Patrick Lucey

Patrick Joseph Lucey (born March 21, 1918) is a member of the United States Democratic Party who served as the 38th Governor of the US state of Wisconsin from 1971 to 1977.^[1] In 1977, he was appointed ambassador to Mexico by President Jimmy Carter, a post he held until 1979. He was also an independent vice-presidential candidate in 1980 with John Anderson.

Education

Lucey graduated from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1935.^[2] He then attended St. Thomas College and graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Political career

He served as justice of the peace in Ferryville, Wisconsin, and in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1949 to 1951.^[3] Lucey was a key Wisconsin supporter of John F. Kennedy in his presidential run in 1960.

University of Wisconsin System merger

One of Lucey's executive initiatives was to revive an idea to merge the state's two university systems, the Wisconsin State University (WSU) system and the pre-eminent University of Wisconsin (UW), in Madison (and also including the campuses in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Parkside (Racine–Kenosha) as well as the UW Extension). The idea was suggested in the 1890s, then revived in the 1940s and 1950s by Governor Oscar Rennebohm and Governor Walter J. Kohler, Jr.^[4]

In 1971, Lucey raised the issue again, saying a merger would contain the growing costs of two systems; give order to the increasing higher education demands of the state; control program duplication; and provide for a united voice and single UW budget.

Not surprisingly, Madison faculty and administrators by and large opposed the merger, fearing it would diminish the great state university. Most WSU faculty and administrators favored merger, believing it would add prestige to their institutions and level the playing field for state funding.

Merger legislation easily passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly. After much maneuvering and lobbying, it was approved by a one-vote margin in the Republican-controlled Senate. It took until 1974 for implementation legislation to be finalized. "I had to be pretty heavy-handed – no merger, no budget," said Lucey in an interview following his term in office.

Presently, the University of Wisconsin System each year educates more than 155,000 students on 26 campuses and one million citizens through the UW–Extension.

Other gubernatorial accomplishments

Lucey also recommended additional funding for tourism, which spurred development throughout the state. Two examples were the expansion of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources park system and the Mt. Telemark Resort in Cable, Wisconsin. Since 1974, Cable and Mt. Telemark hosts the American Birkebeiner each year, the largest cross-country ski race in North America.

1980 Vice Presidential campaign

The John Anderson—Patrick Lucey presidential ticket received 5,719,850 vote for 6.6% of the total vote in the 1980 presidential election, despite a 25% showing in early polls by Anderson and a spirited televised debate between Anderson and Ronald Reagan.

2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

In 2011, Lucey, although a Democrat, acted as David Prosser's campaign co-chairman. On March 31, 2011, he resigned from Prosser's campaign and endorsed JoAnne Kloppenburg, attributing his decision to Prosser's "disturbing distemper and lack of civility", while praising Kloppenburg for "[adhering] throughout the campaign to even-handedness and non-partisanship and [exhibiting] both promising judicial temperament and good grace, even in the heat of a fierce campaign."^[5]

Legacy

In September 2009, Lucey was honored with a Wisconsin Historical Society marker in Ferryville.^[6]

See also

• Richard Weening

Electoral history

References