WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.240 The Dub Dive, Jim Rayne from the sub four minute 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:06.120 mile to the House of Representatives. In this 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.400 deep dive, we explore the extraordinary double 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.320 life of Jim Ryan. Long before his political career 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:13.640 in the U .S. House of Representatives, Ryan was 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.779 a track and field phenomenon who ran a sub four 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:18.000 minute mile in high school, set multiple world 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.079 records and competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.879 Olympics. How did the best high school athlete 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.100 of all time pivot to become one of the most conservative 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:29.859 members of Congress representing Kansas? We unpack 00:00:29.859 --> 00:00:32.280 his incredible athletic peaks, his bitter Olympic 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:34.640 heartbreaks against Kip Kano, his controversial 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.840 environmental and voting records, and the DC 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:38.840 real estate and political scandals that ultimately 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:41.560 derailed his time in Washington. Whether you're 00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:43.579 a track history buff or fascinated by the intersection 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:46.320 of sports and politics, this deep dive extracts 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.960 the essential facts you need to know about the 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:51.250 Jim Ryan story. SEO keywords, Jim Ryan's sub 00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:52.829 -four -minute -mile track and field history, 00:00:53.049 --> 00:00:55.630 1968 Olympics, Kip Keno, House of Representatives, 00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:58.329 Kansas Congress, Jim Ryan controversies, conservative 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:01.289 politics, running world records. So imagine for 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:04.650 a second that you are a teenager, you've just 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:07.870 tried out for the church baseball team, and you 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:10.530 get cut. Right, which is definitely a blow to 00:01:10.530 --> 00:01:13.909 the ego. Exactly. It stings, but you pivot. You 00:01:13.909 --> 00:01:15.870 go and try out for the junior high basketball 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:19.269 team, and you get cut again. OK, so maybe hand 00:01:19.269 --> 00:01:21.090 -eye coordination just isn't the thing. Yeah, 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:22.810 that's kind of what you figure. Maybe I don't 00:01:22.810 --> 00:01:24.549 need hand -eye coordination, right? Maybe I can 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:27.650 just run. So you try out for the junior high 00:01:27.650 --> 00:01:30.709 track and field team. Let me guess. Yep, you 00:01:30.709 --> 00:01:35.069 get cut again. Wow. Right. For like 99 % of kids, 00:01:35.189 --> 00:01:38.049 that is the definitive end of the athletic dream 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:39.750 right there. You just hang up your sneakers and 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:41.790 you join the debate club. Or the chess team, 00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:44.090 yeah. But the teenager we're talking about today. 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:47.459 He didn't stop. He tivided yet again. He tried 00:01:47.459 --> 00:01:49.780 out for cross -country and eventually became 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:52.140 the man that ESPN formally named the greatest 00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:54.200 high school athlete of all time. Not just in 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:56.260 track and field either. No, of all time. He beat 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.500 out legends like LeBron James and Tiger Woods 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:01.760 for that exact title. It is a really remarkable 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.159 origin story. And what makes it so compelling 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.819 is that it sets the stage for a life that is 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.039 almost impossible to categorize. Oh, absolutely. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:11.020 Because we're looking at a man who didn't just 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:14.080 excel in one extremely demanding arena. He managed 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.759 to reinvent himself entirely in a second, completely 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:19.979 different, but equally high pressure environment. 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:22.199 And that is exactly our mission in this deep 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.659 dive. We are exploring the life of Jim Rihun 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:29.259 by analyzing this really fascinating stack of 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.020 curated materials. We've got biographical data 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:35.039 race records, political scorecards, historical 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:37.460 accounts, all of it. Whole picture. Right. Because 00:02:37.460 --> 00:02:40.639 he lived two distinct, highly public and incredibly 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.879 intense lives. First, as the world's absolute 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:46.780 top middle distance runner. A literal phenomenon 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:48.620 who shattered world records and brought home 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:50.840 Olympic hardware. And then years later, he enters 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:53.879 the grueling world of Washington politics, serving 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.300 as a conservative Republican in the U .S., House 00:02:56.300 --> 00:02:58.919 of Representatives representing Kansas, for over 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:02.090 a decade. Before we dive into the timeline, though, 00:03:02.090 --> 00:03:04.129 I do want to establish a quick ground rule for 00:03:04.129 --> 00:03:06.349 you, our listener, because the materials we're 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:08.909 examining today cover not just his athletic achievements, 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:11.930 but his heavily conservative voting record, his 00:03:11.930 --> 00:03:14.729 environmental scorecards, and some significant 00:03:14.729 --> 00:03:17.210 political controversies during his time in Congress. 