The Life of Senator Slade Gorton
Slade Gorton was an esteemed intellectual, an accomplished attorney, a shrewd political opponent, an Air Force colonel, a baseball nut…and one of the greatest public servants Washington State has ever known. After 92 years of working on behalf of others, the nonagenarian solon died last month, on August 19th.
If you’ve never heard of Slade Gorton, you’ll get a great idea of who the man was by reading his obituary from the Washington Post. Here are some highlights:
“As Washington’s attorney general in the 1970s, Mr. Gorton was known for his aggressive consumer-protection battles. In 1980, he defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Warren Magnuson, emphasizing his relative youth, in contrast to the aging incumbent, by running to the state capital of Olympia to file his candidacy papers.”
“Mr. Gorton twice saved professional baseball in Seattle, suing Major League Baseball in the 1970s to force it to bring a team to the city and arranging a deal to have Nintendo’s owner and local investors buy the Mariners to keep them in town in 1991.”
“Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who overlapped with Mr. Gorton in the Senate, said they didn’t always agree, but still worked together to strengthen clean-up efforts at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, toughen pipeline safety standards and expand health care for children.”
“After leaving the U.S. Senate, he served on the 9/11 Commission and on the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, as well as numerous civic boards and campaigns.”
–Gene Johnson | AP
August 19, 2020
No one knew Slade better than his wife, his children, his closest friends…and perhaps his biographer, Chief Historian for the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, John Hughes.
In 2011, Hughes published a 384-page book titled “Slade Gorton: A Half Century in Politics,” on behalf of the Washington State Heritage Center’s Legacy Project – now known as Legacy Washington. It is probably the most historically accurate, exquisitely detailed, and anecdotally entertaining work about the man known as a scion, a patrician, and one of the most intellectually astute politicians this state has ever seen.
Listen below to my interview with the author himself, an award-winning journalist of over four decades, former editor and publisher of the Aberdeen Daily World, and longtime friend of Senator Slade Gorton.
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Fascinating life, Senator Gorton had. And because Mr. Hughes is such a wonderful storyteller, there wasn’t room to include everything in the podcast episode. Here are some supplemental clips that provide even greater insight into the life of Senator Slade Gorton.
Many, many thanks to John Hughes for spending the time with me, and many more thanks to Slade Gorton and his family for their service to the greatest state in the lower 48.
It’s obvious why Seattle’s gone to hell! Real men of the caliber of Senator Gorton moved out of Seattle. The billionaires Gates, Bezos, etc. w/o a MORAL COMPASS, took over: drugs, perversion, amorality and since, 2012??, HOMELESSNESS promoted! Degenerates destroying GOD-given FREEDOM for license!
Close down all EVM’s/ERIC/Democracy Live! END MACHINES STEALING ALL WA State’s ELECTIONS! Prayer Warriors needed for WA! and all Democrat run States! 2nd CHRONICLES 7:14.