WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.359 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take your 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:05.099 massive stack of sources, the articles, the research, 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:07.459 the historical records, and distill the most 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.460 crucial need to know insights. And today we are 00:00:10.460 --> 00:00:13.480 tackling a truly fascinating figure, Edmund Sixtus 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:16.379 Muskie. A statesman whose career, I mean, it 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:19.039 touched nearly every single aspect of American 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.570 governance across three decades. Right. We're 00:00:21.570 --> 00:00:23.710 talking about a journey from the 62nd governor 00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:26.750 of Maine to a hugely influential U .S. senator, 00:00:26.850 --> 00:00:29.269 all the way to being the Democratic vice presidential 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:31.949 nominee in 68. And he didn't even stop there. 00:00:32.109 --> 00:00:34.969 He ended his career as the 58th U .S. secretary 00:00:34.969 --> 00:00:37.850 of state. His influence is just immense, yet 00:00:37.850 --> 00:00:41.679 he often feels like this. unsung hero behind 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:43.820 some of our most foundational legislation. Exactly. 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:46.200 And that's our mission for you today. We need 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.759 to dissect how one man could achieve that much 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:51.359 political gravity, how he could, on one hand, 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:53.740 essentially launch the modern environmental movement. 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:56.140 And on the other, fundamentally rewrite the rules 00:00:56.140 --> 00:00:58.359 for the entire federal budget process. It's an 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:01.119 incredible scope. It really is. So let's unpack 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.939 this. We're examining a man whose political journey 00:01:03.939 --> 00:01:06.819 began by doing what everyone in his state thought 00:01:06.819 --> 00:01:10.310 was impossible. breaking his century -long Republican 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:12.750 stronghold. From there, he becomes the highest 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:15.530 -ranking Polish -American in U .S. history, the 00:01:15.530 --> 00:01:18.109 only Polish -American ever nominated for vice 00:01:18.109 --> 00:01:20.329 president by a major party. And when you lay 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:23.109 out that grand arc of his offices, governor, 00:01:23.329 --> 00:01:26.549 senator, VP, nominee, secretary of state, it 00:01:26.549 --> 00:01:29.909 really does place him right alongside these giants 00:01:29.909 --> 00:01:32.370 of Maine political history, you know, figures 00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:35.400 like Hannibal Hamlin or James Blaine. But I think 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:37.260 the difference is, unlike some of those figures, 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:40.420 Muskie's legacy is defined by specific institutional 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:43.200 changes we are still living with today. So to 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.879 really understand the grit this career required, 00:01:45.099 --> 00:01:47.040 we have to start right at the beginning. We need 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:48.840 to talk about the scrappy student from Rumford, 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:51.540 Maine. Edmund Muskie was born on March 28th, 00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:54.260 1914. And his early life, you know, it's not 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:56.400 just a simple biographical footnote. No, it's 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.260 really the foundation for his entire political 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:01.939 identity. His father, Stephen Marciszewski, was 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:04.700 a Polish immigrant who came over in 1903 from 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:06.560 a region that was then under Russian control. 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.639 And his father, who worked as a tailor, made 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.139 a very deliberate statement about starting a 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:15.800 new life here. In 1914, the same year Edmund 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:18.280 was born, he officially changed the family name 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.500 to Muskie. Which is such a tangible symbol of 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:24.400 that immigrant aspiration. But what really grounds 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:26.960 his origin story for me is the language. Yeah. 00:02:27.289 --> 00:02:29.990 That's a key detail. Polish was Edmund Muskie's 00:02:29.990 --> 00:02:32.389 first language. He spoke it exclusively until 00:02:32.389 --> 00:02:34.349 he was four years old. And he apparently lost 00:02:34.349 --> 00:02:36.430 fluency later in life, which is a common story. 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:38.830 But it means his first experience of the world 00:02:38.830 --> 00:02:41.069 was through a different cultural and linguistic 00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:43.710 lens. It absolutely does. And this background 00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:46.689 meant he understood firsthand the struggle of 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:49.650 navigating American systems as an outsider. He 00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:52.210 was noted as a really gifted student valedictorian 00:02:52.210 --> 00:02:55.189 of Stevens High School in 1932. And this was 00:02:55.189 --> 00:02:57.150 right around the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 00:02:57.150 --> 00:02:59.590 election. Muskie himself said that political 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:02.509 excitement really influenced him. It did. But 00:03:02.509 --> 00:03:06.370 he also carried this pretty heavy burden of insecurity 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:09.500 and financial anxiety. And that became especially 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:12.199 true when he attended Bates College. He double 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:15.000 majored in history and government at Bates, graduated 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.620 Phi Beta Kappa in 1936. I mean, that's an enormous 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:21.560 academic achievement. Huge. But it was not a 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:23.939 comfortable path for him. The sources show he 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:26.939 spent his summers working these grueling jobs, 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:30.099 you know, dishwasher, bellhop at a hotel, just 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:32.580 to cover tuition. When you read his diaries, 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.520 you get a real sense of that constant fear, the 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:37.539 feeling that his education could just be snatched 00:03:37.539 --> 00:03:39.699 away. any moment because he wasn't as wealthy 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:42.120 as his peers. And that financial stress, it really 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:44.000 hit a crisis point when he went on to Cornell 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.120 Law School. Yeah, that's an incredible story. 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:48.319 He had a partial merit scholarship, but it ran 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:50.800 out after his second semester. And he was left 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.979 exactly $900 short of what he needed to graduate. 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:56.379 An amount that was just completely insurmountable 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:58.659 for him at the time. He was, by all accounts, 00:03:58.819 --> 00:04:01.439 fully prepared to drop out of Cornell. Right. 