00:03:17.469 --> 00:03:19.949 Good point to make early on. Yeah, we are operating 00:03:19.949 --> 00:03:22.590 under a strict rule of impartiality here. We 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:25.189 aren't here to take sides. We are not endorsing 00:03:25.189 --> 00:03:27.629 or condemning any left -wing or right -wing viewpoints. 00:03:28.110 --> 00:03:30.729 Our sole purpose today is to... objectively report 00:03:30.729 --> 00:03:32.949 the factual contents of the provided material 00:03:32.949 --> 00:03:35.550 to help you understand the totality of his public 00:03:35.550 --> 00:03:38.469 record exactly as it is documented in the sources. 00:03:38.909 --> 00:03:40.909 Perfectly laid out. We are just your guides through 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:42.830 the history today. So, okay, let's unpack this. 00:03:43.150 --> 00:03:45.509 Starting with his early life and the totally 00:03:45.509 --> 00:03:48.590 unlikely origin of his running career. Because 00:03:48.590 --> 00:03:50.930 getting cut from the church baseball team and 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.129 junior high track, that is a tough break. It 00:03:53.129 --> 00:03:55.349 really is. Riyun himself actually had a great 00:03:55.349 --> 00:03:57.389 quote about why he started running. He said, 00:03:57.389 --> 00:03:59.919 I couldn't do anything else. He literally went 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.939 to bed at night and prayed. A very simple, earnest 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:05.280 prayer. Yeah, he said, Dear God, please help 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:07.199 me do better at sports, and let me find a good 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:10.780 sport I am good at. It highlights a very humble, 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:14.400 almost accidental beginning. He found himself 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.860 trying out for the cross -country team simply 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:20.420 because he had, well, he basically ran out of 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:22.639 other options. Right. Now, cross -country in 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.920 that era, meant running two miles across varied 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.480 terrain. He had never run that distance before 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.040 in his entire life. Two miles for a kid who just 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.899 got cut from track is no joke. Not at all. But 00:04:33.899 --> 00:04:36.300 he pushes through, he makes the team, and he 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:39.310 earns a letter jacket. And the motivation he 00:04:39.310 --> 00:04:41.350 cited for wanting that jacket is something I 00:04:41.350 --> 00:04:43.769 think a lot of people can relate to. He noted 00:04:43.769 --> 00:04:45.230 that he started thinking there's a girlfriend 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:47.810 behind the leather jacket. That is amazing. That 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:50.870 deeply ordinary teenage desire is what actually 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:52.810 kickstarted the journey of the greatest high 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:55.430 school athlete in history. I want you to just 00:04:55.430 --> 00:04:57.370 think about that for a second. Think about your 00:04:57.370 --> 00:04:59.730 own biggest life achievements. They rarely start 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:02.449 with some grand vision. Exactly. How often do 00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:05.110 they stem from the most mundane, universally 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:09.050 awkward teenage motivations? He wanted the jacket 00:05:09.050 --> 00:05:11.970 to get the girl. But from that motivation, we 00:05:11.970 --> 00:05:14.269 get a rapid ascent that is just staggering. Let's 00:05:14.269 --> 00:05:17.550 look at the timeline. It's 1964. Right. Reun 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:20.129 is a junior at Wichita East High School in Kansas. 00:05:20.589 --> 00:05:23.149 He travels to the California relays, and he achieves 00:05:23.149 --> 00:05:25.939 something historic. He becomes the first high 00:05:25.939 --> 00:05:28.600 school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes, 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:32.759 clocking in at 3 .59 .0. We really need to pause 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:34.920 and add contextual weight to that moment. Please 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:37.560 do, because it's wild. The four -minute mile. 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.259 was long considered a physical impossibility 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:41.959 for the human body. People thought your heart 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:44.500 would explode. It wasn't until Roger Bannister 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.579 broke it in 1954 that the barrier fell. So just 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:49.560 10 years later, a high school junior achieves 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:51.879 it. A kid who just a few years earlier couldn't 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:53.860 make the junior high track team. Exactly. Now 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:55.839 in that specific race at the California Relays, 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.540 it was a historic mass finish. Multiple adult 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:01.519 elite runners came in under four minutes. Riyun 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:03.560 actually took eighth place in that specific race. 