Louis Wyman, R.I.P

Human Events, May 27, 2002 by Gizzi, John

Although he had a very distinguished career as U.S. Navy officer, state attorney general, U.S. representative, and jurist; Louis Wyman will probably be best remembered as the odd man out in the closest-ever contest in the history of popular elections to the U.S. Senate.

When New Hampshire Republican Wyman died at his Florida winter home May 3 following a long illness, nearly all of the press profiles of him showcased his candidacy in the bizarre '74 Senate race.

A graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Harvard Law School, Wyman saw service in World War II and then worked on the staff of the late Sen. (1933-61) Style Bridges (R.-N.H.). As New Hampshire's attorney general from 1953-61, he became a conservative favorite for crafting tough anti-subversive laws that were enacted by the state legislature. He won his first term in the U.S. House in 1962, was narrowly unseated in the Democratic sweep of '64, and bounced back to win the Manchester district two years later.

Rep. Wyman (lifetime ACU rating: 87%) cut a wide swath in Congress as a strong law and order advocate and was in the forefront of House efforts to impeach Supreme Court Justice William 0. Douglas in 1970. A member of the House Appropriations Committee, he was a vigorous fiscal skinflint and opponent of sending any U.S. dollars to Communist countries.

When veteran Sen. (195474) Norris Cotton (R.-N.H.) announced his retirement in 1974, Wyman was the odds-on favorite to succeed him. But this was the so-called "Watergate Year" and the GOP hopeful faced an unusually spirited challenge from former State Insurance Commissioner John Durkin. Democrat Durkin picked up support with a string of radio spots charging that Wyman was part of the elite Washington "cocktail circuit." The spots featured the clinking of cocktail glasses in the background.

Unofficial final results on election night gave Durkin a lead of 350 votes. But a subsequent state-run canvass gave the seat to Wyman by two votes and he was certified the winner. However, the Senate, then overwhelmingly in Democratic hands, refused to seat the Republican. After seven months of debate, the Senate voted the New Hampshire race too close to call and declared the seat vacant, thus necessitating a special election in 1975. With union money pouring into the state and liberals successfully portraying Wyman as somehow a sore loser, Durkin won that contest with 55% of the vote. (An interesting side story of "Durkin-Wyman II" was that many national Republicans saw their candidate going down to certain defeat and avoided his campaign. One of the few who came to the Granite State to stump for Wyman was Ronald Reagan.)

Wyman was never bitter about being denied a Senate seat while holding certification of election and went on to serve on the New Hampshire Superior Court. But other conservatives bitterly recalled his treatment.

"Louis Wyman won the election to the U.S. Senate only to have the election stolen from him by the overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled Senate," recalled veteran conservative activist Paul Weyrich. "They declared the seat vacant and reran the election. In that election, Wyman, a principled conservative, refused to stoop to the depths of the slimy tactics employed by the unions. So he lost. And he retired from politics. He was a man of real dignity and unquestioned honesty who would rather have left politics than to lie and cheat just to stay in office. There are few left in politics today of the same caliber." Wyman was 84.