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:04.259 But this is where, you know, resourcefulness 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:07.219 really meets destiny. It's a detail I just love. 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:11.199 He heard about this truly eccentric Maine millionaire, 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:14.219 a guy named William Bingham II. And Bingham had 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:17.339 this bizarre habit of... What, just sporadically 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:20.300 paying the expenses of total strangers? Mortgages, 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:22.959 college tuition, you name it, for people who 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.759 simply wrote him a compelling letter. So Muskie, 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:28.379 facing the end of his legal dreams, sits down 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:31.500 and writes to Bingham. And he lays it all out, 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:33.839 his immigrant background, his academic success, 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:37.360 and his just desperate financial need. And Bingham 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.459 paid the $900, just like that. Wow. Muskie was 00:04:40.459 --> 00:04:43.670 able to graduate cum laude in 1939. And that 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:46.329 one anecdote, secured by a single letter, it 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:48.569 just encapsulates the mix of luck, audacity, 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:50.389 and desperation that marked his early career. 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:52.810 It shows he wasn't just brilliant, he was also 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:55.490 profoundly resourceful. And that's a quality 00:04:55.490 --> 00:04:57.230 that would serve him very well when he started 00:04:57.230 --> 00:04:59.290 challenging these entrenched political machines. 00:04:59.589 --> 00:05:02.189 But first, there was World War II. After he passed 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:05.129 the main bar in 1940, his new law practice was 00:05:05.129 --> 00:05:07.509 put on hold. Right. He served in the U .S. Navy 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:11.449 Reserve from 1942 to 1945. He achieved the rank 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:13.709 of lieutenant. and his service was significant. 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:16.389 He was in the Asiatic Pacific Theater. aboard 00:05:16.389 --> 00:05:19.350 a destroyer escort, the USS Brackett. Their primary 00:05:19.350 --> 00:05:22.430 mission was protecting convoys. Which was incredibly 00:05:22.430 --> 00:05:25.870 perilous work. Extremely. In January of 1945, 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:28.709 his vessel was actually credited with sinking 00:05:28.709 --> 00:05:32.310 a Japanese cargo ship. It was solid, distinguished 00:05:32.310 --> 00:05:35.069 military service that guaranteed him his eventual 00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:37.509 burial spot years later at Arlington National 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.970 Cemetery. So he returns in 1946, reestablishes 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:42.990 his law practice in Waterville, and makes the 00:05:42.990 --> 00:05:45.870 decision to enter local politics. as he admitted, 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:48.149 partly to expand his client base. A very practical 00:05:48.149 --> 00:05:50.449 reason. He ran for the Maine House of Representatives 00:05:50.449 --> 00:05:52.790 and he won. Now, for the listener who might not 00:05:52.790 --> 00:05:55.029 grasp the sheer scale of Maine politics at the 00:05:55.029 --> 00:05:57.329 time, we need to explain what that win actually 00:05:57.329 --> 00:05:59.850 signifies. It was a statistical anomaly, a complete 00:05:59.850 --> 00:06:02.290 outlier. Maine had been a rock -solid Republican 00:06:02.290 --> 00:06:04.889 state since before the Civil War. When Muskie 00:06:04.889 --> 00:06:07.269 won his seat, the state Senate was stacked 30 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:09.930 to 3. Republican against Democrat, the House 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:13.329 was 127 to 24. So for a lone Democrat, especially 00:06:13.329 --> 00:06:15.790 one with a Polish background in a traditionally 00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:19.490 Yankee state, to win, it was more than just a 00:06:19.490 --> 00:06:22.110 local victory. It was a hint that the political 00:06:22.110 --> 00:06:25.009 landscape might be starting to shift. And that 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:28.430 single local win set the stage for the real political 00:06:28.430 --> 00:06:32.480 shockwave. The gubernatorial upset of 1954. He 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:35.160 ran against the incumbent Republican Burton Cross 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:38.300 as a distinct and, I mean, acknowledged underdog. 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:41.019 Oh, absolutely. Muskie himself said he saw the 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:44.100 campaign more as a duty than an opportunity because 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.180 there was no chance of a Democrat winning. And 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:48.000 that belief, it didn't just come from history. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.040 It came from his own personal difficulties at 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:53.040 the time. That context is vital. He was facing 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:55.750 incredible financial pressure. He owed thousands 00:06:55.750 --> 00:06:57.790 in hospital bills from a serious accident in 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:00.610 1953. He broke through a balcony railing and 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:03.069 fell, was unconscious for days. And at that exact 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:05.430 moment, he was offered a highly lucrative private 00:07:05.430 --> 00:07:07.230 law partnership. It would have solved all his 00:07:07.230 --> 00:07:09.730 financial worries, you know, set him up for life. 00:07:09.930 --> 00:07:14.350 And he turned it down. He chose instead to pursue 00:07:14.350 --> 00:07:17.569 the governorship of a state where his party literally 00:07:17.569 --> 00:07:20.930 had not won the top job in two decades. This 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:23.829 dedication to public service over personal security, 00:07:24.089 --> 00:07:26.910 it just becomes a recurring theme. So what was 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:29.170 his platform? How does an underdog even begin 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:31.730 to campaign in that environment? His platform 00:07:31.730 --> 00:07:34.370 was just brilliant in its simplicity and its 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:36.750 forward -thinking nature. Maine needs a change. 00:07:37.029 --> 00:07:39.589 Simple enough. And he didn't just focus on partisan 00:07:39.589 --> 00:07:42.750 politics. He stressed bipartisanship, economic 00:07:42.750 --> 00:07:45.670 expansionism, and crucially, environmentalism. 00:07:46.089 --> 00:07:48.709 He argued for creating a main Department of Conservation 00:07:48.709 --> 00:07:51.629 and for anti -pollution laws decades before that 00:07:51.629 --> 00:07:53.870 was a fashionable political stance. And the result 00:07:53.870 --> 00:07:56.949 was this legendary political earthquake. Muskie's 00:07:56.949 --> 00:07:59.470 victory made him the first Democrat elected governor 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:02.550 since 1934. And only the fifth since 1857. The 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:04.730 fifth. That number is just staggering. But the 00:08:04.730 --> 00:08:06.970 impact wasn't just symbolic, was it? No, not 00:08:06.970 --> 00:08:09.050 at all. This win is considered the definitive 00:08:09.050 --> 00:08:11.389 catalyst that shattered that nearly 100 -year 00:08:11.389 --> 00:08:14.050 Republican stronghold. It initiated the political 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.370 insurgency and renaissance of the main Democratic 00:08:16.370 --> 00:08:19.389 Party. Which astonishingly doubled in size between 00:08:19.389 --> 00:08:23.389 1954 and 1974. He didn't just win an election. 