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:06.300 Which is still incredible against elite adults. 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:08.220 Absolutely. He was the high schooler who broke 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:11.259 the barrier and it wasn't a fluke either. Ran 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:14.519 went on to run five sub four minute miles while 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:17.000 he was still in high school. Five of them. Five. 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:20.500 This includes running a 3 .58 .3 at the 1965 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:23.680 Kansas High School State Meet. That was the very 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:27.180 first time a sub four minute mile was run in 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:30.160 a specifically high school event rather than 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.540 an open invitational against older athletes. 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:35.079 Running five sub four minute miles before going 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:38.180 to college is just wild. But he didn't just run 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.259 fast against a clock. He was actively beating 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:42.500 the best in the world. I'm looking at the notes 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:46.060 on the 1965 AAU championship race. He runs. of 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:49.500 3 .55 .3, and in the process, he beats Peter 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.000 Snell. Which was huge. For context, who exactly 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.740 was Peter Snell at this point in time? Peter 00:06:53.740 --> 00:06:56.120 Snell was the reigning Olympic gold medalist 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.680 and a former world record holder. He was an absolute 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:00.620 giant of middle distance running from New Zealand. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:02.639 So you have a high school senior lining up against 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:04.819 the man who literally holds the Olympic gold. 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:09.040 And the teenager outkicks him. That 3 .55 .3 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.860 that Ryan ran that day stood as the American 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:14.699 high school record for an astonishing 36 years. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.600 It wasn't broken until Alan Webb did it in 2001. 00:07:17.870 --> 00:07:20.790 Track and field news actually voted Rian the 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:23.189 fourth best miler in the entire world while he 00:07:23.189 --> 00:07:24.889 was still attending high school classes. Just 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:26.910 casually going to homeroom while being the fourth 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:28.930 fastest man on earth. Right, and they named him 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:31.790 the 1965 High School Athlete of the Year. So 00:07:31.790 --> 00:07:33.970 he graduates high school having already beaten 00:07:33.970 --> 00:07:36.829 Olympic champions. The entire track world is 00:07:36.829 --> 00:07:38.970 watching to see if he peaks early, which happens 00:07:38.970 --> 00:07:41.589 a lot with young phenoms, or if he can actually 00:07:41.589 --> 00:07:43.889 get faster. This is a classic question. And when 00:07:43.889 --> 00:07:46.350 he hits the University of Kansas from 1966 to 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:49.259 1967 we get a answer. He doesn't just get faster, 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:51.980 he obliterates the record books. He's 19 years 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:54.699 old in 1966. He goes to Terre Haute, Indiana 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:57.060 and sets the world record in the half mile at 00:07:57.060 --> 00:08:00.889 1 .44 .9. There's a slight technicality to that 00:08:00.889 --> 00:08:02.910 specific record that's worth explaining based 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:05.250 on the source material. Right, the 880 yard thing. 00:08:05.509 --> 00:08:08.230 Yeah, he was running an 880 yard race, which 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:11.269 is slightly longer than 800 meters. His in route 00:08:11.269 --> 00:08:14.209 time at the exact 800 meter mark was estimated 00:08:14.209 --> 00:08:18.529 at 1 .44 .3. That time exactly equaled the existing 00:08:18.529 --> 00:08:20.990 world record for 800 meters, though wasn't officially 00:08:20.990 --> 00:08:23.430 ratified for that specific event because of the 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:26.310 way the race was structured. Got it. But regardless 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:28.829 of the technicality, the sheer speed was undeniable. 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:30.970 Well, without a doubt. And he proved it a month 00:08:30.970 --> 00:08:33.009 later in Berkeley, California when he set the 00:08:33.009 --> 00:08:36.590 world record for the mile at 3 .51 .3. And he's 00:08:36.590 --> 00:08:39.269 just getting started. The next year, 1967, he's 00:08:39.269 --> 00:08:41.710 20 years old. He sets the world record in the 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:45.539 indoor half mile at 1 .48 .3. Then he goes to 00:08:45.539 --> 00:08:47.840 Bakersfield, California and beats his own outdoor 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.940 mile world record, lowering it to 3 .51 .1. To 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:53.059 put that in perspective, that specific record 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:55.340 stood for almost eight years in an era where 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:57.259 trending technology and shoe technology were 00:08:57.259 --> 