Profiles in Achievement

William Hershey

Description

This collection of profiles highlights the careers of Ohio political trailblazers and high achievers covering nearly a century - from Republican Ray Bliss' humble start as an errand boy in Akron's 1931 mayoral race to Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine today. Bliss worked quietly behind the scenes as party chairman to elect mayors, governors and presidents. Democrat Howard Metzenbaum earned a reputation as a high-profile political battler in the U.S. Senate. His fellow Democrat John Glenn, already a world hero as the first American to orbit the earth, preferred a nose-to-the-grindstone approach in four U.S. Senate terms. Democrats Eddie Davis from Akron and Louis Stokes from Cleveland made history - Davis as Akron's first black city councilman and Stokes as Ohio's first black U.S. House member. Summit County's Maureen was a history-maker too. In 2010 she became the first woman elected chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Akron Democrat John Seiberling, the grandson of Goodyear founder F.A. Seiberling, was a cerebral U.S. House member who could relate to rubber workers and match up intellectually with expert witnesses. Republican Jim Rhodes, a coal miner's son from southern Ohio, captured the governor's office four times with his unique earthiness. Their styles and beliefs differed but all had the discipline, patience and courage to take on challenges with no guarantees of success. They also had resilience, the ability to rebound from defeat, none more than DeWine and Brown who have become Ohio's political long-distance runners.

Sujets

• USA
• United States of America
• Region
• Administrative division
• Regional
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: University of Akron Press
• Date de parution: 23 juin 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781629221397
• Langue: English