00:08:23.589 --> 00:08:26.490 He fundamentally reshaped the political DNA of 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:28.990 the state. And he did it while facing intense 00:08:28.990 --> 00:08:31.870 prejudice. He was Maine's first Roman Catholic 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:34.929 governor, another major institutional barrier 00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:37.789 that he just quietly broke through. OK, but if 00:08:37.789 --> 00:08:40.190 the legislature was still overwhelmingly Republican, 00:08:40.549 --> 00:08:42.570 that massive four to one ratio we mentioned, 00:08:42.769 --> 00:08:46.309 how did he actually govern? Was he just a symbolic 00:08:46.309 --> 00:08:49.250 figurehead or did he master legislative compromise? 00:08:49.409 --> 00:08:51.809 Because it sounds almost impossible to pass major 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:54.029 reforms under those conditions. He was a master 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:57.129 of it. His success came from his rigor, his preparation 00:08:57.129 --> 00:08:59.490 and his willingness to work across the aisle 00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:01.889 on issues that were genuinely nonpartisan, like 00:09:01.889 --> 00:09:04.289 infrastructure and economic security. He basically 00:09:04.289 --> 00:09:06.720 leveraged his popular mandate to. push through 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.899 major institutional changes. Can you give us 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:11.100 some examples? What concrete things did he get 00:09:11.100 --> 00:09:13.139 done in those four years? The list is pretty 00:09:13.139 --> 00:09:16.580 long, but a few really stand out. He established 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:19.659 the Maine Guarantee Authority. This was a vital 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:22.980 tool to combat job loss by making capital more 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:25.259 accessible to small and mid -sized businesses. 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.759 It really helped pull Maine into what we now 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.679 call the golden age of capitalism. So direct 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:34.519 economic development. Exactly. He also subsidized 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:36.720 hospitals, oversaw the modernization of state 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.779 facilities. But maybe his most visible immediate 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:44.039 change was enacting a massive $29 million highway 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:47.240 bond. Which funded the largest road construction 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:49.799 project the state had ever undertaken. Ever. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.620 He literally built the infrastructure for economic 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.620 growth despite a hostile legislature. That takes 00:09:55.620 --> 00:09:57.399 an incredible amount of political skill. But 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:00.000 he also made this critical structural change 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.879 that impacted the entire national political tradition. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.279 Absolutely. During his final months as governor, 00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:07.960 he successfully championed moving Maine's general 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:10.019 election date from September to November. Right. 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.279 For decades, Maine voted early. And there was 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:14.840 that old political saying, as Maine goes, so 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:18.059 goes the nation. Precisely. Maine's early result 00:10:18.059 --> 00:10:20.399 was seen as a bellwether for the national mood. 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:23.620 By moving the election date to November, he ended 00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:26.460 that tradition. It ensured Maine would no longer 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:28.860 be the first indicator of national trends. And 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:31.440 this wasn't a minor change. This was a major 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:33.580 constitutional amendment that had been attempted. 00:10:34.509 --> 00:10:38.470 What, 36 times before Muskie? 36 times he finally 00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:41.210 got it done. His work in Maine really set a precedent 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:44.230 for challenging long -held institutions and mastering 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:47.090 legislative compromise. And that momentum was 00:10:47.090 --> 00:10:49.690 exactly what he needed for his next, even more 00:10:49.690 --> 00:10:53.070 historic challenge, the U .S. Senate. Muskie's 00:10:53.070 --> 00:10:55.269 move to the national stage began with yet another 00:10:55.269 --> 00:10:58.440 groundbreaking victory in 1958. He became the 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:00.580 first Democrat ever elected to the U .S. Senate 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:03.059 from Maine. Ever, shattering another century 00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:05.120 -old political boundary. And this was part of 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.659 a broader, massive Democratic surge nationwide. 00:11:07.899 --> 00:11:10.200 In fact, it was the largest single -party game 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:12.899 in the Senate at the time. So he walks into Washington 00:11:12.899 --> 00:11:15.860 with significant national visibility, even before 00:11:15.860 --> 00:11:18.600 he really settles in. And he quickly establishes 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.059 himself as a force, despite initially sparring 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:23.019 with the notoriously powerful majority leader, 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:25.740 Lyndon B. Johnson. He immediately projected a 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:28.379 powerful image, too. Your sources describe his 00:11:28.379 --> 00:11:30.179 commanding height somewhere between six foot 00:11:30.179 --> 00:11:32.759 four and six foot six, which earned him this 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.659 nickname, Lincolnesque. It gave him a kind of 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:39.679 symbolic, almost moral superiority when he was 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.320 addressing colleagues from the Senate floor. 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:44.639 But that public image, the calm, reasoned, Lincoln 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:48.779 -esque statesman, it often masked a much more 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:51.580 volatile personality. Oh, absolutely. Aides frequently 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:54.100 described him as having a hot temper and being 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:57.120 a notorious micromanager. He demanded absolute 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:59.759 rigor. He'd require his aides to perform exhaustive 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.919 research for every single position he took. And 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:03.899 when he felt his standards weren't met? He was 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.000 known for being verbally explosive. It's the 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.710 paradox of Muskie. So wait, how did a man with 00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:10.870 a hot temper and this micromanaging reputation 00:12:10.870 --> 00:12:14.590 maintain the alliances he needed to pass monumental 00:12:14.590 --> 00:12:17.450 bipartisan legislation? I mean, things like the 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:19.950 Clean Air Act. Usually that kind of demanding 00:12:19.950 --> 00:12:22.830 nature just alienates people. It's because he 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:25.529 combined that intense demand for competence with 00:12:25.529 --> 00:12:28.409 an absolute unwavering loyalty to the process. 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:32.100 His rigor was rarely personal. It was aimed at 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:33.940 the quality of the policy. It wasn't about it. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.320 It was about getting it right. Exactly. And he 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:38.620 held himself to the same standard. He was present 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:41.240 for 90 percent of Senate roll call votes, which 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:43.200 demonstrated his own commitment to the legislative 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.320 duty he imposed on others. That dedication to 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.320 institutional fidelity earned him respect, even 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:51.019 if his temperament sometimes earned him fear. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:53.820 And the most enduring aspect of his Senate career 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:56.399 is just inextricably linked to the environment. 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:58.759 Mr. Clean. His nickname, right. Earned for his 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.360 dedication to curbing pollution, he chaired the 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.620 Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution beginning 00:13:03.620 --> 00:13:07.279 in 1962, and that became his laboratory for creating 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:09.840 lasting change. When we talk about the foundation 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.460 of modern American environmental policy, Musk's 00:13:13.460 --> 00:13:16.279 legislative milestones are the absolute bedrock. 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.600 And we have to start with the Clean Air Act of 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:21.600 1970. He co -sponsored it. He advanced it. And 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:24.000 it was quickly nicknamed the Muskie Act because 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:26.179 of his influence. And this was not just a feel 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:28.600 -good bill. The requirements he put forth were 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:30.639 revolutionary and technologically demanding. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.480 He famously challenged the enormous, powerful 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.600 American automobile industry to reduce tailpipe 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.580 emissions by 90 percent. Within seven years, 00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:42.879 by 1977. An incredible gamble. And get this. 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.059 At the time he set that deadline. the technology 00:13:46.059 --> 00:13:49.159 required to meet that 90 % reduction. It simply 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.820 did not exist. No way. So he was legislating 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:54.519 a future technology. He was. He forced the industry 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:56.740 into a massive immediate shift in manufacturing 00:13:56.740 --> 00:14:00.080 and engineering. This aggressive technology -forcing 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.519 approach became a signature of his environmental 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:05.139 legislation. It showed he wasn't afraid to use 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:08.519 federal power to fundamentally reshape huge economic 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:10.620 sectors for the public good. And he didn't just 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:12.580 target the air. He went after the water, too, 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.460 with the Clean Water Act of 1972. He was the 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:17.779 floor manager and the lead campaigner for these 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:19.679 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Act. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.019 The goal was to make all navigable U .S. waters 00:14:23.019 --> 00:14:26.100 fishable and swimmable. And this act, it became 00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:28.700 a real battle of wills between Muskie and the 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:31.000 executive branch. Oh, a huge battle. President 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.039 Nixon strongly opposed the bill. He argued it 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.379 was too expensive, imposed too many federal regulations. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.159 He ultimately vetoed it. claiming it was a case 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:41.879 of Congress irresponsibly spending federal dollars. 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:44.779 So how did Muskie, the institutionalist, respond 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:47.460 to a presidential veto? With overwhelming political 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:50.360 force. He successfully campaigned for Congress 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.980 to override that veto. He secured a commanding 00:14:52.980 --> 00:14:56.639 2047 to 23 vote in the House. Wow. And a clear 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.980 majority in the Senate. This is a classic display 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.259 of congressional power asserting itself over 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:03.720 the executive branch, a theme that would really 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:06.340 dominate Muskie's later career. And the law itself 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:08.659 was historic. It established federal and state 00:15:08.659 --> 00:15:11.480 regulation of pollutants. It gave the EPA, the 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:14.100 Environmental Protection Agency, greatly extended 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:17.379 authority. And it introduced the national pollutant 00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:19.679 discharge elimination system. This essentially 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.639 said to industry. You can no longer treat America's 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.159 rivers and lakes as your convenient private sewers. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.899 And historians, they largely agree that these 00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:30.980 two acts, clean air and clean water, didn't just 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:33.919 regulate pollution. They fundamentally launched 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:37.240 the wider organized environmental movement in 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.639 the U .S. And they established global precedents. 00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:42.750 A Harvard Law professor noted that the laws Muskie 00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:46.649 championed likely prevented massive, almost unimaginable 00:15:46.649 --> 00:15:49.129 environmental degradation that would have certainly 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:51.169 accompanied the nation's economic growth in the 00:15:51.169 --> 00:15:53.879 decades that followed. Beyond environmentalism, 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:56.860 Muskie was deeply involved in institutional reform, 00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:59.759 particularly reacting to the expanding power 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:02.580 of the presidency during the 60s and 70s. We 00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:05.240 see him pushing for major civil rights legislation, 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.259 like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And he was 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.700 a key advocate for creating Martin Luther King 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:13.460 Jr. Day. But his focus was really on process 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.620 and structure. He used his assignment as chair 00:16:16.620 --> 00:16:18.799 of the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee. 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.679 A position many saw as a kind of legislative 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:24.960 backwater to push back against what he and his 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:27.980 colleagues called Richard Nixon's imperial presidency. 