00:08:59.480 rapidly advancing. He also set the world record 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:01.840 for the 1500 meters that same year with a time 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.659 of 3 .33 .1. What's fascinating here is the enduring 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:08.419 nature of his legacy from this specific two year 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.580 window. If we look at his American junior records, 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:13.899 which are specifically for athletes 19 years 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:16.840 old and under of it, his record for the 800 meters 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.820 lasted exactly 50 years. Half a century. Half 00:09:19.820 --> 00:09:22.840 a century. His American junior records for the 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:26.320 one mile and two miles are still unbroken. He 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.799 broke the American record for the mile four distinct 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.379 times before he even finished his sophomore year 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:34.419 of college. That is relentless. Yeah. But to 00:09:34.419 --> 00:09:36.600 really understand what it looked like, what it 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:39.559 felt like when Jim Ryan was at his peak, We have 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:41.879 to talk about that 1967 race in Los Angeles. 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:44.600 Oh, the Coliseum race. Yes. This was the 1500 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:46.679 meter race during the United States versus British 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.679 Commonwealth meet at the Los Angeles Memorial 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:51.700 Coliseum. The way this race unfolds is like something 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.139 out of a sports movie. The gun goes off and the 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:56.559 start is incredibly slow. Very tactical. Track 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:59.039 and Field News reported that after 220 yards 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:01.700 of what they call dawdling, a record seemed completely 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.820 out of the question. Ryan passes the 440 yard 00:10:04.820 --> 00:10:08.860 mark in third place at 60 .9 seconds. For a world 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:12.220 class 1500 meter race, 60 .9 seconds for the 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:15.360 first 440 yards is essentially pedestrian. It's 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:17.759 a feeling out pace where no one wants to lead. 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:19.879 But then the mid -race shift happens, and this 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:22.279 is where the race becomes legendary. Kit Keno, 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.440 the phenomenal runner from Kenya, decides he's 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:26.820 had enough of the slow pace and takes the lead. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.179 And Keno doesn't just accelerate. He runs the 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:32.919 second lap in an insane 56 seconds. Wait. If 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:35.500 60 seconds is slow, jumping down at 56 seconds 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:37.879 on the second lap of a four lap race, what does 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:40.259 that actually do to a runner's body? It creates 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:42.700 a massive, almost insurmountable oxygen debt. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:45.379 Running a 56 second lap in the middle of a middle 00:10:45.379 --> 00:10:48.000 distance race breaks all standard pacing strategies. 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:50.240 It forces everyone else in the field to make 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.039 a brutal choice. Chase him or let him go. Exactly. 00:10:53.139 --> 00:10:55.200 You either match that deeply uncomfortable, exhausting 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:57.320 sprint and risk burning out completely, or you 00:10:57.320 --> 00:10:59.220 let Keno build a lead that you will never be 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:01.799 able to close. Keno essentially dared the field 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.000 to endure the pain. And Ryun is forced to chase. 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:09.179 He passes the 880 yard mark at 1 .57 .0. At 3020 00:11:09.179 --> 00:11:11.840 yards, Ryun and Keno are dead even, side by side. 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:15.139 The clock reads 2 .55 .0 out. Deep in oxygen 00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:18.139 debt. Side by side with Kip Keno. And this is 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:20.600 where Ryun's defining trait shows up. He just 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.080 pulls away. He runs the last 440 yards in an 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.000 unbelievable 53 .9 seconds. He finishes at 3 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.259 .33 .1. setting a record that would stand for 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.039 seven years. Just staggering. Cordner Nelson 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.360 of Track and Field News wrote about this specific 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.080 race and called it the mightiest finishing drive 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.179 ever seen, declaring it his greatest race. That 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.940 finishing kick was his signature. It wasn't just 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:47.419 his overall speed. It was that his body could 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:50.259 somehow produce a devastating acceleration at 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:52.559 the exact moment when his competitors were maxing 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.909 out their physical limits and succumbing. to 00:11:54.909 --> 00:11:57.070 the lactic acid. Which made him a massive star. 00:11:57.269 --> 00:11:59.590 The cultural impact of this dominance was massive. 