The Man in the Arena: The Life and Times of U.S. Senator Gale McGee
Description:
The Man in the Arena offers a political history of the United States from the late 1930s to 1980, told through the experiences of a U.S. senator who was deeply involved in the most crucial issues of the times and was one of the century’s most renowned liberal senators. At the height of American liberalism, Gale McGee was elected to the U.S. Senate from conservative Republican Wyoming in 1958 and reelected twice. From 1977 to 1981 he served as Jimmy Carter’s U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States.
Rodger McDaniel’s elegantly conceived biography of a liberal from conservative rural Wyoming offers readers a glimpse into formative political shifts. Senator McGee was a major player in the development of America’s post–World War II foreign policy and almost every legislative milestone in U.S. history from the 1950s to 1980.
The national liberal consensus of the 1960s, in which McGee played such a major role, gave the nation Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the minimum wage, and the right to collective bargaining, as well as landmark civil rights and environmental reforms. By the mid-1970s that consensus had ended, and Wyoming no longer welcomed McGee’s liberalism. But President Carter appreciated McGee’s formidable foreign policy achievements and nominated him to represent the United States in the OAS, the multilateral Western Hemisphere organization.
Moving beyond biography, McDaniel addresses the significant shift in government and politics and how the attribution “liberal” became a candidate’s epitaph, as widespread distrust of government cast a shadow on the many benefits acquired through the old liberal consensus. His insights into the past, chronicled through McGee’s experiences, shed unexpected light on the present state of U.S. politics and government.
Rodger McDaniel has had successful careers in politics, law, and ministry. He served as a member of the Wyoming state house from 1971 to 1977 (while McGee was a U.S. senator) and in the state senate from 1977 to 1981. He is the author of Dying for Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt. Alan K. Simpson, co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, served three terms (1979–97) as Wyoming’s Republican U.S. senator. His father, Milward Simpson, McGee’s contemporary, served as Wyoming’s governor and U.S. senator.
Event Date:
9/5/2018
Event Time:
6 - 7:30 PM
Location:
DACOR Bacon House 1801 F St, NW Washington, DC 20006
