An Interview with Larry E. Mead At his office in Columbia, Missouri 03 November 2004 interviewed by N. Renae Farris Oral History Program The State Historical Society of Missouri © 2004 Collection C3929 Politics in Missouri a.c. 317 NOTICE 1) This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). It may not be cited without acknowledgment to The Oral History Program of the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, a Joint Collection of the University of Missouri and the State Historical Society of Missouri. 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For further information, contact: Western Historical Manuscript Collection 23 Ellis Library University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65201-5149 PREFACE Larry E. Mead was born on March 1, 1938 in Avon, Illinois, the son of Ralph and Marie Mead. Early on he was introduced to politics, primarily by his Democratic maternal grandfather, George “Bud” McFarland. Mead graduated from Western Illinois University in 1961 with an AB in Agriculture, a minor in Journalism and a minor in Business Administration. At this stage of his life he combined these interests when moved to Columbia, Missouri to work for Sheep Breeder Magazine. His first elected office was that of Boone County Judge, serving from 1971 to 1973, whereupon he then entered the Missouri House of Representatives. Mead, a Republican, served as a state representative for ten years. In 1982 he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. representative against incumbent Harold Volkmer. For Mead‟s most recent biographical entry, please see The Official Manual of Missouri, 1981-1982, page 106. The interview took place in the offices of Sheep Breeder Magazine in Columbia, Missouri. Numerous topics were covered, including Boone County politics, secret ballot legislation, campaign methods, the formation of the Missouri Association of Counties, the Equal Rights Amendment, the death penalty, and Mead‟s memories of his legislative colleagues. Although time constraints caused the recording session to be cut short, Mr. Mead graciously agreed to complete the interview at a later date. This may be found in C3929, a.c. 318. The interview was recorded on a Maxell Communicator Series C60 audio cassette (normal bias), using a Marantz PMD-222 manual recorder (set on automatic recording level) and a Shure VP64 omni-directional microphone. Except for occasional paper shuffling noises and telephone ringing, there are no interfering sounds, and the recording is of generally very good quality. The following transcript represents a rendering of the oral history interview. Stylistic alterations have been made as part of a general transcription policy. The interviewee offered clarifications and suggestions, which the following transcript reflects. Any use of brackets [ ] indicates editorial insertions not found on the original audio recordings. Physical gestures, certain vocal inflections such as imitation, and/or pauses are designated by a combination of italics and brackets [ ]. Any use of parentheses ( ) indicates a spoken aside evident from the speaker's intonation, or laughter. Quotation marks [“”] identify speech depicting dialogue, speech patterns, or the initial use of nicknames. Double dashes [--] and ellipses […] are also used as a stylistic method in an attempt to capture nuances of dialogue or speech patterns. Words are italicized when emphasized in speech. Particularly animated speech is identified with bold lettering. Underlining [ __ ]indicates a proper title of a publication. Although substantial care has been taken to render this transcript as accurately as possible, any remaining errors are the responsibility of the editor, N. Renae Farris. [Tape meter, 001. Begin side one, tape one of one. Begin interview.] RF: Today is Wednesday November 3, 2004. This is Renae Farris for the State Historical Society of Missouri. I‟m in Columbia, Missouri interviewing Larry Mead who was in the House of Representatives. He was first elected in 1972 and he served, what, ten years? LM: Yes. RF: Okay. Well, to start out with: When and where were you born; who were your parents? LM: I was born in Avon, Illinois. My parents were Ralph and Marie Mead. Born in 1938, March 1st. RF: Did you have any brothers or sisters? LM: Two younger brothers. RF: What did your parents do for a living? LM: Well, my father at the time I was born was a professional baseball player. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals. When he left the Cardinals he went to Caterpillar Tractor Company in Peoria, Illinois where he was Activities Director, which is essentially the same thing as Athletic Director, and they used to have those industrial league teams. So he ran those teams. But later, [he] went into the grocery business. He and his brother bought from their father (my grandfather) the Mead Brothers Grocery business, and they ran a grocery store the rest of his life. RF: Was he ever involved in politics, or your mother for that matter? LM: Yes, very much so. I‟m a hybrid. My mother‟s family were very strong Democrats. My maternal grandfather was a very active Democratic politician. He was a postmaster, and in those days, why, postmasters were all political appointments. He was an FDR LM = Larry E. Mead; RF = Renae Farris 1 [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] Democrat and very active in his county and was president of the Illinois Postmasters Association, which was a very political group, and was very involved in getting Adlai Stevenson to run for governor in Illinois. So [I] had that [background.] The Mead side of the family, they were Republicans. So that‟s why I say I‟m kind of a hybrid thing, I got exposed to it. My father never ran for political office, although he was a school board member for a number of years. RF: Your grandfather who was so politically active on your mother‟s side, what was his name? LM: George McFarland. He was known as “Bud” McFarland. He was a Democrat in essentially a Republican area, and I got very good training from him in what you might call “minority politics.” When I came down here and started running as a Republican I put that to good use. RF: Who were your role models when you were growing up? LM: When we were growing up…? Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois -- if you‟re talking about political...? RF: It doesn‟t matter. LM: Yeah. That… A mentor that I had that was very important to me in my life was a man named Carl Dunbar, who was a cousin of my father. He was involved in the sheep business, got me into 4H. He and his wife did not have children, and they kind of half- adopted me and I spent a great number of my summers with them. Got into a 4H project with sheep that got out of hand and got me into the Sheep Breeder Magazine business. So he was a very important influence in my life. 2 LM = Larry E. Mead; RF = Renae Farris RF: Where did you go to school? LM: Western Illinois University, which was in our section of Illinois. RF: Did you study Journalism or English or…? What was your major? LM: Well, I was an Agricultural major, but I had a minor in Journalism and a minor in Business Administration. RF: When did you come here to Columbia? LM: I graduated from Western in mid-term in February, and finished my classes on a Friday and came down here on a Sunday. (laughs) And came to work for this Sheep Breeder Magazine. RF: When did you become politically active in this area? LM: Oh… (chuckles) You know, if you‟re talking about partisan politics probably, oh, it was probably four of five years before I got real involved. But in our family we were always… Not pressured, but certainly encouraged to be involved in community affairs and community activity. As soon as I came to town I got into Jaycees and was very active in that. I got involved in some local campaigns. [Tape meter, 050] Mayor John [H.] Longwell, when he ran for mayor, I helped with his committee. And got involved with some campaigns that way. I was later appointed to the Columbia Airport Advisory Board and was involved. And the Jaycees were the instigators of getting the bond issue passed to create the new airport south of town. It‟s not new to you… (laughs) But that airport was new at one stage. And so I was very much involved in that. And that‟s what kind of got me involved in things. LM = Larry E. Mead; RF = Renae Farris 3 RF: What was the first political office you ran for? LM: Well, where I got involved in partisan politics… I managed the campaign in 1968 for a fellow named John [W.] Bachmann, who was a local stockbroker for Edward Jones. He did not win that race, but he came very close to winning it.1 He went on to become president of Edward Jones and now he‟s [Chairman] this year of the U.S.