From a young age, William Lester “Bill” Armstrong (1937-2016) took an interest in radio, becoming a DJ at 11 years old, and was America’s first top 40 DJ who was a teenager. By the age of 22 after service in the Colorado National Guard, Armstrong purchased radio station KOSI-AM in Aurora, and would become the owner of multiple television and radio stations. In 1962, Armstrong was elected to the Colorado House, being the youngest person at the time elected to the legislative body, and was elected to the State Senate in 1964. During this time, he became President of the Senate.
By 1970, Colorado was a growing state, having gained the 5th Congressional District, based in Aurora. Armstrong ran for this Republican district against Democrat Byron L. Johnson, who served one term previously in Congress, and won with 62% of the vote.
Armstrong’s record in the House proved strongly conservative, with Americans for Constitutional Action grading him 100 in 1974 and 1977, his other scores being above 90. One Democrat described him, partly inaccurately, as a “raving, drooling conservative” (Wins). His focuses were on taxes, budgets, and economic regulation. Armstrong did support a few conservation measures. During his time in the House, Armstrong became a born-again Christian, which he credited to making him more tolerant of other viewpoints, stating, “So even though I am certain of what I believe, I am more accepting of other opinions on other subjects. My own limitations and shortcomings remind me not to be too critical of the failings of others” (Elliott). Although his legislative priorities tended more towards fiscal and economic matters, he nonetheless proved a strong social conservative.
In 1978, Armstrong ran in the Republican primary for the Senate, with his opponent being astronaut Jack Swigert Jr., who had been on the Apollo 13 mission. Although he defeated Swigert, the two became close friends, and Armstrong backed Swigert’s bid for Congress in 1982 and was with him when he died of cancer on December 27th that year. In the 1978 campaign, Armstrong hit incumbent Democrat Floyd Haskell hard on his record on spending and taxes in effective televised ads, helping produce his win with 58% of the vote.
In the Senate, Armstrong quickly took the lead on numerous conservative causes. During the 96th Congress, he pushed for a cost-of-living military pay increase of 3.4%, a reduction in taxes and spending, and repealing the 1969 credit control law on July 1, 1981. The latter proposal was part of the bill extending the Council on Wage and Price Stability despite President Carter’s opposition, but with expiration being on June 30, 1982, instead. Armstrong also opposed restoring the Selective Service in 1980, siding with the more libertarian side of the conservative Republicans.
During the Reagan Administration, Armstrong was the leading advocate of indexing income tax rates for inflation so that people would not be subject to bracket creep, thereby owing higher rates of taxation in addition to inflation compromising their wallet despite not earning more money. This proposal, which he sponsored with Bob Dole (R-Kan.), would be adopted for individual income taxes in the 1981 tax reduction, effective starting in 1985. No longer did individual income taxpayers have to worry about bracket creep. Armstrong also was a staunch budget hawk, supporting budget cuts and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution as well as taking part in the National Commission on Social Security Reform, where he successfully pushed for raising the retirement age. Armstrong proved popular with Coloradans and won reelection in 1984 with 64% of the vote. The following year, he sponsored the creation of the Korean Veterans War Memorial. On social issues, Armstrong backed the Hatch-Eagleton Human Life Amendment in 1983 as well as a school prayer amendment in 1984. In 1988, Armstrong sponsored an amendment overturning a court ruling for Washington D.C. to exempt religious institutions from a law banning discrimination against homosexuals, which passed 58-33 on July 11th. That year, he played a key role in passing the Family Support Act of 1988, a mild welfare reform law that instituted work requirements of 16 hours a week for able-bodied welfare recipients among other provisions. Although Armstrong voted against initial passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, he voted for the conference report, thus sending the bill to the president.
Armstrong chose not to run for another term in 1990, and after leaving the Senate, he held the position of director of Campus Crusade for Christ until 2008. From 2006 until his death on July 5, 2016, he served as the president of Colorado Christian University. Armstrong had lost his five-year battle with cancer.
Armstrong represented a different time in Colorado politics, when conservatives were a stronger force. The thought that someone with his politics could win a Senate seat, especially with over 60% of the vote, seems nigh impossible in the Colorado of today.
References
Armstrong, William Lester. Voteview.
Retrieved from
https://voteview.com/person/14002/william-lester-armstrong
Elliott, D. (2016, July 7). William L. Armstrong, Republican senator from Colorado, dies at 79. The Washington Post.
Retrieved from
Floyd Haskell Dies. (1998, August 26). The Washington Post, B06.
Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/junkie/links/haskell.htm
Wins, M. (1978, May 12). Senator Haskell of Colorado Seen In Deep Trouble in Re-election Bid. The New York Times.
Retrieved from
Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 