Some time ago I wrote about politicians who were absentee, those who saw being a representative either as another status symbol or as a mere springboard to something else. Such folks include William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, and William Sharon. Today, however, I cover the opposite, someone who was always present for votes and always at work. While many people may think Congress consists of a bunch of bums, this could not be said for Democrat William Huston Natcher (1909-1994) of Kentucky.
Something that is not remembered so well about Kentucky, today the state of Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, is that it was once a predominantly Democratic state. Such was especially the case with the state’s second district, based in Bowling Green, one of two House seats that didn’t go Republican when the Hoover landslide swept Kentucky in 1928. Natcher was serving as Kentucky’s attorney for the Eighth Judicial District when on April 30, 1953, his district’s representative, Garrett Withers, died unexpectedly. He was nominated and won a special election that year. Natcher would prove so popular that he would face no opposition in the 1954 midterms. He was a man dedicated to his work for his district and would not accept campaign contributions; what few campaign expenses he had, came out of his own pocket. Natcher spread the word of himself as a representative by personally traveling around his district and talking to people, and this in-person approach worked wonders. President Bill Clinton called him a “citizen legislator”, and there’s nothing I’ve read about him so far that contradicts this label. Natcher’s philosophy was simple, and he described it in 1992, “When we got to Washington we talked about the assignment and we decided we’d try to do it right. And that’s the way I’ve done, I’ve tried to do it right” (Modlin). Natcher indeed followed this approach sitting on the Appropriations Committee, and over the years became an expert on budgetary issues, including being able to memorize portions of budgets.
Ideology
Natcher was very much a traditional Democrat: pro-New Deal and looking out for his district, namely through his support for infrastructure projects, including the cable bridge between Indiana and Kentucky ultimately completed in 2002. Sometimes he clashed with others in his support for highway projects, including Washington D.C. officials as chairman of the D.C. subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee for insisting that certain highway projects be funded before Metrorail funds (Barnes). He also tried to get the proposed Three Sisters Bridge over the Potomac River authorized for construction before any release of Metrorail funds, but this effort was thwarted by a group of representatives after massive public opposition from D.C. and Congress narrowly voted to fund Metrorail over his objections on December 2, 1971 (Eisen). He also was a strong supporter of federal funding for libraries. Natcher was most notable for never having missed a vote from his first day in office to March 3, 1994, having cast a total of 18,401 consecutive votes (Barnes).
Natcher on the Issues
Natcher was supportive of JFK’s New Frontier and LBJ’s Great Society programs, although he did oppose federal aid for mass transit. However, on some social issues Natcher proved conservative, such as his support for school prayer. He was also supportive of spending on the military, including for funding the B-1 Bomber and MX Missile. This translated to Natcher being, on net, a moderate liberal – his ACA scores ranged from an 8% in 1961 to a 59% in 1969. On environmental issues, he had a mixed record, with the League of Conservation Voters giving him a 45%.
Natcher and Civil Rights
Congressman Natcher was on civil rights very much a man of his region in the 1950s and 1960s. While he supported certain voting rights measures such as the 24th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, he opposed the McCulloch-Celler Amendment for federally appointed voting referees, joined all but one member of the state’s House delegation in opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and voted against fair housing. However, he curiously voted to strengthen the 1964 act’s anti-employment discrimination enforcement through the proposed Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1966. Natcher would ultimately go along with the Democratic leadership on most civil rights questions in later years, including opposing an anti-racial quota and an anti-affirmative action amendment in 1978. Natcher also voted for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1971 and 1983. He did, however, maintain opposition to busing as a means of desegregation.
At Long Last…Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the End
Although Natcher served for a long time, he had the misfortune of having people ahead of him in seniority for the House Appropriations Committee: the man immediately senior of him, Appropriations Chairman Jamie Whitten of Mississippi, would serve in Congress for 53 years, while Whitten’s predecessor, George Mahon of Texas, had served in Congress for 44 years. Natcher’s chance finally came in 1992; Chairman Whitten, who like Natcher was an octogenarian, suffered a stroke in February 1992 and was months later persuaded to step down. Although being chairman was the pinnacle of his career, his time would only be long enough for the start of the Clinton Administration, for by 1994 his health was failing. On March 6th, he was brought into the House on a gurney connected to tubes and an oxygen tank to cast his last votes. Natcher died of heart failure on March 29th, with the only votes he ever missed being on account of his final illness. President Clinton attended his funeral. Political Science Professor Ed Yager of Western Kentucky University assessed his legacy thusly, “He was an absolute expert on parliamentary procedure and he was also an expert on the budget and had many parts of the budget memorized. And so this professional competence was extremely important. But on the other hand he also had the personal qualities which were extremely important to getting things done in the House of Representatives. He was civil. He thought of himself as an American first, and as a Democrat second” (Modlin).
Although he holds the record for most consecutive votes, believe it or not, he’s not Kentucky’s longest serving representative. That goes to Republican Hal Rogers, who has served in Congress since 1981. Kentucky’s move from Democratic to Republican state was occurring about the time of Natcher’s death, and although in 1992 Natcher had won reelection by over 60% of the vote, his successor was Republican Ron Lewis, who won by over 10 points. The 2nd district has been represented by a Republican ever since. Natcher came from a different era of Democratic politics, coming to Congress in the age in which the New Deal coalition was still alive and well and the Austin-Boston Connection (named for Speaker Sam Rayburn of Bonham, Texas and Majority Leader and later Speaker John W. McCormack of Boston, as well as for Speaker Tip O’Neill of Boston and Majority Leader Jim Wright of Fort Worth) was effective.
References
Barnes, B. (1994, March 31). Rep. William H. Natcher Dies at 84. The Washington Post.
Retrieved from
Eisen, J. (1971, December 3). House Releases District Subway Funds. Washington Post.
Modlin, D. (2010, June 7). Influential Kentucky politicians series: William Natcher. WKMS.
Retrieved from
https://www.wkms.org/2010-06-07/influential-kentucky-politicians-series-william-natcher
Representative William Natcher (D). League of Conservation Voters.
Retrieved from
https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/william-huston-natcher
Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 