple of times.

But the others, I've really known all of them.

Yeah, it's pretty interesting.

It's kind of it gives you a unique perspective on the-- I think, really, what's interesting to me is always the personality.

For sure.

JIM BAKER: Of the people, because they have a public persona, and a private persona, and all that.

And so once you get into the private part, it's kind of pretty fascinating.

But let's start off with talking a little bit about yourself and your background.

And I know you were in politics.

I was in politics.

I got into politics in high school, a teenage Republican club in Neosho.

And in my first campaign, actually, I volunteered in Jack Danforth's 1968, or 1970 Senate race against Stuart Symington.

And that's really where I met Gene Taylor.

Jack Danforth introduced me to Gene during that campaign.

But I was always interested in politics.

And many of the members of my family that were in politics at all were Democrats.

Although, I had the two most involved relatives, I had a great aunt and a great uncle who were brother and sister.

And he was a devout Republican, had been a candidate for public office.

And she was an unshakable Democrat.

And so many family gatherings involved political debate between Aunt Lavada and Uncle Earl.

And so I started my political education as a small child.

Yeah, well that's probably-- you got well-versed in it by the time you were a teenager.

And so I enjoyed politics.

Ironically, my first thoughts about public service as a career path occurred after the Kennedy assassination.

And I hadn't formulated my own political position, but I was a big fan of John F. Kennedy's.

And that was a moment that sort of crystallized my interest in politics.

Yeah, and you ended up doing-- you've served on all kinds of boards and done a lot of public service.

Kind of give just some quick highlights of some.

Well, I was involved in Gene Taylor's 1st Congressional campaign as a volunteer.

And in the course of that campaign, he made a decision to remove his campaign manager.

And so I was asked to co-manage that campaign with Mike Donegan, who was from Springfield.

And we were both in the Youth for Taylor organization.

And so we ended up managing that campaign.

And then when he was elected, I had an opportunity to serve on his staff.

And then you've served on several boards and you were elected yourself.

I served-- I served with Taylor his entire career.

And then I actually ran for Congress when he retired.

And Mel Hancock was the nominee.

And then I was offered a position by President Bush to serve as a Regional Administrator at the Small Business Administration.

And I did that throughout his Term, and actually got acquainted with George W. Bush because I was the recruiter for County Chairman for that campaign in a 21 county area in Southwest Missouri.

And George W. Was the campaign manager that I reported to.

And his area was Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.

And the regional meetings were in Joplin.

And so he came to Joplin several times and met the county coordinators from the Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri part of that region several times, and got well acquainted with him.

And so I ended up being offered the position at the SBA as regional administrator.

And I served there for the entire first Bush term, HW's term.

And I was invited-- it's kind of an interesting story-- I was appointed to represent the SBA at the Economic Policy Council at the White House in a very odd sort of way.

The agency head was supposed to be the member of that working group, because it was cabinet level.

But the President had made a decision that he was going to change that person the week those appointments were being made.

And so they said, well, who do you want to represent the SBA?

And he said, well, get one of the regional administrators.

And there was a fellow named Ron Kaufman who was the political director who coincidentally had been in my office on a courtesy call a couple of weeks earlier.

And they said, which one do you want?

He said, I don't care.

Who's got the most rural region?

And Ron said, I'm not sure, but the guy in Kansas City can see grain elevators out of his office window.

And we were at 911 Walnut.

And from the 13th floor, you could see over across by the old airport those grain elevators on the Missouri River.

And it was true.

And so based on my imminent qualifications, I got to serve on a cabinet level working group for-- a great experience, by the way.

It was really one in a million chance for someone with a political science degree to do that.

And then following my time at the SBA, I was in the private sector for a while, built a small cable TV company, and served on the board of directors of a bank in Monet.

But then the next time the Congressional seat opened, I was a candidate.

I'd lost the primary to Mel Hancock, who I worked with very closely, because I was at the SBA and he was on the Small Business Committee.

And he was actually an advocate for my appointment at the SBA.

I've been in many primaries, but I've really never developed any enemies.

I've never engaged in negative advertising or attacks on my opponents.