00:11:59.850 --> 00:12:02.429 In 1966, he won the Sports Illustrated Sportsman 00:12:02.429 --> 00:12:04.629 of the Year Award. He won the James E. Sullivan 00:12:04.629 --> 00:12:07.370 Award as the nation's top amateur athlete. He 00:12:07.370 --> 00:12:09.389 was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:11.990 five different times. Five times is wild for 00:12:11.990 --> 00:12:13.850 a track athlete. He won the Track and Field News 00:12:13.850 --> 00:12:17.350 Athlete of the Year Award in both 1966 and 1967. 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:19.830 He was the first athlete to ever win that award 00:12:19.830 --> 00:12:22.409 two years in a row. He was a superstar in a way 00:12:22.409 --> 00:12:25.210 that track athletes rarely are today. But with 00:12:25.210 --> 00:12:27.490 that level of superstardom comes a crushing amount 00:12:27.490 --> 00:12:29.950 of pressure. And this is where the story shifts 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:33.350 from triumph to genuine heartbreak, specifically 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:35.350 on the Olympic stage. The Olympics were tough 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:38.350 on him. Very. Because for all his world records, 00:12:38.470 --> 00:12:40.730 the Olympics were incredibly unforgiving to Jim 00:12:40.730 --> 00:12:44.230 Raoon. Let's start with 1964 in Tokyo. He was 00:12:44.230 --> 00:12:48.269 just a kid. At 17 years and 137 days old, he 00:12:48.269 --> 00:12:51.049 was the second youngest American male track athlete 00:12:51.049 --> 00:12:53.429 to ever qualify for the Olympics, which is an 00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:55.409 achievement in itself. He made it to the semifinals 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:57.509 there, but didn't medal, which is completely 00:12:57.509 --> 00:13:00.429 understandable for a high schooler. But 1968 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:02.950 in Mexico City, that was supposed to be his coronation. 00:13:03.190 --> 00:13:07.539 The 1968 Mexico City 1500 meter final. is a profound 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:10.399 study in the brutal reality of expectations versus 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:12.940 reality and the uncontrollable variables of sports. 00:13:13.059 --> 00:13:15.179 Because of the altitude. Right. Exactly. We have 00:13:15.179 --> 00:13:17.299 to factor in the environment. Yeah. Mexico City 00:13:17.299 --> 00:13:19.700 sits at a high altitude, over 7 ,000 feet above 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:22.379 sea level. For endurance athletes, that thin 00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:24.759 air drastically impacts the amount of oxygen 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.220 reaching their muscles. It slows everyone down. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.480 So you can't run world record times there. No, 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:32.100 you have to adjust. Riyun and his coaching team 00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:34.909 did the math. They calculated the physiological 00:13:34.909 --> 00:13:37.490 toll of the altitude and figured that a time 00:13:37.490 --> 00:13:40.649 of 3 .39 would be good enough to win gold. Okay, 00:13:40.649 --> 00:13:43.669 so they have a target. So the race happens and 00:13:43.669 --> 00:13:46.409 Riyoun executes his plan beautifully. He runs 00:13:46.409 --> 00:13:50.190 the 3 .37 .8. He actually ran faster than the 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:51.990 mathematical goal he said to win the race. So 00:13:51.990 --> 00:13:54.370 he beats the winning math. He does exactly what 00:13:54.370 --> 00:13:57.610 he needs to do. But then there's the twist. Kip 00:13:57.610 --> 00:14:00.529 Keno, the exact same Kip Keno he battled in LA, 00:14:00.909 --> 00:14:04.940 pulls off a literal miracle. Keno runs a 3 .34 00:14:04.940 --> 00:14:08.360 .91. That wasn't just a win. That was an Olympic 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:11.159 record that stood until 1984, despite the high 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:14.299 altitude. Renun ran a heroic race. He was in 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:16.299 eighth place and moved all the way up to second 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:18.639 during the last two laps, fighting through that 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.919 thin air. But he was never closer than about 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.759 30 yards from Keno. He wins the silver medal. 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:26.279 Winning an Olympic silver medal is an extraordinary 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:28.320 human achievement. It means you are the second 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.840 best in the entire world. But this connects to 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.159 the bigger picture of what it means to be a public 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:35.580 figure bearing the weight of a nation's expectations. 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:38.259 They were not kind to him. No, they weren't. 00:14:38.659 --> 00:14:41.340 Because of who Jim Ruhun was, the public scrutiny 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:45.340 was crushing. In a 1981 interview with Tex Mall 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:48.059 for The Runner magazine, Ruhun reflected on this. 