In a recent post, I covered an Illinois Republican who dramatically departed from conservative orthodoxy. Today’s post is about a figure who could be said to have been a trailblazer for Reagan conservatism: Philip Miller Crane (1930-2014) of Illinois.
The son of newspaper columnist Dr. George W. Crane, who wrote the advice column “The Worry Clinic”, Crane carried his father’s conservative beliefs with him and was a Republican not only by ideology but by family legacy. Crane recounted, “My dad made sure that we shook hands with him [his great-grandfather], because he shook hands with Abraham Lincoln. In 1858, he went over to Danville in a covered wagon and sat in Lincoln’s lap. And Lincoln patted him on the head and shook his hand and said, ‘You know, you’re a fine young Republican, boy, and you stick with it.’ So we were knee-jerk Republicans because of that inheritance” (Loerzel). Dr. Crane would bring Phil to campaign for Republicans from a young age, including Alf Landon in 1936. Dr. Crane “felt Roosevelt had destroyed the republic”, and Phil himself condemned FDR for bringing “people to the nonsense belief that somehow you can get something for nothing out of Washington” (Loerzel). Crane served in the army from 1954 to 1956 and in 1961, he earned a PhD in history and subsequently became a professor at Bradley University, where he set up University Professors for Barry Goldwater. In 1964, he worked on the Goldwater campaign conducting research and published “The Democrat’s Dilemma” alleging heavy socialist influence on the Democratic Party. Crane was from that point forward active in the conservative movement, and recounted attacks against Goldwater supporters from other professors, “They charged that anyone supporting Goldwater was an incipient fascist, racist, anti-Semite. I didn’t mind the slings and arrows…I just redoubled my efforts” (Loerzel).
Crane to Congress
In 1969, Congressman Donald Rumsfeld resigned from his seat in the Chicago suburbs to head the Office of Economic Opportunity. Crane ran for the seat on a platform of never voting to raise taxes, and although he was not favored by the party establishment, he won. State Representative Bernie Pedersen said of him in 1992, “He’s a brilliant guy. He had a lot of appeal personally. He’s very articulate. In the beginning, if you asked him a question, he’d give you a 15-minute answer, like he was still a professor” (Loerzel). In Congress, he quickly established himself as an energetic advocate of conservative causes on numerous fronts. Crane was one of the founders of and served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee from 1973 to 1989, which was created to push the GOP leadership in a more conservative direction. He also helped found the Heritage Foundation in 1973 and hosted the show Conservative Viewpoint. From 1977 to 1979, he chaired the American Conservative Union, and he was quite ideologically fit to do so; In most of his years in Congress Crane received 100% scores from the organization. Indeed, his lifetime score would be a 99%. On May 26, 1972, he was one of only seven representatives to vote against authorizing the President to approve of the interim SALT Treaty with the USSR. Crane only once voted for a foreign aid bill: in 1974 the International Development Association bill included his amendment legalizing private ownership of gold, which took effect on December 31, 1974. That year, he successfully pushed for the only public and filmed audit of the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, in which 12 members of Congress and 100 journalists participated on September 19th (Ganz). He was also involved in the successful effort to re-legalize gold clauses in contracts in 1977. Although his constituents repeatedly reelected him, Crane had critics in his district. His Democratic opponent in 1992, Sheila Smith, held that “Phil lives in an ivory tower. He entered it when he was teaching in the 1950s, and he never came out. (But) the real world doesn’t work that way” (Loerzel).
Although Crane had voted for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1971, he turned against it after Roe v. Wade and with the rise of the Stop ERA movement. Indeed, he was a staunch opponent of abortion throughout his career. During the Carter Administration, Crane was one of the leading figures against the Panama Canal treaties and the proposed SALT II Treaty. In 1978, his brother, Daniel, joined him in Congress. Dan Crane would vote almost identically to Phil, however he would lose reelection in 1984 due to him having an affair with a 17-year-old female page.