And fortunately, and thankfully, I was never the target of negative advertising by an opponent either.

So most of the people that I competed with were-- and those that are still living, are friends today.

So it was a different political era where people involved in the process saw the difference between a competitor and an enemy.

And I really lament the fact that we are in such a divisive era.

And when I went to the Missouri State Senate in 2002, in 2002, election 2003, term limits had kicked in.

And so I served my first two years with the last of the previously unlimited Senators.

I served with John T Russell, who'd been in the legislature for 42 years, and Wayne Goode, who had been in the Senate for 42 years, and Jim Matheson, who'd been the pro tem for eight years.

And it was not partisan in the way that it has become.

And even those Democrat leaders, like Jim Matheson and Wayne Goode, they thought the Republicans were probably going to be in charge for a long time.

So they invested their time, and energy, and knowledge into young senators that they thought might end up in positions of influence regardless of party.

And what a different world that was from the one we live in today.

In fact, that's when I first met you, I think, was during that time period.

And it was just a totally different environment.

Totally different.

There's been a lot lost I think over the years, unfortunately, in that.

But why don't we switch gears a little bit, because I think we can talk about your service, public service for a long time, because you've done a lot.

Why don't we talk a little bit about some of the personalities that you've known?

And I'm going to give you free rein.

All I'm going to do is watch the clock.

OK. Well-- You can talk about-- I know that we've had a lot of congressmen.

There's no way in the world we could talk about all of them and do everything justice, and all that.

But just pick out a few that have really had an influence on you, or that are interesting to you.

Well, the three that I knew really the best were Gene Taylor and Doc Hall, and surprisingly, Dewey Short.

I say surprisingly, because my family didn't move to Southwest Missouri until 1961.

And Dewey was living in Washington after 1956.

But he was very close to Congressman Taylor.

And in fact, early in his career he would often stay at the Taylor home in Sarcoxie when he was campaigning.

And Gene Taylor's boyhood idol was Dewey Short.

And they had a very close personal relationship.

And through that, I became acquainted with Dewey.

And later in his life, he wanted to do kind of a farewell tour of his old congressional district.

And so Congressman Taylor arranged that tour.

And Dewey was actually my house guest for a couple of weeks.

And really got to know him well.

And then he continued a mentorship and friendship that lasted as long as he lived.

And that's odd that I knew him very well, but really, he wasn't in my time in Southwest Missouri, I knew him later in life.

Doc, I had met as a teenage Republican when I was in high school.

And he was again, very close to Gene Taylor.

Gene was his Seventh District Chairman, and also, the Republican National Committeeman from the state of Missouri.

And Doc's medical office secretary was Bonnie Crum, who went with him to the Congressional Office.

And Bonnie and I worked together for about 15 years.

And Doc was in and out of the office often.

And I got to know him extremely well.

In fact, a little trivia, he volunteered to be the Chairman of my 1st Congressional primary in 1988 and campaigned for me.

And in return, I'd help him move furniture and that sort of thing.

[laughing] And he was an interesting and good guy too.

Gene is the person I was closest to.

He was like a second father to me, really.

And I stayed often in his home during the campaign, and knew his wife Dorothy really well, and both of his kids.

And interestingly, his son, Larry, was elected to the State House the same year that I was elected to the State Senate.

And then two years later, he joined me in the Senate for one session.

Unfortunately, he had cancer and he passed away shortly after the end of that session.

But we used to stand at the back of the Senate leaned against the wall remembering teenage days in the basement at Gene's house planning our takeover of Missouri state government.

And there we were together in the State Senate.

It was kind of a really bittersweet memory because Larry was gone all too soon.

But the Taylors were like really the family more than-- and it was more than just a professional relationship.

And then Mel Hancock, who followed Gene, I'd known Mel from the time that he was involved in the Hancock Amendment.

He'd worked with Farm Bureau on that petition initiative, and had quite a bit of contact with him then.

And then he was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

A lot of people have forgotten that.

But I was involved in a lot of campaign activities with Mel.

And that was a pretty close primary, actually.