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:31.100 Let's just pause there for a moment because imperial 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:33.700 presidency is a term that needs clarifying for 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.399 the listener. What exactly did Muskie and others 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.500 mean by that? The term emerged in the wake of 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:41.620 the Vietnam War and the increasing centralization 00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:44.320 of power in the executive branch. first under 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.600 Johnson and then particularly under Nixon. Right. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.500 It suggested that the president was acting unilaterally, 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:52.919 outside the traditional checks and balances imposed 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:55.460 by Congress. Think of presidential overreach, 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.820 using executive privilege and executive orders 00:16:57.820 --> 00:17:00.799 to an unprecedented degree. Muskie saw this as 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.139 a direct threat to the legislative branch's power 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:05.079 and authority. And he was determined to counter 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:08.299 that. He also advanced these ideas of new federalism. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:11.019 And his version of new federalism was about shifting 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:13.500 power, funding and administrative responsibilities 00:17:13.500 --> 00:17:16.599 back to state and local governments. It was an 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:19.740 attempt to decentralize decision making. To ensure 00:17:19.740 --> 00:17:22.440 the states had a real voice rather than just 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:24.759 being recipients of mandates handed down from 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:27.599 Washington. It was intrinsically linked to his 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:29.920 desire to restore balance in the government structure. 00:17:30.430 --> 00:17:32.410 And this commitment to integrity, it extended 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:36.069 to some highly sensitive areas. He openly criticized 00:17:36.069 --> 00:17:40.329 J. Edgar Hoover's management of the FBI for overzealous 00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:42.609 surveillance. Which at the time was considered 00:17:42.609 --> 00:17:45.250 pretty much political suicide. Hoover was untouchable. 00:17:45.349 --> 00:17:48.089 It was a huge risk. But it showed that Muskie's 00:17:48.089 --> 00:17:50.269 commitment to process and to civil liberties 00:17:50.269 --> 00:17:52.990 trumped any kind of political expediency. He 00:17:52.990 --> 00:17:55.329 just refused to tolerate institutional abuses, 00:17:55.710 --> 00:17:57.549 whether they came from an imperial presidency 00:17:57.549 --> 00:18:01.660 or a powerful unaccountable. And this rigor, 00:18:01.799 --> 00:18:04.440 this institutional focus, it all culminated in 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.420 his next deeply complex and arguably his most 00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:09.900 lasting legacy, defining how the U .S. government 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:12.240 spends money. He became the first chairman of 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:14.779 the new Senate Budget Committee from 1975 to 00:18:14.779 --> 00:18:18.019 1980. And this is a critical point that is so 00:18:18.019 --> 00:18:21.059 often overlooked in popular histories. To understand 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:23.339 why this committee was so important, you have 00:18:23.339 --> 00:18:26.079 to understand the historical context. The committee 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:28.460 was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:32.160 Control Act of 1974. So why was that act necessary 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:35.920 in 1974? What was it a response to? It was a 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.220 direct legislative response to that imperial 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:40.519 presidency we just discussed. President Nixon 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:42.900 had routinely used a practice called impoundment. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.200 Wait, can you just define impoundment for us? 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.920 Because that's a key term here. Absolutely. Impoundment 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.519 was basically when the president would refuse 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:53.680 to spend money that Congress had already... Appropriate 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.119 it. Exactly. Appropriate it for a specific purpose. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.539 It was essentially a way for the president to 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:01.940 veto spending through inaction, giving the executive 00:19:01.940 --> 00:19:04.900 branch massive and many argued unconstitutional 00:19:04.900 --> 00:19:07.279 control over the budget. So Congress was saying 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.180 we have the power of the purse and we need rules 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:12.700 to ensure the president actually uses that purse 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:16.920 as we dictate. Precisely. The 1974 act was designed 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:19.420 to restore congressional power over the budget. 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:22.299 It established the Senate and House budget committees, 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:25.000 and critically, it founded the Congressional 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.460 Budget Office. The CBO, an agency we hear about 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:31.940 constantly today, providing that objective, nonpartisan 00:19:31.940 --> 00:19:35.180 analysis of budget and economic issues. And that 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:37.779 agency was placed under Muskie's committee. Yes. 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:40.720 The CBO's creation was a revolutionary step. 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:43.920 Before the CBO, Congress relied almost exclusively 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.420 on the President's own Office of Management and 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:49.589 Budget, the OMB, for data. Which is hardly an 00:19:49.589 --> 00:19:51.789 objective source. Not at all. By creating the 00:19:51.789 --> 00:19:54.470 CBO, Muskie's committee gave Congress its own 00:19:54.470 --> 00:19:57.009 independent expert analysis to challenge the 00:19:57.009 --> 00:19:59.569 administration's budget requests. It created 00:19:59.569 --> 00:20:01.690 a true balance of power in fiscal matters for 00:20:01.690 --> 00:20:03.769 the first time. That makes the technical aspect 00:20:03.769 --> 00:20:06.609 so much clearer. Muskie didn't just chair a committee. 00:20:06.670 --> 00:20:08.829 He oversaw the creation of the very rules of 00:20:08.829 --> 00:20:11.250 engagement for federal spending. He presided 00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:13.950 over, formulated, and approved the creation of 00:20:13.950 --> 00:20:16.650 the modern U .S. budget process itself. He essentially 00:20:16.650 --> 00:20:19.329 designed the blueprint. This included creating 00:20:19.329 --> 00:20:21.930 the process for annual appropriations bills and, 00:20:22.049 --> 00:20:24.470 most importantly, defining the fundamental difference 00:20:24.470 --> 00:20:27.430 between what we now call direct spending and 00:20:27.430 --> 00:20:30.390 discretionary allowances. This terminology is 00:20:30.390 --> 00:20:32.369 the scaffolding upon which our entire fiscal 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:34.789 structure still rests. Okay, let's break those 00:20:34.789 --> 00:20:37.829 two concepts down. Why was distinguishing between 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:41.210 direct or mandatory spending and discretionary 00:20:41.210 --> 00:20:43.809 spending such a massive paradigm shift? How does 00:20:43.809 --> 00:20:46.430 that impact the listener today? This is the crux 00:20:46.430 --> 00:20:48.950 of his fiscal legacy. Direct spending refers 00:20:48.950 --> 00:20:52.609 to money required by existing laws, mostly entitlements 00:20:52.609 --> 00:20:54.589 like Social Security, Medicare and interest on 00:20:54.589 --> 00:20:57.589 the national debt. That money is spent automatically 00:20:57.589 --> 00:21:00.569 unless Congress actively changes the underlying 00:21:00.569 --> 00:21:03.369 law. So it's on autopilot. It's on autopilot. 