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:49.899 He said, I considered it like winning a gold 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.080 medal. I had done my very best, and I still believe 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.019 I would have won at sea level. Which is a completely 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:57.899 fair assessment based on his times. But instead 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.360 of celebrating him, Some writers aggressively 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:02.860 attacked him Ryu noted that writers believe he 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:05.159 had let his nation down He literally said some 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:07.299 even said I had let down the whole world I didn't 00:15:07.299 --> 00:15:09.659 get any credit for running my best and no one 00:15:09.659 --> 00:15:12.080 seemed to realize that Keno had performed brilliantly 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.110 as just deeply unfair. He runs faster than his 00:15:15.110 --> 00:15:17.690 own winning projection, gets beat by a once -in 00:15:17.690 --> 00:15:20.009 -a -generation outlier performance, and the media 00:15:20.009 --> 00:15:22.990 tells him he let the world down. But somehow 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:25.470 the tragedy of his Olympic career actually gets 00:15:25.470 --> 00:15:29.029 worse. Let's look at the 1972 games in Munich, 00:15:29.029 --> 00:15:31.389 Germany. The end of his amateur career. Yeah. 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:33.830 He's trained for another four years, and it's 00:15:33.830 --> 00:15:37.289 just a disaster. He is running in a 1 ,500 -meter 00:15:37.289 --> 00:15:40.429 qualifying heat, and he is tripped. He falls 00:15:40.429 --> 00:15:43.289 down. The International Olympic Committee actually 00:15:43.289 --> 00:15:46.190 investigated and acknowledged that a foul had 00:15:46.190 --> 00:15:48.830 occurred during the race? Yes, the foul was formally 00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:51.830 recognized. The United States Olympic team made 00:15:51.830 --> 00:15:54.809 an official appeal to have Ryan reinstated in 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:57.049 the competition based on that acknowledged foul. 00:15:57.730 --> 00:16:00.710 But the IOC denied the appeal. Just flat denied 00:16:00.710 --> 00:16:02.950 it. Think about the psychological toll of that. 00:16:03.599 --> 00:16:05.580 thousands of hours of training, the pressure 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:08.740 of redemption from 1968, and his chance at a 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:11.000 medal is erased by someone else's feet tangling 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.519 with his, and the governing body simply says 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.960 no. When he falls, they acknowledge the foul 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:18.100 and just say, too bad, that is gut wrenching. 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:19.919 But he did run again in Munich, didn't he? I 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:21.840 thought he had another heat. He did. Later in 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.059 the games, in another 1 ,500 meter preliminary 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:26.500 heat on September 8th, the sasser struck again. 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:28.980 He was trailing in the last 500 meters, trying 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:31.320 to position himself for his famous finishing 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.340 kick, and he collided. with Ghana's Billy Forger. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.320 You're kidding. Ryan fell again. Imagine the 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:39.980 sheer devastation. He got up despite being 80 00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:42.539 meters behind the pack and incredibly he finished 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.360 the heat. But he crossed the line 30 meters in 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.440 back of the pack and did not qualify for the 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.129 final. I can't even imagine the emotional devastation 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:53.429 of that plane ride home. You hold the world records 00:16:53.429 --> 00:16:56.370 and you get tripped up literally twice. After 00:16:56.370 --> 00:16:59.590 1972, he walked away from amateur athletics entirely. 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:02.269 He spent the next two years running professionally 00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:05.069 on the International Track Association or ITA 00:17:05.069 --> 00:17:07.190 circuit. And that transition really marks the 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:09.450 end of his time as the singular focus of the 00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:12.039 sporting world. Which brings us to a major pivot 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:13.920 in his life. Right, we're stepping off the track 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:15.700 now. We're getting into his personal life, his 00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:17.819 business ventures, and ultimately, his deeply 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:21.140 unexpected move to Washington D .C. It is a sharp 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:23.220 pivot, and it highlights how much life he had 00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:25.579 left to live outside of a pair of running spikes. 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:28.579 His personal life was full. He married his wife, 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:31.779 Anne, in 1969. The story of how they met is a 00:17:31.779 --> 00:17:34.599 classic sports -era anecdote. She actually asked 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:36.480 him for an autograph after he broke the world 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:38.859 record for the mile in Berkeley. That's a great 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:41.920 story. They went on to have four children, Ned, 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.059 Drew, Catherine, and Heather, and eventually 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:46.920 13 grandchildren. There are also some really 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.099 interesting details in his background that you 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:51.200 wouldn't necessarily expect from a track star. 