Running for President
In 1976, Crane endorsed Ronald Reagan’s challenge to Gerald Ford and chaired Illinois Citizens for Reagan. However, this didn’t stop this rising Republican star from announcing a presidential run in 1979. Unfortunately for Crane, he had made a powerful enemy who was supporting Ronald Reagan: William Loeb. Loeb’s newspaper, the Manchester Union-Leader, began publishing numerous anonymous accusations about Crane’s personal life and these dogged his already underdog campaign (Loerzel). Crane would endorse Reagan after dropping out. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) would tell in a tribute to Crane in 2004 why he ran, “I will never forget the evening sitting on the House floor when Congressman Crane told me the story of that night. He said, “We all just figured that one day Governor Reagan would look at Nancy and say, ‘I think, Mommy, we should just go and retire to the ranch.’ Ronald Reagan and history had different intentions, but as he has always been throughout his career, Phil Crane was ready to stand in the gap,” Pence said. “And when Ronald Reagan made his candidacy a reality, Phil Crane stayed in the race to honor his delegates from Illinois who had supported their favorite son, but he was one of the strongest supporters of President Reagan in 1980, enabling and assisting in his election and also being one of the great champions of the Reagan revolution from the minority here on Capitol Hill” (Sweet).
Subsequent Time in Congress
After the 1980 election, Crane, although as rigidly conservative as ever and his views becoming more in vogue, he was becoming eclipsed by other conservative advocates, such as Newt Gingrich. This was noted in the 1992 edition of “The Almanac of American Politics”, “There is an anomaly to his career. At the same time as his beliefs — in free-market economics, in a strong national defense, in traditional American ideals have been sweeping the country and the world, his own influence has been woefully meager and he continues to languish mostly unnoticed, despite 20-plus years of seniority, on back benches” (Loerzel). He remained a fighter for conservatism and if there was conservative opposition to be had to legislation, even if only a small group was opposing, he could usually be found among that minority. Although Crane had voted for the Balanced Budget Amendment in 1982 as well as repeated budget reduction proposals, he voted against the Gramm-Hollings-Rudman Balanced Budget Act in 1985. In some instances, he proved relevant, such as winning a repeal on the ban on chewing gum with the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in 2003.
Personal Issues
In 1982, Crane was arrested for drunk driving in California but was found not guilty in June 1983. By the 1990s, his drinking had been on an upswing, which he attributed to the death of his 17-year-old daughter from cancer and his quitting of smoking cold turkey after 50 years (Sweet). In 2000, he admitted to being an alcoholic, drinking up to ten beers in a night, and successfully sought treatment. Although being senior to California’s Bill Thomas, he was passed over for the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, instead getting the vice chairmanship.
The End of the Road
In 2002, Crane faced a surprisingly strong challenge from Democrat Melissa Bean, who ran on him being out of touch with his constituents. Indeed, he had no public email address and numerous Republican voters said that they hadn’t seen him in decades. Although Crane won reelection, Bean had gotten 43% of the vote. In 2004, she tried again, and although President Bush carried the district by 12 points that year, Bean defeated him by about four points. The district, which has since been redistricted to favor Democrats considerably, has remained represented by Democrats for all except Joe Walsh’s term from 2011 to 2013. Crane died of lung cancer on November 8, 2014.
Overall
Crane was one of those conservatives who was instrumental in building up the conservative organizations that helped bring about the rise of conservatism in the United States. This, plus his stalwart record, his restoring the legality of gold ownership, and length of service, have earned him a place among the great conservatives of American history. Crane incidentally also scores a 99% on the MC-Index.
P.S.: My father has told me that my grandmother, who lived for some time in Crane’s district, had quite an argument with him. The subject of the argument is unknown to me.
References
Ganz, D.L. (2014, November 20). Right to own gold due to Phil Crane. Numismatic News.
Retrieved from
https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/right-to-own-gold-due-to-phil-crane
Loerzel, R. (1992, September 17). A profile of conservative Congressman Philip Crane. Pioneer Press.
Retrieved from
https://www.robertloerzel.com/1992/09/17/a-profile-of-conservative-congressman-philip-crane/
Skiba, K. (2014, November 9). Longtime congressman Philip Crane dies at 84. Chicago Tribune.
Retrieved from
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-philip-crane-obit-met-20141109-story.html
Sweet, L. (2014, November 9). Rep. Phil Crane was a pioneer in spreading conservative gospel. Chicago Sun Times.
Retrieved from
Tarm, M. (2014, November 9). Former Illinois congressman Phil Crane dies at 84. Associated Press.
Retrieved from
Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 
Dan Crane was actually the first of the Crane brothers to run for Congress — he ran in the GOP primary in Indiana 7 back in 1966, finishing third.
Another brother, David Crane, also ran in Indiana. He was the GOP nominee in Indiana 6 in 1976, ’78, and ’80 but lost each time.
I didn’t know Dan Crane was the first to try! And I knew about David Crane making a few runs…I recently found out he came within half a point of winning in 1980.