Carl Curtis, Our Man in D.C.

Sen. Carl T. Curtis

(Note: McCook’s, Jerda Thompson Gary Vickers, Ed.D has recently published an important new book, “Creating Visions, Meeting Challenges”, a historical view of the Republican Valley Conservation Association. In Jerda’s history, she recognizes men who worked to tame the waterways in our part of the country and change the landscape from “The Great American Desert” (which Major Stephen Long called the area), with its recurring devastating floods, to the prosperous agricultural, recreation area that we know. Today we take a closer look at another of these men, Carl Curtis, “The Little Tiger.”)

Carl Curtis, from Minden, Neb., represented Nebraska as a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate from the from the approach of World War II, in President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, to the captivity of the American hostages in Iran, halfway through President Carter’s administration, never losing an election during that period. During most of these 40 years, he was part of the Minority, doing his best to hold down the size of government, and acting as a thorn in the side of a Democratic Majority.

Carl Curtis was born on a farm in Kearney County in 1905. After his graduation from Minden High, he taught school in Danbury, NE for one year, before he attended Nebraska Wesleyan University. Upon graduation, he taught in the Minden school system for two years, two years in which he also studied law in the offices of a Minden lawyer, Charles A. Chappel. In 1930 he was admitted to the Nebraska bar, and in that same year, he was elected County Attorney for Kearney County---on the Democratic ticket.

During the next eight years, Curtis practiced law, served as County Attorney, married his first wife, Lois, and adopted a child, Claramae. (Later Mr. & Mrs. Curtis would adopt a second child, Carl Jr.) By 1938 he had been bitten by the political bug. He became a Republican and was elected to Congress from the old 4th District.

From the beginning of his days in Washington Curtis was a staunch supporter of legislation that would give flood control to Nebraska, following the devastating 1935 flood. Over the years Curtis worked closely with McCook’s, Harry Strunk, promoting legislation that would result in the Pick-Sloan plan for flood control and irrigation of the Missouri Valley. In a conversation with me years later, Mr. Curtis laughed as he revealed, “Oh yes, I was the recipient of some of those late night phone calls. When the caller said, ‘This is Harry’, I wasn’t sure if it was Harry Strunk or Harry Truman, but either way I knew I was going to catch hell.”

After eight terms in the Congress, Carl Curtis was elected to four terms in the Senate. During his years in the Senate Curtis was a tireless proponent of fiscal responsibility and resisted the drift toward “The Welfare State” at every turn. Because of his position, as a member of the Senate Minority, he did not figure in many pieces of lasting legislation but became well known as a member of Senate committees, which investigated unfair labor practices, Labor Rackets, and the investigations involving the Washington insiders, Billy Sol Estes, and Bobby Baker. His probing questions (reported via TV) made the people appearing before his committee squirm. These sessions earned him his nickname, “The Little Tiger”, a name which carried over in his work with the 1964 Goldwater Campaign.

Several years ago, after Senator Curtis had retired, my wife, Jean, and I happened to meet the Senator and his wife in a restaurant in York, Neb. I introduced myself and reminded him of the work that he and my mother had done together during the Goldwater campaign. The result of this chance meeting was that Senator Curtis invited me to meet with him at his home in Lincoln, an invitation I was pleased to accept.

The Senator had interesting stories about his work with the Senate investigating committees, and Bobby Baker and Billy Sol Estes. I enjoyed these stories, yet, it was about one piece of legislation that I especially wanted to talk about. For a long time, I had very much wished to thank the Senator for introducing the legislation, which, after a long and sometimes bitter struggle, finally emerged as the Individual Retirement Act or IRA. To me, this is one of the most important pieces of legislation to benefit the small businessman to come down through the legislative process. As an addition to Social Security, for the first time, small businessmen and independent workers had the same chance to put away a nest egg for their retirement, free from the erosion of taxation, as do workers in large companies, with their various pension plans.

I believe Sen. Curtis was proud of his IRA legislation and that day he related some of the struggles that he had encountered (over a 12-year period) in seeing his bill through the legislative process. I mentioned that people of my age had had a chance to build a modest IRA account, but that the real benefit would come to my children and grandchildren, who would have their entire careers to contribute to an IRA.

Sen. Curtis agreed that the IRA could do great things for people who were eligible to use it, but he seemed very sad. He said that he had wanted to do something for independent workers and the small businessman, but deplored the fact that the IRA was under used. At the time we talked he said that less than 16 percent of the people eligible for IRA accounts actually set them up, and of those that did, half did not contribute to the maximum. Since that time IRAs have been strengthened, and the Roth IRA has been added, yet the number of people that have taken advantage of the IRA has not changed much.

Carl Curtis lost his first wife, Lois, in 1970. In 1972 he married Mildred Baker, whom we met. In 1979, he retired from the Senate, after 40 years of representing the people of Nebraska in Washington. He passed away in January 2000, at age 94. He took pride in his role as a politician who was beholden to no special groups. He was the only Senator or Governor who ever won an election who failed to carry either Omaha or Lincoln. One of his great joys was that he lived to see a Republican in the Senate from Nebraska. Chuck Hagel was the first Nebraska Republican Senator to be elected after Curtis retired. Said Curtis at the time, “Now I can die a happy man.”

Several years ago, I had the privilege of attending a banquet, in Lincoln, of the Juvenile Diabetes organization. At the head table, side by side sat the former Nebraska Governor, Frank Morrison, and former Senator, Carl Curtis, both of whom were being honored by that organization, for the work that they had done to help the JDAF cause. (Senator Curtis’ daughter, Claramae died from complications of that disease).

During the meal, one could not help but notice how the two elder statesmen were enjoying each other’s company. They laughed and engaged in earnest conversation throughout the meal. Carl Curtis had run for his House of Representative’s seat in Congress eight times, and his Senate seat four times, and for several of these races his opponent was Frank Morrison. I remembered that several of these races were quite spirited.

Later, I had occasion to speak with Governor Morrison about the election battles that he and Carl Curtis had waged and observed that they must have agreed to put aside their differences once they left office. Said Gov. Morrison, “Not really. Carl and I have always been good friends. I considered him a man of integrity, and I believe that he saw me in the same light. I liked him. We had a great deal in common. We both felt that in our own way we were helping Nebraska and the United States. We disagreed on the way things ought to be done, mainly about the size of the Federal Government. Politically, we had our differences, still do, but we never let that cloud our personal friendship.”

I found it quite remarkable that these two men could do heated battle for a political office, yet still honor the man, who was his opponent. It surely was a rare, and refreshing quality, which each man possessed, and made each an outstanding citizen, worthy of great respect, by everyone, regardless of party affiliation.

Source: Gazette Archives