Mel defeated me by about 3,000 votes, and so 1,500 votes swing.

And that was out of 130,000 cast, so it was a close race.

But he, again, there was no acrimony.

And so he supported my appointment to the SBA.

He went on the Small Business Committee.

And he kept in pretty close contact the whole time that he was in office.

I was just curious, how long did Representative Taylor-- how long was he-- 16 years.

Yeah, he was probably one of the more influential-- He was second only to Dewey Short in tenure.

And Dewey was first elected in 1928, served till 1956.

There was a two year term when OK Armstrong went to Congress, because in 34 election I should say, they were unable to-- 32 election-- they were unable to agree on a redistricting plan in Missouri.

So all 13 of the congressmen ran at large.

And Dewey thought, if I've got to run at large, I'll just run for the Senate.

So he made a race for the Senate and didn't win.

But then he came back two years later and went back to Congress and stayed until he lost I think, by about 600 votes to Charlie Brown.

I think there were 21 counties.

He carried 20, lost Greene County, lost the election by 600 votes.

And then President Nixon, President Eisenhower appointed Dewey to be the Assistant Secretary of the Army.

And that's where he finished his career.

And then so knew Mel for a long, long time.

And then I ran again in a primary with Roy Blunt when Mel retired.

And that was just a two person primary.

And it was pretty competitive.

I think Roy won that contest 55% to 45%.

He had the benefit of a somewhat larger population base.

But again, no real acrimony.

And actually, subsequent to that, served on Roy's staff for about three years on a part-time basis.

It was a joint assignment with Senator Bond, Senator Ashcroft, and Roy Blunt, specifically to handle constituent relations dealing with small business issues.

And it was at the time that I was the Executive Director at the Monet Senate chamber of Commerce.

So I had to have my board's consent.

But it was supposed to be about a four hour a week assignment.

Plus, I would do a federal procurement training conference for each of them once a year.

And that was valuable time as well.

But Roy, I had known since '72.

He was the Chairman of the Youth for Ashcroft in the primary.

And I was the Chairman of the Youth for Taylor.

And so we've known each other since the early '70s.

It's not quite on topic, but I had a call from Roy the December before he announced he wasn't going to run again.

And he talked about 45 minutes.

And it was kind of a nostalgic kind of call.

But he's not somebody that would typically call for no reason.

And finally, I said, what are you calling about?

And he said, you know, I was just thinking about people that I knew in politics when I got started.

And really, you're about the only one that's still alive.

[laughing] And so I hung up the call.

I said to my wife, he's not going to run for re-election.

That call he just made is not a call you make to plan a re-election campaign.

That's a call you make when you're planning to call-- and about three weeks later, he announced he wasn't running.

But anyway, back to the other members, then after Roy, Billy Long served.

And now, Billy doesn't know this, but I actually had a connection with Billy that goes way, way back in time to when he first started in the auction business.

If he happens to watch this program, he'll probably learn this and maybe a light bulb-- I've never discussed it with him.

But he contacted Congressman Taylor because he felt that the Small Business Administration's liquidation policies weren't quite being fairly spread around to the auction firms.

And he thought he wasn't getting a fair chance to bid.

So what Billy never knew was that I was tasked by Congressman Taylor to go to the SBA and sit down with the regional administrator and try to broaden the access.

And it succeeded, and Billy gained more business.

I probably should have reminded him of that when we were running-- [laughing] against each other.

I'm sure he would have taken that into account.

No, I don't think-- I don't think it would have affected anything.

But I've never talked to him about it.

And he wouldn't have necessarily had a reason to know that I was involved in that in any way.

But I had a-- again, not a contentious primary.

And a week or so after the primary was over he called me and he said, you know, you're the only opponent in that primary that congratulated me for winning the election.

He said, is there anything I can do for you?

And I said, well, thanks, but not really.

But I said my, field man for my Senate office would be a great hire for you.

He's been with me for six years.

And he knows this area.

And he did.

He hired Jake Easton who stayed with him for seven years, and then went in economic development.

But Billy still says in touch, even since he's left office.

He calls fairly regularly.