00:21:03.509 --> 00:21:05.710 Discretionary spending, however, is what Congress 00:21:05.710 --> 00:21:08.609 must actively decide to fund every single year 00:21:08.609 --> 00:21:11.569 through appropriations bills. This covers everything 00:21:11.569 --> 00:21:14.990 from defense to education, NASA, the EPA, all 00:21:14.990 --> 00:21:18.420 of it. So before Muskie formalized this distinction, 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:21.700 the lines were much blurrier. It was easier for 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:24.140 the executive branch to manipulate funding or 00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:26.759 through impoundment, just veto programs Congress 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:29.900 wanted to fund. Precisely. By forcing Congress 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:32.220 and the executive to define and adhere to these 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:35.480 categories, Muskie made the entire budget process 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:38.680 transparent and accountable. It shifted the political 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:41.599 terrain. Now, debates over compending had to 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.380 adhere to this newly defined framework. Because 00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:46.579 of this foundational work, designing the categories, 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:49.220 establishing the CBO, ensuring congressional 00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:52.420 input, he is rightly known as the father of the 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:55.119 federal budget process. He built the fiscal framework 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.079 we still use, debate, and occasionally fight 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:00.279 over to this day. A man with that kind of success, 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:02.880 that national stature, who had so fundamentally 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.079 shaped modern governance. It was, I mean, inevitable 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:07.799 he was going to have presidential ambitions. 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:11.039 And he got his first real taste of national campaigning 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.380 in 1968 when he was nominated as Hubert Humphrey's 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:16.599 running mate. Humphrey's choice of Muskie was 00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:19.559 highly strategic. He wanted Muskie's reserved 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:22.240 sort of intellectual personality to provide a 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:25.380 steady contrast to his own more ebullient, sometimes 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:28.359 rambling style. And of course, his Polish Catholic 00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.720 heritage was seen as a crucial demographic asset. 00:22:32.269 --> 00:22:34.549 It was meant to help shore up the ethnic Catholic 00:22:34.549 --> 00:22:37.430 vote in the Rust Belt states. And despite all 00:22:37.430 --> 00:22:40.529 the challenges of 1968 with the war and the convention, 00:22:40.869 --> 00:22:44.329 they came agonizingly close to winning. Agonizingly. 00:22:44.390 --> 00:22:46.650 The Humphrey -Muskie ticket lost the popular 00:22:46.650 --> 00:22:49.670 vote to Nixon and Agnew by a mere 0 .7 percentage 00:22:49.670 --> 00:22:52.109 points. It was one of the narrowest margins in 00:22:52.109 --> 00:22:54.369 U .S. history, and it really showed the national 00:22:54.369 --> 00:22:57.200 appeal Muskie carried. His stature grew immensely 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.000 in the intervening years. In 1970, while running 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.380 for his third Senate term, he gave what became 00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:05.779 a highly celebrated nationwide address, the Election 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:08.740 Eve speech. And this was a rare bipartisan critique 00:23:08.740 --> 00:23:11.279 aimed squarely at the Nixon administration. He 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:13.079 didn't pull any punches, did he? Not at all. 00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:14.920 He openly criticized the Nixon administration 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.559 for using the politics of fear and deploying 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.880 torrents of falsehood and insinuation against 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:21.920 their political opponents. The speech was electric. 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:25.480 The press at the time. Some likened its impact 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:28.259 to Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats with 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:31.000 video. It was compelling, it was statesmanlike, 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:34.000 and it elevated Muskie almost instantly to the 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.839 status of the clear Democratic frontrunner for 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.880 the 1972 presidential nomination. In fact, an 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:43.339 August 1971 opinion poll showed Muskie was actually 00:23:43.339 --> 00:23:45.440 pulling ahead of Nixon nationally. He looked 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.940 unbeatable. He did. But the 1972 campaign became 00:23:48.940 --> 00:23:51.940 this cautionary and frankly tragic tale about 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:55.559 how easily political dirty tricks and misinformation 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:58.559 can derail even the most formidable candidate. 00:23:59.230 --> 00:24:01.390 The campaign started to unravel pretty early. 00:24:01.569 --> 00:24:04.289 The Iowa caucuses gave George McGovern some unexpected 00:24:04.289 --> 00:24:06.710 momentum, but Muskie still won the New Hampshire 00:24:06.710 --> 00:24:09.269 primary. But by a disappointingly small margin, 00:24:09.410 --> 00:24:11.349 it showed he was vulnerable. And that's when 00:24:11.349 --> 00:24:13.809 the real destruction began, a coordinated campaign 00:24:13.809 --> 00:24:16.329 of sabotage. Okay, let's slow down and analyze 00:24:16.329 --> 00:24:18.930 the most infamous moment, the Canuck letter incident. 00:24:19.069 --> 00:24:22.809 On February 24, 1972, a forged letter was released 00:24:22.809 --> 00:24:25.869 by the Manchester Union Leader newspaper. A notoriously 00:24:25.869 --> 00:24:29.049 conservative paper. The letter falsely asserted 00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:31.430 that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about 00:24:31.430 --> 00:24:34.049 French Americans, referring to them using the 00:24:34.049 --> 00:24:37.309 derogatory term Canucks. Which was just political 00:24:37.309 --> 00:24:39.869 poison in northern New England. The French American 00:24:39.869 --> 00:24:42.490 population was a massive demographic and Muskie 00:24:42.490 --> 00:24:45.049 needed those votes. The letter claimed Muskie 00:24:45.049 --> 00:24:47.309 had said something like, what does a Canuck know 00:24:47.309 --> 00:24:50.690 about a man of quality? It was textbook targeted 00:24:50.690 --> 00:24:53.970 sabotage. And we know now FBI investigators later 00:24:53.970 --> 00:24:56.450 confirmed this letter was a completely forged 00:24:56.450 --> 00:24:58.910 document. orchestrated by the Nixon campaign's 00:24:58.910 --> 00:25:01.589 political sabotage arm, the Dirty Tricks Unit, 00:25:01.789 --> 00:25:03.809 with operatives like Donald Segretti and Ken 00:25:03.809 --> 00:25:06.269 Clausen specifically identified in the scheme. 00:25:06.490 --> 00:25:08.710 And the union leader didn't stop with Muskie. 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:12.029 A day later, the same paper launched a deeply 00:25:12.029 --> 00:25:15.349 personal, vicious attack on his wife, Jane Muskie. 