| Earl Butz | |
|---|---|
| 18th United States Secretary of Agriculture | |
| In office January 21, 1971 – October 4, 1976 |
|
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Clifford M. Hardin |
| Succeeded by | John Albert Knebel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 3, 1909 Albion, Indiana, United States |
| Died | February 2, 2008 (aged 98) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Purdue University |
Earl Lauer Butz (July 3, 1909 – February 2, 2008) was a United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
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Born in Albion, Indiana, Butz worked on his parents' 160-acre (0.65 km2) farm while growing up. He was an alumnus of Purdue University where he was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1937. He was the uncle of NFL defensive tackle Dave Butz, an All-American at Purdue University and All-Pro with the St. Louis Cardinals (1973-74) and Washington Redskins (1975-88).
In 1948, Butz became vice president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and three years later was named to the same post at the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That same year he was also named chairman of the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He left both of the aforementioned posts in 1957, when he became the Dean of Agriculture at his alma mater, Purdue University. In 1968, he was promoted to the positions of Dean of Education and vice president of the university's research foundation. In 1968, he also ran for Governor of Indiana, but came in a distant third at the Republican state convention to eventual winner Edgar Whitcomb and future governor Otis R. Bowen.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Butz as Secretary of Agriculture, a position in which he continued to serve after Nixon resigned in 1974 as the result of the Watergate scandal. In his time heading the USDA, Butz revolutionized federal agricultural policy and reengineered many New Deal era farm support programs. For example, a program he abolished paid corn farmers to not plant all their land. This program had attempted to prevent a national oversupply of corn and low corn prices. His mantra to farmers was "get big or get out," and he urged farmers to plant commodity crops like corn "from fencerow to fencerow." These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the declining financial stability of the small family farm.
Butz took over the Department of Agriculture during the most recent period in American history that food prices climbed high enough to generate political heat. In 1972, Russia, suffering disastrous harvests, purchased 30 million tons of American grain. Butz had helped to arrange that sale in the hope of giving a boost to crop prices in order to bring restive farmers tempted to vote for George McGovern into the Republican fold.[1]
He was featured in the documentary King Corn, recognized as the person who started the rise of corn production, large commercial farms, and the abundance of corn in American diets.
At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of Pope Paul VI's opposition to "population control" by quipping, in a mock Italian accent: "He no playa the game, he no maka the rules."[2] A spokesman for Cardinal Cooke of the New York archdiocese demanded an apology, and the White House [2] requested that he apologize.[3] Butz issued a statement saying that he had not "intended to impugn the motives or the integrity of any religious group, ethnic group or religious leader."[2]
Butz resigned his cabinet post on October 4, 1976 after a second gaffe. News outlets revealed a racist remark he made in front of entertainer Pat Boone and former White House counsel John Dean while aboard a commercial flight to California following the Republican National Convention. The October 18, 1976 issue of Time reported the comment while obscuring its vulgarity:[4]
In any case, according to the Washington Post, anyone familiar with Beltway politics could "have not the tiniest doubt in your mind as to which cabinet officer" uttered it.[3]
While the Associated Press sent the uncensored quotation over the wire, the Columbia Journalism Review claims that only two newspapers — the Toledo Blade (Toledo, Ohio) and the Madison Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) — published the remark unchanged. Others bowdlerized the quote, in some cases replacing the female genital reference with "a tight [obscenity]" and the scatalogical reference with "a warm place to [vulgarism]" or "warm toilet seats". The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal said the original statement was available in the newspaper office; more than 200 stopped by to read it. The San Diego Evening Tribune offered to mail a copy of the whole quotation to anyone who requested it; more than 3,000 readers did.
According to Timothy Noah of Slate, this incident was "epochal" because before this, politicians assumed such offensive remarks could be uttered safely in private; after Butz's resignation, politicians "could no longer assume your fellow whites would protect you for telling a joke insulting to blacks, and you could no longer assume your fellow blacks would protect you for telling a joke insulting to Jews."[5]
The infamous quote was the origin of the movie title Loose Shoes which includes a skit "Darktown After Dark". In it, the quote is put to music in a lavish Big Band number.
Butz returned to West Lafayette, Indiana and was named dean emeritus of Purdue University's School of Agriculture.
On May 22, 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, for having underreported income he had earned in 1978. On June 19 he was sentenced to five years in prison; however, all but 30 days of the term were suspended. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $61,183 in civil penalties.[6]
Butz died in his sleep on February 2, 2008, age 98, at his son Bill's home in Washington, D.C.[7] At his death, Butz was the oldest living former Cabinet member from any administration. As of 2010, Butz holds the record for the Cabinet member with the longest lifespan.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Clifford M. Hardin |
United States Secretary of Agriculture Served under: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford 1971–1976 |
Succeeded by John A. Knebel |
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