Death of congressman from Nixon era is a sad reminder of today’s politics
In a column I wrote last year, I told the story of Tom Railsback, the Republican congressman from Rock Island, Illinois, who served on the House Judiciary Committee in 1973 when articles of impeachment were drawn up against President Richard Nixon. Railsback voted for one of those articles in the Judiciary Committee, one of a few Republicans to do so. His vote was an act of political courage seldom seen in the trenches of our partisan wars today.
His vote would follow him closely for the rest of his life. He would suffer the slings and arrows of his party for turning on his Republican president, although he would be re-elected to Congress. As the years passed and history recorded and analyzed his fateful decision, he would be treated with respect and admiration for his singular act of independence from party and the fine-tuning of his moral compass. According to former Idaho Attorney General Tony Park, a golfing buddy of Railsback’s during his years in Idaho, Tom was a gentle and kind man never interested over the years in basking in the limelight of his courageous vote, just a guy who thought he did the right thing.
Tom Railsback died last week, on the first day of the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump. What are the odds that this man who mustered the political courage to impeach his Republican president would die on a day of reckoning for Trump and the United States Senate in only the third impeachment trial of a president in American history? Is there a message here? Should not Tom’s passing remind us of his selfless act in service of his country at a time when too many Republicans cower in fear of Trump’s retribution if they allow witnesses at the Senate trial? According to news reports, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, actually dozed off during this historic and solemn moment in the life of the Senate and the nation.
In the oath administered by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, senators solemnly swore “to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws…“ Railsback rendered “impartial justice” in 1973 when he voted to impeach and, thereby, caused Nixon to resign from office before votes would be taken by the full House of Representatives.
Contrast to impeachment today
What a contrast to the impeachment trial of today. As reporters track senators who might muster the intestinal fortitude to vote for bringing documents to light in the trial and hearing from key witnesses who served in the Trump administration, they cannot find more than a handful of Republican senators willing to vote to see and hear the evidence. Most predictions seem tied to re-election chances this year, not what’s the right thing to do.
The norms a democratic government relies on to justify its legitimacy in the eyes of its people are passed down from one generation to the next. Without a doubt, Tom Railsback inspired countless young people who followed in his footsteps by entering public service. I know something about that. Just a few years after Railsback’s vote, as a former aide to the Republican Speaker of the House, I would run for the state Legislature, hoping there was still room in the party for moderate Republican credentials like those of Railsback.
Railsback’s example, along with those of other Republican moderates, would serve me well for 18 years in elected office, but sadly, I know now that the Railsback model, like the good congressman, has been laid to rest. In his place have risen up ideologues who care more about pandering to the extreme right to guarantee re-election than they care about that oath of office the senators took to “do impartial justice.”
What should concern us all is what message this sham of a trial leaves young people currently considering a career in public service or actually running for office. Will they seize the opportunity to follow in the Republican footsteps of giants of the Senate like Richard Lugar, Bob Dole or John McCain, all three of whom practiced the art of reaching across the aisle, moderating the platform positions of their party and engaging fellow senators in bipartisan policymaking? Or will they simply remember the blinded partisans of the Trump trial who marched in lockstep with a man even some Republican senators in the cloakrooms of the Senate quietly admit has disgraced the office of president countless times?
That’s the jury that is still out.
Rest in peace, Congressman Railsback, and thank you for your selfless act of integrity in the interest of holding our leaders accountable for their actions. History has treated you well and will do so for years to come. Let’s hope the failure to “do impartial justice” in this current trial will not assign our republic to the dustbin of history as a nation that failed to inspire its youth and prepare them for future leadership.
This story was originally published January 26, 2020 at 6:00 AM.