Interview with Dick Lockhart # IS-A-L-2012-024 Interview # 1: June 1, 2012 Interviewer: Mark DePue COPYRIGHT The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955 Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge. DePue: Today is Friday, June 1, 2012. My name is Mark DePue, the Director of Oral History with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and I’m here today, this morning, in the Library with Dick Lockhart. How are you, Dick? Lockhart: Just fine, so far. DePue: We’re going to be talking to you about your career as a lobbyist. I thought this would be a good way to start. There’s an Illinois Times article I found and this, I think is heralding, this is a few years back already, the fifty years you’ve served as a lobbyist here in Springfield with the Illinois Legislature. And what year would that be, 2008? Lockhart: Well, the business was formed on actually September 16, 1958. The legislature in those years only met in the odd numbered years. So my first lobbying venture began in January of ’59. DePue: Here’s the title for this article, “The King of Lobbyists: Dick Lockhart says the first 50 years were the hard part. Lockhart: I didn’t write that, obviously. DePue: But fifty years obviously one of the most venerated members of the lobbying force there. Lockhart: Fifty-three now. Dick Lockhart Interview # IS-A-L-2012-024 DePue: Fifty-three years. Lockhart: Yeah, that’s right. DePue: That’s pretty impressive. Lockhart: And never been indicted. DePue: (laughs) Well, this is Illinois, you had to throw that in, didn’t you? But it thought what might be good and for anybody who is listening to this, this is not quite a stand-alone interview. We’ve already had two sessions with you talking about your youth growing up and especially your time in the U.S. Army during World War II and your experience as a POW. Normally we get a lot of background, but pick up with your return to the United States afterwards and ask what your intentions were as far as a career once you came back. Lockhart: Once I came back, of course, I was still in the Army and the war with Japan was still going on so I was a soldier at Fort Benning, Georgia, subsequent to my return from Europe until the surrender of Japan. I was actually discharged on the twelfth of December, 1945 at Camp Atterbury, back at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, for the third time. And so my intentions were to go to Chicago, I’d always wanted to go to Chicago, ever since my father took me in 1933. DePue: That was for the World’s Fair, was it? Lockhart: World’s Fair, yes, took us on a one day excursion from Fort Wayne to Chicago and back again. I got infected, I think, with Chicago that day. Then, of course, I had a little university time at Purdue, but I knew I did not want to go back to Purdue. I didn’t care for that course of study so I found out that Northwestern University had a downtown campus and students could enroll there, and so I did that. And until 1951 I took classes there, usually four hours a couple nights a week, from 1946 to 1951, something like that. DePue: All on the GI Bill? Lockhart: All on the GI Bill, right. They didn’t pay living expenses, but they paid the University. DePue: Were you working during that time? Lockhart: I was working during the day, yes. DePue: What were you doing? Lockhart: Well, I had different jobs. My first job in Chicago was the last job I had in Fort Wayne, which was a soda jerk, I was a soda jerk in Fort Wayne. So that was the only thing I knew basically. I got a job as a soda jerk in a restaurant 2 Dick Lockhart Interview # IS-A-L-2012-024 but I didn’t like that. And then I heard that there was an opening with the United Press office in the Daily News Building and so I went, that only paid twenty dollars a week, which was kind of poorly. But I was always interested in journalism and so I didn’t quite know what it was but I knew United Press had something to do with the news business. But I was not given any significant instructions and I could see there was a lot of returning journalists from the war fronts who were now looking for work back in the states. I realized that that was probably not a good career move. Then I did get a job as an editor for a legal publishing company called Commerce Clearinghouse. I ended up working there for six years. DePue: So that started while you were in college and extended beyond the college years. Lockhart: Yes, I finally got a degree in 1951. DePue: What was your major? Lockhart: History, imagine that? (both chuckle) DePue: You thought you might want to be a journalist but you’re majoring in history? Lockhart: I kind of realized that a journalistic career was probably not for me. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. But I wanted to get a degree and one in history has always had an appeal to me, so that’s what I did. DePue: Well, the opportunities in history all point toward education though. Lockhart: Um-hmm, well I wasn’t necessarily indicated in that. I really was kind of open, shall we say, I was open, and I wasn’t really worried about it. Somehow this is Chicago. I was a returning soldier and things were opening up so I was optimistic about whatever. DePue: Did you enjoy those early years in Chicago as a student? Lockhart: Yes, I did. I did get gradually involved in some local political situations. I became a member of the, what is called Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI) which was a liberal organization, but basically political independents. That was probably in 1950 or so. I got involved in the campaign for Congressman Sidney Yates that would be in 1950, that was probably my first venture into precinct politics. DePue: He was a Democrat? Lockhart: He was a Democrat Congressman from the near-north side. Gotten elected, I think, two years before and so he was up, he was a bona fide liberal, good hard-working Congressman. He was supported by the Independent Voters of Illinois and I did precinct work in the 42nd Ward. 3 Dick Lockhart Interview # IS-A-L-2012-024 DePue: I’m assuming the “Independent” part of the label applies to “independent of the Chicago political machine” even though this is prior to the Daley years. Lockhart: Yes, it was that, but it was also independent of any Republican either. It was basically, it was a liberal organization so probably most of the members voted in the Democratic primary but they would, on occasion, support Republicans as well. DePue: How would you describe your own political views at the time? Lockhart: My own political views was that I came out of the war as a liberal, basically. In high school I was more or less independent. We always had voting elections in Fort Wayne in the schools. I can remember even going back to 1932 when I was only, what eight years old, I voted for Roosevelt in Fort Wayne school. In 1936 that’s the next presidential election I voted for Norman Thomas, the socialist candidate for President. And in 1940 the Republican candidate was Wendell Willkie, a fellow Hoosier, so I voted for him. DePue: (chuckles) Well, you’ve covered all bases. Lockhart: In 1944, of course, I was in Europe, I couldn’t vote at all, but I was glad to hear that Roosevelt was re-elected. DePue: Well, terms like liberal and conservative especially when you put them on, lay them over the spectrum of American history are slippery terms. So how would you describe what a liberal meant in 1950? Lockhart: It would mean that you were probably in favor of organized labor, that you were for a strong government, that you were probably opposed to segregation which was still wide-spread, and you were in favor of more governmental programs of one kind or another. I think that would be a major distinction. DePue: To a certain extent you sound like a New Deal Democrat. Lockhart: Yes, I think that is correct. DePue: I think you also got married during the time frame you were in college. Can you tell us just a little bit about that? Lockhart: Got married in 1948 to a woman I met at a place of work.