Dick Gephardt served 30 years in the House, including 10 years as Democratic Leader - and ran for President in both 1988 and 2004, winning the '88 Iowa Caucus. In this conversation, he talks his working class roots in St. Louis, what drew him to public service, his early days in city government, coming to the House in his 30s, and how he quickly rose in the ranks of the Democratic leadership and was on the precipice of winning the Democratic nomination for President in 1988. This is a great conversation with one of the most important and impactful political figures of his generation.
IN THIS EPISODE
Growing up in blue-collar St. Louis as the child of a milkman and secretary…
The political inspiration provided by JFK…
A young Dick Gephardt’s first taste of precinct organizing…
His inclusion in the group of insurgent “Young Turks” in St. Louis politics…
Why he took the plunge to run an underdog race for Congress in 1976…
Memories of early days in the House and a great Tip O’Neill story…
How Congressman Gephardt advanced within the Democratic leadership…
What led him to run for President in 1988, how he won Iowa, and why the campaign ran out of gas on Super Tuesday…
Why he took a pass on running for president in 1992…
How he looks back on the 1994 GOP Revolution led by Newt Gingrich…
The reforms he put in place as House Democratic leader…
Memories of dramatic House floor votes…
The one-term member he describes as his “hero of democracy”…
Memories of being in the VP mix across a number of elections…
Congressman Gephardt talks the importance of longtime aide Joyce Aboussie within his political organization…
The Dick Gephardt 101 on how to get the most out of a trip to St. Louis…
AND Andrews Air Force Base, Joe Badaracco, big cigars, Dick Bolling, David Bonior, Bill Bradley, Lou Brock, bullshit excuses, George HW Bush, the Cannon Building, Jimmy Carter, Alfonso Cervantes, Bill Clinton, Tony Coehlo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Jack Danforth, Dick Darman, Tom Daschle, Charlie Diggs, Tom Downey, Mike Dukakis, John Edwards, General Eisenhower, Stan Fike, Tom Foley, Bob Gibson, Dan Glickman, Al Gore, Don Gralike, Jesse Jackson, Ed Jenkins, Hamilton Jordan, John Kerry, Jim Leach, Joe Lieberman, Gillis Long, Douglas MacArthur, Manifest Destiny, Marjorie Mezvinsky, George Miller, Stan Musial, near violence, Richard Nixon, Phelim O’Toole, Bill Ramjue, the Reagan tax cuts, the Rio Grande Valley, rudimentary TV ads, Red Schoendienst, Dred Scott, Paul Simon, soft money, suffering fools, Leonor Sullivan, Stu Symington, Harry Truman, Tim Wirth, Jim Wright & more!