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:53.539 For instance, he graduated from the University 00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:56.839 of Kansas in 1970 with a degree in photojournalism, 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.180 and medically he actually has a 50 % hearing 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:01.839 loss. Which is something a lot of people don't 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.880 realize about him. Right. He navigated his entire 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:07.400 athletic career with that impairment, but he 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:09.519 used it to help others. He helped the ReSound 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:11.599 hearing aid company develop a program called 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.359 Sounds of Success, which was aimed specifically 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:16.809 at helping children with hearing loss navigate 00:18:16.809 --> 00:18:19.269 their challenges. He was very active. He also 00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:21.690 operated Jim Ryan Sports, running specialized 00:18:21.690 --> 00:18:24.930 sports camps since 1973 for promising high school 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:27.190 runners. And he became a motivational speaker 00:18:27.190 --> 00:18:29.930 for corporations and Christian groups. He was 00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:33.349 building a very successful, relatively quiet 00:18:33.349 --> 00:18:36.289 post -athletic life. He lived in Eugene, Oregon 00:18:36.289 --> 00:18:39.009 for a while, moved to Santa Barbara, California 00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:41.470 for nine years, and then moved back to Lawrence, 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:44.630 Kansas in 1981. So he settled. He was deeply 00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:47.430 involved in his community and his church, Grace 00:18:47.430 --> 00:18:49.630 Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.170 If you looked at his life in the early 1990s, 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:56.269 there was no immediate indication that he was 00:18:56.269 --> 00:18:58.970 destined for the U .S. Capitol. He was a businessman, 00:18:59.490 --> 00:19:02.250 a speaker, and a family man. Here's where it 00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:04.799 gets really interesting. How does a guy running 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.359 track camps end up in Congress? It's all about 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:10.700 timing. It's 1996. The Summer Olympics are happening 00:19:10.700 --> 00:19:13.819 in Atlanta and the Olympic Torch Relay is making 00:19:13.819 --> 00:19:16.599 its way across the country. Reen is participating 00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:18.900 in the relay carrying the torch. And while he's 00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:21.220 involved in this event, a man named Todd Tehart 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:23.819 tells him that the Topeka -based Second District 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:26.400 in Kansas is going to have a vacancy. The current 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.480 representative of Republican Sam Brownback was 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.579 leaving the seat. Tehart suggests that Reen should 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:33.009 run for it. Ryan later noted that he was interested 00:19:33.009 --> 00:19:36.029 in politics, but he literally had no plans to 00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:38.230 run until that exact conversation during the 00:19:38.230 --> 00:19:41.190 torch relay. It's a remarkable catalyst, and 00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:42.990 he didn't just casually throw his hat in the 00:19:42.990 --> 00:19:45.529 ring. He proved to be a formidable candidate 00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:48.109 right out of the gate. In the Republican primary, 00:19:48.230 --> 00:19:51.089 he won overwhelmingly with 62 percent of the 00:19:51.089 --> 00:19:53.529 vote in a three person race. Who is he up against? 00:19:53.990 --> 00:19:56.789 He defeated former Topeka mayor Doug Wright and 00:19:56.789 --> 00:19:59.380 Sheryl Braun Henderson. Henderson is a notable 00:19:59.380 --> 00:20:01.259 figure herself as the daughter of the plaintiff 00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:03.019 in the historic Browno v. Board of Education 00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:05.960 of Topeka Supreme Court desegregation case. So 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:08.420 he breezes through the primary, but then he gets 00:20:08.420 --> 00:20:11.279 to the general election and it is a battle. He's 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:13.259 up against a prominent Topeka trial attorney, 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.339 a Democrat named John Frieden. I imagine a high 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:18.500 -powered trial attorney had a pretty massive 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.859 war chest for this campaign compared to a first 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:24.349 -time candidate. He did. Frieden vastly outspent 00:20:24.349 --> 00:20:27.369 him. The records show Frieden spent $750 ,000 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:30.309 on the campaign compared to Ryan's $400 ,000. 00:20:30.390 --> 00:20:32.589 Almost double. But the financial disadvantage 00:20:32.589 --> 00:20:35.170 didn't stop ringing. He utilized his massive 00:20:35.170 --> 00:20:37.670 name recognition in Kansas and pulled off the 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:41.410 victory with 52 % of the vote. And after that 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:43.829 initial battle, he didn't face another contest 00:20:43.829 --> 00:20:47.079 nearly that close for almost a decade. He was 00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:49.539 reelected three subsequent times with at least 00:20:49.539 --> 00:20:51.680 60 percent of the vote. OK, so he's in Washington. 