00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:17.910 Falsely portraying her as a drunkard and racially 00:25:17.910 --> 00:25:19.549 intolerant, claiming she made all these off -color 00:25:19.549 --> 00:25:21.950 remarks, it was just brutal. And this is where 00:25:21.950 --> 00:25:24.309 Muskie's usually tight control over his temperament 00:25:24.309 --> 00:25:27.880 finally failed him. In defense of his wife, under 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:30.200 immense pressure, he delivered this emotional 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:32.819 speech outside the newspaper office during a 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:35.640 heavy snowstorm. And it was devastating for his 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:38.660 campaign. The press widely reported that he broke 00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:41.039 down and cried. It shattered that public image 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:44.339 he had so carefully cultivated as the calm, reasoned, 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:47.619 Lincoln -esque statesman. It provided the exact 00:25:47.619 --> 00:25:49.839 narrative the Nixon campaign was hoping for. 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:53.440 that Muskie was too emotionally unstable, too 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.400 volatile to handle the pressures of the presidency. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.480 Muskie later vehemently insisted that the apparent 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.640 tears were simply melted snowflakes and stress, 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:03.259 not an actual breakdown, but the political damage 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:05.579 was instantaneous and irreparable. The perception 00:26:05.579 --> 00:26:07.940 of emotional instability cost him the nomination. 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:11.140 That one moment. This incident is still studied 00:26:11.140 --> 00:26:13.220 today as a prime example of how manufactured 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:15.960 outrage and misinformation, disseminated through 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.819 a sympathetic media outlet, can completely undermine 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:22.059 a political campaign. It really redefined candidate 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:25.500 vulnerability and the sabotage was relentless. 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:29.180 The Nixon campaign also tried to leverage Muskie's 00:26:29.180 --> 00:26:31.259 acquaintance with Frank Sinatra. Muskie sometimes 00:26:31.259 --> 00:26:34.059 flew on Sinatra's private plane to concoct these 00:26:34.059 --> 00:26:36.259 accusations of abuse of office. Those claims 00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:39.299 never stuck, but the damage was done. It was 00:26:39.299 --> 00:26:41.680 a comprehensive political assassination attempt 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.319 that successfully took out their strongest opponent. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:47.759 After the bitter defeat of 1972, Muskie returned 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.140 to the Senate. dedicating himself to the legislative 00:26:50.140 --> 00:26:52.640 process and, of course, leading that new budget 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:54.660 committee. But his final chapter in executive 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:56.859 office brought him back into the national security 00:26:56.859 --> 00:27:00.259 spotlight completely unexpectedly. In May of 00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:03.119 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed him as 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:05.680 secretary of state. This came right after the 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:07.779 resignation of Cyrus Vance. Vance had stepped 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:10.339 down in opposition to the failed Operation Eagle 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.779 Claw rescue mission for the American hostages 00:27:12.779 --> 00:27:15.440 in Iran. Muskie was confirmed quickly by the 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.980 Senate. 94 to 2. His tenure was short May 1980 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:21.720 to January 1981, one of the shortest in modern 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:23.940 history. But it was immediately high stakes. 00:27:24.220 --> 00:27:28.319 He inherited the tail end of the 444 day Iran 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.079 hostage crisis, which had just dominated American 00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.039 foreign policy and national morale for over a 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:36.460 year. He was under immense pressure to find a 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:39.279 diplomatic solution for the 52 American diplomats 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.859 and citizens held since November of 79. He appealed 00:27:42.859 --> 00:27:44.980 directly to the UN, to the Iranian government, 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:47.960 trying to find some kind of face -saving solution 00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:50.779 for their release. And while Muskie himself was 00:27:50.779 --> 00:27:53.039 personally unsuccessful in securing the final 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:56.019 terms, he did restructure the diplomatic team 00:27:56.019 --> 00:27:58.660 and set the framework for the negotiations to 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:01.039 succeed. Right. His department, led by Deputy 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:03.319 Secretary Warren Christopher, continued these 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:06.000 intensive... negotiations, focusing on the complex 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.819 financial and legal demands made by Iran. And 00:28:08.819 --> 00:28:11.339 the resolution famously occurred literally as 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:14.960 Muskie was leaving office. On January 20, 1981, 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:17.980 the very day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, the 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:20.319 hostages were released. So his work, along with 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:21.920 that of his team, had provided the necessary 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:24.160 diplomatic pressure and structures to finally 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.140 conclude one of the most stressful crises in 00:28:26.140 --> 00:28:28.720 modern American memory. And at the same time, 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.440 he was managing these intense Cold War tensions. 00:28:31.859 --> 00:28:34.839 He met with the Soviet diplomat Andrei Granikov 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:38.420 about the fallout from the 1979 Soviet invasion 00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:40.980 of Afghanistan. And that meeting was historically 00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:43.420 significant. Muskie carried the weight of the 00:28:43.420 --> 00:28:45.759 Carter administration's position, trying to find 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.019 a path back from the brink. What was the outcome 00:28:48.019 --> 00:28:51.660 of that exchange? Gromyko was utterly uncompromising. 00:28:51.819 --> 00:28:54.900 He categorically rejected any proposal that involved 00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:57.960 a Soviet withdrawal. Instead, he was seeking 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:01.119 formal U .S. recognition of Kabul as part of 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.519 the Soviet sphere of influence. The talks just 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.490 stalled. Muskie had this consistent, deep -seated 00:29:06.490 --> 00:29:09.170 fear of nuclear conflict, which dated all the 00:29:09.170 --> 00:29:11.670 way back to the 1950s. How did that personal 00:29:11.670 --> 00:29:14.150 concern manifest in his foreign policy decisions? 