And then, of course, Eric Burlison was in the legislature when I was in the Senate.

And so I've known him, gosh, I don't know, 15 years or so.

And had quite a bit-- I've been to-- when I was still in office, went to a number of his fundraisers.

So I know him pretty well too.

That's the thing about this progression.

In the timeline, Dewey Short's the one I really shouldn't have known because he wasn't even living in Southwest Missouri.

But because of that time he spent, I got really well acquainted with him.

And he continued that relationship.

And he was I believe, without question not only the best orator that the Seventh District ever produced, but many people categorize him as the greatest political orator of the 20th century.

One of one of those was Nixon in his book In The Arena.

He said, basically, the greatest political orator of my lifetime was Dewey Short of Missouri.

And he was chosen by the Congress to represent the Congress at the Nuremberg Tribunals.

And his speech reporting to the Congress on Nuremberg is again, considered one of the really great speeches of the 20th century, political speeches.

And I really wish Southwest Missourians knew more about the history of Dewey, because he was a very, very significant figure in 20th century America.

Yeah, I think what happens is-- and that's the reason I've always had a great respect for people that get run for elected office, and get elected is, there's a lot of stories that most-- you never hear about, you don't see.

And you were telling me a little bit earlier about talking a little bit about representative Short talking about education and all that.

So could you just relate that story real quick?

Well yeah, he-- We got about five minutes left.

He was invited to Missouri Southern for the dedication of the Gene Taylor building.

And he wasn't scheduled to speak.

But toward the end of the ceremony as a kind of an afterthought, President Billingsley asked him if he wanted to say a few words.

So he went up and apologized for not being ready to give a long speech.

But then he began a 35 or 40-minute dissertation on the history and the meaning of a higher education.

Now, he was a fellow from Galena, Missouri who'd studied at Heidelberg, and Oxford, and traveled the world, and was one of the best educated congressmen not just from Southwest Missouri, but from the country, really, in the country's history.

So he gives this dissertation on the meaning of a college or university education.

And it enthralled all of these academics, a couple of hundred people in the audience.

And they were like children listening at the altar.

And when it was over with, President Billingsley asked if it had been recorded.

And unfortunately, it had not been.

But his ability to generate a major topic on a significant subject without any preparation was phenomenal.

There's a story that his first nomination to Congress came as a result of an unexpected speech.

There was a keynote speaker due from Nebraska who was a United States Senator.

Train schedule was stopped.

It was the days when they had conventions.

So they somebody said, well, they've got a firebrand young associate pastor at Grace Methodist Church that gives a tremendous sermon.

Let's just ask him to come over and get a sermon.

But they didn't tell him to give a sermon.

They just invited him to talk to the convention.

So he gave a political address and was nominated the next day for Congress.

And the rest was history.

So that's how Dewey Short went to Congress was on his eloquence.

Wow, that's amazing.

As a speaker.

Well, we're running out of time.

We got a minute left or so.

And we could probably talk for several hours, I suspect.

But I really appreciate your being with us today, and kind of shedding a little bit of light.

I mean, there's a lot that people need to sit back and learn about the Seventh Congressional.

Oh, for sure.

And it's a long history of really tremendous people.

And I've had the great pleasure of knowing most of them really well.

And just real quick answer, unfortunately, because we're running out of time, but what's the major change that you've seen in the district over the years?

Well, it's kind of evolved.

There was a time early on in my career where the Democratic Party was a little stronger, particularly in certain areas of Greene County.

Then during Taylor's time, we ended up as a Democrat free zone for a number of years.

And now, there's kind of a rebirth of a Democratic presence in certain parts of Greene County.

So it's kind of gone back.

But over the years-- you're about out of time-- but over the years, this has been one of the most Republican areas really in the country.

Yeah, very conservative.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, thank you again for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.

And we'll be back in just a moment.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public television and Missouri State University are proud to present OzarksWatch Video Magazine, a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

I want to thank my guest, former Missouri State Senator, Gary Nodler, for sharing these informative and interesting highlights of some of his colleagues.

Join us again next time for OzarksWatch Video Magazine.

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