Extrait

Profiles in Achievement
BLISS INSTITUTE SERIES
Bliss Institute Series
John C. Green, Editor
William Hershey and Colleagues, Profiles in Achievement: The Gifts, Quirks and Foibles of Ohio’s Best Politicians
Joy Marsella, Creating a New Civility
William Hershey, Quick & Quotable: Columns from Washington, 1985-1997
Jerry Austin, True Tales from the Campaign Trail: Stories Only Political Consultants Can Tell
Christopher J. Galdieri, Tauna S. Sisco, and Jennifer C. Lucas, editors, Races, Reforms, & Policy: Implications of the 2014 Midterm Elections
Tauna S. Sisco, Jennifer C. Lucas, and Christopher J. Galdieri, editors, Political Communication & Strategy: Consequences of the 2014 Midterm Elections
William L. Hershey and John C. Green, Mr. Chairman: The Life and Times of Ray C. Bliss
Douglas M. Brattebo, Tom Lansford, Jack Covarrubias, and Robert J. Pauly Jr., editors, Culture, Rhetoric, and Voting: The Presidential Election of 2012
Douglas M. Brattebo, Tom Lansford, and Jack Covarrubias, editors, A Transformation in American National Politics: The Presidential Election of 2012
Daniel J. Coffey, John C. Green, David B. Cohen, and Stephen C. Brooks, Buckeye Battleground: Ohio, Campaigns, and Elections in the Twenty-First Century
Lee Leonard, A Columnist’s View of Capitol Square: Ohio Politics and Government, 1969–2005
Abe Zaidan, with John C. Green, Portraits of Power: Ohio and National Politics, 1964–2000
Profiles in Achievement
The Gifts, Quirks and Foibles of Ohio’s Best Politicians
William Hershey and Colleagues
All new material copyright © 2021 by the University of Akron Press
The articles were originally written for the Akron Beacon Journal. © —USA TODAY NETWORK
All rights reserved • First Edition 2021 • Manufactured in the United States of America.
All inquiries and permission requests should be addressed to the Publisher, The University of Akron Press, Akron, Ohio 44325-1703.
ISBN : 978-1-62922-137-3 (paper)
ISBN : 978-1-62922-138-0 (ePDF)
ISBN : 978-1-62922-139-7 (ePub)
A catalog record for this title is available from the Library of Congress.
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI / NISO z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Cover photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith, LC-DIG-highsm-41852 DLC
Cover design: Amy Freels
Cover illustration: Nadia Alnashar
Profiles in Achievement was typeset in Adobe Caslon with Avenir display by Beth Pratt. Profiles in Achievement was printed on sixty-pound natural and bound by Bookmasters of Ashland, Ohio.
To Akron Beacon Journal editors and reporters, past and present, who have helped readers understand Ohio politics.
Contents
Foreword
Dr. John C. Green
Introduction: Profiles in Achievement
William Hershey
Ray Bliss: The Party’s Not Over
William Hershey
Eddie Davis: Still Eddie After All These Years
William Hershey
John Galbreath: Down on the Farm with John Galbreath
William Hershey
Johnny Apple: The Life and Times of Akron’s Apple
William Hershey
Jim Williams: “Rare Jurist” Will Be Missed
Carl Chancellor
Maureen O’Connor: The Most Powerful Woman in Summit County
Steve Hoffman
Mary Taylor: Legislator Eyes Race for Auditor
Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger
Barbara Sykes: Rep. Sykes to Run for Ohio Auditor
Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger
Roy Ray: It’s Half a Year of Sweet Music for Akron Mayor
William Hershey
Tom Sawyer: Coming Home to Capitol Hill
William Hershey
Don Plusquellic: A Kid from Kenmore
Bob Dyer
George Voinovich: A Voice of Tranquility on Road to “Normalcy”
William Hershey
Jim Rhodes: Is This Really the End of His Era?
Brian Usher
Dick Celeste: See Dick Still Run
William Hershey
Nancy Hollister: Hollister Takes Office
James C. Benton
Betty Montgomery: To the Moon with Montgomery?
Michael Douglas
Jo Ann Davidson: The Whole Package
Michael Douglas
Vern Riffe: “Boss” Riffe Runs a Tight House
Michael Cull
Bill Batchelder: Bill Batchelder in the House
William Hershey
Sterling Tucker: Righting Civil Wrongs
William Hershey
Thaddeus Garrett: Garrett Faces a Tough Job
Carl Chancellor
Ralph Regula: Pickups, Pragmatism and Polish
William Hershey
John Seiberling: From Lawmaker to Peacemaker
William Hershey
Louis Stokes: A King of the Hill
William Hershey
John Glenn: Crying Out A Message of Doom
William Hershey
Howard Metzenbaum: Going Out in Metzenbaum Style
William Hershey
Mike DeWine: When a Family Man Heads for the Hill
William Hershey
Sherrod Brown: Brown Takes on the Role as Challenger
Carl Chancellor
Contributors
Foreword
DR. JOHN C. GREEN
Director Emeritus, Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, University of Akron
Political journalists meet some interesting people.
Bill Hershey and his colleagues at the Akron Beacon Journal certainly did, and moreover, they wrote profiles of many of them. Published between 1980 and 2014, the twenty-eight essays republished here cover a wide variety of leaders who “achieved big things” in their careers.
The title of this collection, Profiles in Achievement , echoes Profiles in Courage , a book about eight U.S. Senators who stood up for what they believed in the face of intense pressure and criticism. Authored by then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (and ghostwritten by speechwriter Theodore Sorensen), the book established a genre of books about good leaders. It soon inspired Richard Nixon’s Six Crises (ghostwritten by journalist Charles Lichtenstein), chronicling episodes of leaders in action Nixon witnessed—including his own loss to Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Recent additions to the genre include U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America and former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s Courage is Contagious: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the Face of America. Some of the best books in this genre were written by journalists, such as David Broder’s Changing of the Guard: Power and Leadership in America.
Taken as a whole, this genre is an antidote to the popular view that leaders, especially politicians, are self-interested and corrupt. There is, of course, a good bit of truth in this often-overstated conclusion. Indeed, the Beacon Journal writers also profiled poor leaders, often with pre-science. An example is Ohio’s Larry Householder, who served twice as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. In 2020, his long-recognized lack of ethics resulted in his indictment and arrest on federal racketeering charges. Reporting on these kinds of interesting people is one of the purposes of a free press, but reporting on successful leadership is of equal interest.
Courage is a feature of the high achievers profiled here, both doing the right thing under fire as well as recovering from the burns of defeat and disappointment. Longevity is clearly an important factor: resilience provides the time necessary for major accomplishments. For example, James Rhodes and Vern Riffe set records for time in their respective offices; Jo Ann Davidson and Eddie Davis life’s work broke social barriers and opened the way for the careers of Mary Taylor and Barbara Sykes. The hindsight of experience, the foresight to solve problems, and the insight from building consensus are important features of the people profiled as well.
If political reporting is the first draft of history, then profiles are a second draft. There is an intimacy in these accounts not found in daily reporting. Some profiles sum up a lifetime of achievement, such as Bill Batchelder’s years in the Ohio legislature and Johnny Apple’s decades of covering presidential campaigns. In other profiles, there is a sighting of what will eventually be achieved. For example, we encounter George Voinovich as mayor of Cleveland, long before he became Ohio’s Governor and Senator; we see Maureen O’Connor as a local prosecutor on her way to becoming Ohio’s first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; we observe John Glenn as a dogged legislator and Sherrod Brown as an ardent policy advocate.
We also learn about high achievers little known today, such as real estate developer John Galbreath and civil rights leader Sterling Tucker, whose impact is still felt in the fabric of everyday life. We also hear about virtues welcome in a time of contentious politics: Republican Ray Bliss tells us, “We should be tolerant of the deeply held convictions of others,” while Democrat Louis Stokes reminds us “…while I admire your love for America, I hope that you will never forget that others, too, love America just as much as you do and that others, too, will die for America, just as quick as you will.”
Not even high achievers are perfect, of course. All the profiles reveal interesting quirks and foibles of their subjects—some endearing, some infuriating. But these profiles are more than just celebrations of success: they show that the quest for good leaders is not a fool’s errand.
This volume is a fine addition to the Bliss Institute’s book series with the University of Akron Press, joining Hershey’s earlier compilation, Quick & Quotable: Columns from Washington, 1985–1997 ; the collection of his Beacon Journal colleague Abe Zaidan, Portraits of Power: Ohio and National Politics, 1964–2004 ; and the book by fellow political journalist for the Columbus Dispatch Lee Leonard, A Columnist’s View of Capitol Square: Ohio Politics and Government, 1969–2005 .
Please enjoy: you will meet some interesting people.
Introduction
Profiles in Achievement
WILLIAM HERSHEY
Republican Ray Bliss and Democrat Eddie Davis agreed on few things during long and successful political careers, but they had one thing in common:
Both achieved big things.
Starting out as an errand boy in the 1931 Akron mayoral race, Bliss became a nationally recognized political organizer. Over a 50-year career, he led and when necess