00:29:14.470 --> 00:29:16.890 It was his driving force. He frequently criticized 00:29:16.890 --> 00:29:19.289 the arms race and urged the suspension of nuclear 00:29:19.289 --> 00:29:21.789 programs throughout his career. And even during 00:29:21.789 --> 00:29:24.170 his short time as Secretary of State, he was 00:29:24.170 --> 00:29:26.710 highly critical of Ronald Reagan's hardline calls 00:29:26.710 --> 00:29:29.630 to reject the crucial Strategic Arms Limitation 00:29:29.630 --> 00:29:32.940 Treaty, or SALT II. What exactly was SALT II 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:35.460 and why was Muskie's defense of it so vital to 00:29:35.460 --> 00:29:37.940 him? SALT II was a treaty between the U .S. and 00:29:37.940 --> 00:29:40.680 the Soviet Union designed to limit the production 00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:43.220 of strategic nuclear weapons and their delivery 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:46.400 systems. It was crucial for maintaining a detente 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.000 and preventing a runaway escalation. And Muskie 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.220 feared that rejecting the treaty, as Reagan was 00:29:51.220 --> 00:29:53.839 advocating, would signal a return to unchecked 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.480 military competition and drastically increase 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.930 the risk of global nuclear war. Exactly. His 00:29:59.930 --> 00:30:02.190 advocacy reflected his belief that institutional 00:30:02.190 --> 00:30:05.730 diplomacy, even imperfect treaties, was the only 00:30:05.730 --> 00:30:08.809 viable path to long -term security. After leaving 00:30:08.809 --> 00:30:11.329 the State Department, Muskie retired to Bethesda, 00:30:11.329 --> 00:30:13.890 Maryland, though he remained very much engaged 00:30:13.890 --> 00:30:16.509 in public policy, working as a lawyer and serving 00:30:16.509 --> 00:30:18.630 as chairman of the Institute for the Study of 00:30:18.630 --> 00:30:21.089 Diplomacy at Georgetown. And his commitment to 00:30:21.089 --> 00:30:23.230 institutional accountability was put to the test 00:30:23.230 --> 00:30:27.230 one final time in 1987. President Reagan appointed 00:30:27.230 --> 00:30:29.369 him to the president's special review board, 00:30:29.549 --> 00:30:31.890 which became known as the Tower Commission. And 00:30:31.890 --> 00:30:34.569 this was the bipartisan panel tasked with investigating 00:30:34.569 --> 00:30:37.450 the Iran -Contra affair, the highly controversial 00:30:37.450 --> 00:30:40.390 secret sale of arms to Iran and the illegal diversion 00:30:40.390 --> 00:30:42.869 of those funds to Contra rebels in Nicaragua. 00:30:43.049 --> 00:30:45.730 The commission's final report was massive, over 00:30:45.730 --> 00:30:49.369 300 pages. And it was incredibly critical, not 00:30:49.369 --> 00:30:51.650 just to the staff, but of the president's management 00:30:51.650 --> 00:30:54.720 style. It specifically blamed White House Chief 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:57.960 of Staff Donald Reagan for undue influence and 00:30:57.960 --> 00:30:59.880 a failure to adequately inform the president. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:02.680 It was a bipartisan panel that showed real integrity 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:05.059 by being critical of the very administration 00:31:05.059 --> 00:31:08.859 that appointed them. And Muskie. ever the institutionalist, 00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:12.079 was critical of the operation itself, but also 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:14.740 of the commission's process. He decried their 00:31:14.740 --> 00:31:17.680 over -obsession with secrecy, noting that when 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:20.160 secrecy becomes paramount in governance, you 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.420 tend to abandon process. Which is just a perfect 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:25.039 summary of his entire career philosophy. It really 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:28.819 is. Edmund Muskie died on March 26, 1996, just 00:31:28.819 --> 00:31:31.720 two days shy of his 82nd birthday. And due to 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:33.319 his distinguished service in the Navy during 00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:36.140 World War II, he was honored with burial at Arlington 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:39.160 National Cemetery. His legacy is just undeniably 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:41.740 cemented. In Maine, he remains one of the most 00:31:41.740 --> 00:31:43.940 influential political figures in state history. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:47.019 Nationally, his work led to this massive expansion 00:31:47.019 --> 00:31:49.920 of environmental protection, crucial bureaucratic 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.359 advancement in fiscal management, and he stands 00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:55.359 as a powerful example of integrity. He received 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.160 the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, and 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:00.720 Maine still honors him annually with Edmund S. 00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:02.839 Muskie Day, which has been a public holiday since 00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:06.339 1987. He holds the highest political office ever 00:32:06.339 --> 00:32:08.759 achieved by a Polish -American Secretary of State, 00:32:08.940 --> 00:32:11.680 and he remains the only Polish -American nominated 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:14.950 for vice president by a major party. His story 00:32:14.950 --> 00:32:17.230 is one of breaking barriers and, more importantly, 00:32:17.410 --> 00:32:20.190 building foundational systems. So when we look 00:32:20.190 --> 00:32:21.970 back at Edmund Muskie, what does it all mean? 00:32:22.049 --> 00:32:24.329 You see this incredible transition. Right. From 00:32:24.329 --> 00:32:27.029 the scrappy Polish -speaking son of an immigrant 00:32:27.029 --> 00:32:29.430 tailor who had to write a single letter to an 00:32:29.430 --> 00:32:31.730 eccentric millionaire just to finish law school. 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:33.990 And becoming the man who defined how America 00:32:33.990 --> 00:32:36.329 cleans its environment and how the federal government 00:32:36.329 --> 00:32:38.970 handles its finances. It's an incredible arc. 00:32:39.170 --> 00:32:42.329 It's the triple threat of his impact. He broke 00:32:42.329 --> 00:32:45.049 a 100 -year political stalemate in Maine, became 00:32:45.049 --> 00:32:48.250 Mr. Clean for his legislative mastery that gave 00:32:48.250 --> 00:32:50.650 us the foundational Clean Air and Clean Water 00:32:50.650 --> 00:32:53.130 Acts. And then literally built the architecture 00:32:53.130 --> 00:32:56.210 of the modern U .S. budget process as the first 00:32:56.210 --> 00:32:58.809 chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, challenging 00:32:58.809 --> 00:33:01.670 executive overreach by creating the CBO. He was 00:33:01.670 --> 00:33:04.589 a man of profound paradoxes, the Lincoln -esque 00:33:04.589 --> 00:33:07.670 statesman who had a reported hot temper, but 00:33:07.670 --> 00:33:09.829 who maintained the alliances he needed through 00:33:09.829 --> 00:33:12.609 sheer competence. And yet his presidential ambitions 00:33:12.609 --> 00:33:16.369 were so tragically and cynically undone by political 00:33:16.369 --> 00:33:19.170 sabotage, a forged letter and what the press, 00:33:19.210 --> 00:33:22.109 perhaps unfairly, portrayed as tears in a snowstorm. 00:33:22.289 --> 00:33:24.230 His entire career, especially the later half, 00:33:24.349 --> 00:33:26.069 was just this constant defense of institutional 00:33:26.069 --> 00:33:28.950 integrity and process, fighting the imperial 00:33:28.950 --> 00:33:31.589 presidency, criticizing J. Edgar Hoover's surveillance, 00:33:31.849 --> 00:33:33.970 demanding transparency, even when investigating 00:33:33.970 --> 00:33:36.369 Iran -Contra. He understood that good governance 00:33:36.369 --> 00:33:40.640 relied on strong, clear rules. Senator Muskie 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:43.359 was so fundamentally driven by a deep fear of 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.900 global nuclear war and environmental degradation 00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:48.819 and dedicated so much of his career to countering 00:33:48.819 --> 00:33:51.079 that imperial presidency. Let's consider this. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:53.839 In a world still wrestling fiercely with climate 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:56.259 change, with unwieldy bureaucratic complexity 00:33:56.259 --> 00:33:59.440 and the pervasive, often devastating impact of 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:01.920 political dirty tricks like those that derailed 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:05.859 his 1972 run. How relevant are Muskie's core 00:34:05.859 --> 00:34:09.030 legislative frameworks today? And maybe more 00:34:09.030 --> 00:34:11.489 importantly, what modern political figure operating 00:34:11.489 --> 00:34:14.429 today truly embodies his particular dedication 00:34:14.429 --> 00:34:17.329 to both rigorous institutional reform and deep 00:34:17.329 --> 00:34:19.489 environmental advocacy, often at the expense 00:34:19.489 --> 00:34:21.210 of political comfort. That's something for you 00:34:21.210 --> 00:34:23.389 to explore as you connect Muskie's legacy to 00:34:23.389 --> 00:34:23.949 the present day.