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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 29 april 2019

Richard Lugar, who helped in securing Soviet arsenal, dies

By TOM DAVIES publican voice on foreign struction," Vice President
Associated Press policy matters during his Mike Pence, a former gov-
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — 36 years in the U.S. Senate, ernor of Indiana, said in a
Richard Lugar worked to but whose reputation of statement.
alert Americans about the working with Democrats ul- Another former governor,
threat of terrorism years be- timately cost him the office Purdue University President
fore "weapons of mass de- in 2012. He died Sunday at Mitch Daniels, who spent
struction" became a com- age 87 at a hospital in Vir- more than a decade as
mon phrase following the ginia, where he was being chief of staff to Lugar, said,
Sept. 11 attacks. treated for a rare neurolog- "The world is safer from
The longtime Republi- ical disorder called chronic nuclear danger because
can senator from Indiana inflammatory demylinating of him. And so many of us,
helped start a program polyneuropathy, or CIPD, while falling far short of the
that destroyed thousands the Lugar Center in Wash- standards he set, are vastly
of former Soviet nuclear ington said in a statement. better people because of
and chemical weapons Lugar's long popularity in him."
after the Cold War ended Indiana gave him the free- Lugar tried to translate his
— then warned during a In a Jan. 16, 2008 file photo, U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., dom to concentrate large- foreign policy expertise
chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee,
short-lived 1996 run for pres- points during a press conference in Kiev, Ukraine. ly on foreign policy and na- into a 1996 presidential
ident about the danger of Associated Press tional security matters — a run, where his slogan was
such devices falling into the focus highlighted by his "nuclear security and fiscal
hands of terrorists. might seek to profit by sell- an attack on an American collaboration with Demo- sanity." But his campaign
"Every stockpile represents ing weapons on the black military base." cratic Sen. Sam Nunn on a for the GOP nomination
a theft opportunity for ter- market," Lugar said in 2005. The soft-spoken and program under which the went badly from the start.
rorists and a temptation "We do not want the ques- thoughtful former Rhodes United States paid to dis- His kickoff rally began just
for security personnel who tion posed the day after Scholar was a leading Re- mantle and secure thou- hours after the 1995 bomb-
sands of nuclear warheads ing of the Oklahoma City
and missiles in the former federal building, and he
Soviet states after the Cold struggled to build name
War ended. recognition and support.
"Every stockpile represents "He is not, nor does he try
a theft opportunity for ter- to be, a good ol' boy," Rex
rorists and a temptation Early, a former state Re-
for security personnel who publican chairman who
might seek to profit by sell- worked on many of Lugar's
ing weapons on the black campaigns, said during the
market," Lugar said in 2005. presidential run. "He is not a
"We do not want the ques- back-pounder and doesn't
tion posed the day after tell funny jokes and have a
an attack on an American beer with the boys."
military base." Lugar tried to counter ques-
He served for decades on tions about his demeanor,
the Senate Foreign Rela- contending that the presi-
tions Committee, twice dency is "serious business.
as chairman, where he The presidency is not en-
helped steer arms reduc- tertainment." He chafed
tion pacts for the presi- at criticism that he was too
dential administrations of straight, too smart, too dull.
George H.W. Bush, Bill Clin- "I don't know what that
ton and Barack Obama, means," he said. "Is it better
supported an expansion of to have someone stupid?
NATO and favored aid to Or mediocre? Or halfway
Nicaragua's Contra rebels. there?"
"Lugar was a leader not He withdrew a year into
only in the Senate but also the race after failing to
on the world stage, where win a single convention
he worked tirelessly to bring delegate, but not before
pressure to end apartheid foreshadowing the threat
in South Africa and enforce of terrorism that would be-
treaties that destroyed So- come all too real on Sept.
viet weapons of mass de- 11, 2001. q