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.119 He's a sitting congressman. Let's talk about 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:56.900 his ideology. What kind of representative was 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:00.009 Jim Ryan? He was a staunch conservative. He served 00:21:00.009 --> 00:21:02.190 on several key committees, including armed services, 00:21:02.410 --> 00:21:05.089 budget, and financial services. Ideologically, 00:21:05.250 --> 00:21:07.109 he tallied a voting record that placed him on 00:21:07.109 --> 00:21:09.130 the far right of the Republican caucus. Just 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:11.769 how conservative? Well, by 2006, the National 00:21:11.769 --> 00:21:14.349 Journal officially rated Rion as the nation's 00:21:14.349 --> 00:21:16.509 most conservative member of Congress based on 00:21:16.509 --> 00:21:19.349 their roll call vote analysis. He was also an 00:21:19.349 --> 00:21:21.130 active member of the Republican Study Committee, 00:21:21.210 --> 00:21:24.009 which is a caucus specifically for fiscally and 00:21:24.009 --> 00:21:26.529 socially conservative House Republicans. He generally 00:21:26.529 --> 00:21:29.190 supported President George W. Bush's legislative 00:21:29.190 --> 00:21:32.450 agenda, voting with the president 89 % of the 00:21:32.450 --> 00:21:35.150 time. That sounds high, but that was actually 00:21:35.150 --> 00:21:37.069 pretty average for a House member of the same 00:21:37.069 --> 00:21:39.210 party as the sitting president during that era. 00:21:39.329 --> 00:21:41.970 Very typical. But what I find fascinating is 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:45.170 where he broke ranks with President Bush. He 00:21:45.170 --> 00:21:47.990 voted against No Child Left Behind, which was 00:21:47.990 --> 00:21:51.529 Bush's signature education reform bill. Why would 00:21:51.529 --> 00:21:53.910 he vote against his own party's major initiative? 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:57.319 His stated reasoning was rooted in federalism. 00:21:57.940 --> 00:22:00.859 He believed that the federal government was overstepping 00:22:00.859 --> 00:22:04.000 and that individual states should have more control 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.039 over their own education systems without federal 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.359 mandates attached to funding. What about the 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.779 Medicare reform? Right. He also broke with Bush 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.359 and voted against the Medicare reform legislation 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:16.980 that created a massive new prescription drug 00:22:16.980 --> 00:22:20.079 benefit. In that instance, he argued from a position 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:22.940 of strict fiscal restraint. He stated the bill 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:25.140 didn't provide enough structural reform to keep 00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:27.940 future costs from soaring, essentially arguing 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:30.019 it was an unfunded liability. So it was about 00:22:30.019 --> 00:22:33.220 the cost for him. Yes. He applied that same fiscal 00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:37.759 logic in 2003 when he voted against a $373 billion 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.660 end of session spending bill simply because he 00:22:40.660 --> 00:22:43.279 felt it was too costly for the taxpayer. We also 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.640 have deeply detailed data on his environmental 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:48.240 voting record, which was tracked and scored by 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:50.940 two distinct advocacy groups. And these scores 00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:54.359 are quite stark. Let's look at 2005. He scored 00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:57.859 a literal 0 % on the scorecard from Republicans 00:22:57.859 --> 00:23:00.000 for Environmental Protection, or the R .E .P. 00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:03.279 0%. The R .E .P. identified 12 specific pieces 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:05.299 of legislation they considered critical environmental 00:23:05.299 --> 00:23:08.420 issues that year, and Rayun did not vote in alignment 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:10.380 with their pro -environment stance on a single 00:23:10.380 --> 00:23:12.769 one. Let's break down what those specific votes 00:23:12.769 --> 00:23:15.049 actually entailed to put it in plain English 00:23:15.049 --> 00:23:17.509 based on the records. The issues included voting 00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:19.529 in favor of expanding the drilling of oil and 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:22.349 natural gas. He supported a bill that environmentalists 00:23:22.349 --> 00:23:24.450 argued was designed to weaken the protections 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:27.390 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. He also 00:23:27.390 --> 00:23:29.829 voted against a movement to increase fuel economy 00:23:29.829 --> 00:23:32.269 standards for vehicles. And he opposed amendment 00:23:32.269 --> 00:23:35.210 to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 concerning a 00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:38.130 gasoline additive known as MTBE. What exactly 00:23:38.130 --> 00:23:40.970 was the issue with MTBE? To clarify, that MTBE 00:23:40.970 --> 00:23:43.329 was a chemical added to gasoline that was found 00:23:43.329 --> 00:23:46.490 to be contaminating groundwater supplies. Ryan 00:23:46.490 --> 00:23:48.890 voted to maintain liability protection for the 00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:51.890 company's manufacturing MTBE, protecting them 00:23:51.890 --> 00:23:54.809 from certain lawsuits, which was a massive red 00:23:54.809 --> 00:23:57.670 flag for environmental advocacy groups. He also 00:23:57.670 --> 00:24:00.089 scored a zero on the League of Conservation Voters 00:24:00.089 --> 00:24:02.509 scorecard that same year. There was a slight 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:04.910 shift the following year, though. Right. In 2006, 00:24:05.210 --> 00:24:08.309 he improved his R .E .P. scorecard to a 17 percent 00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:11.549 rating. by voting what they considered pro -environment 00:24:11.549 --> 00:24:15.230 on two out of seven critical issues. Specifically, 00:24:15.390 --> 00:24:17.630 he cast votes aimed at reducing the environmental 00:24:17.630 --> 00:24:19.890 impact of the Army Corps of Engineers projects. 00:24:20.150 --> 00:24:22.430 However, he maintained his stance on energy production. 00:24:22.809 --> 00:24:25.009 Continuing to vote against the R .E .P. on issues 00:24:25.009 --> 00:24:27.009 involving oil drilling in the Arctic National 00:24:27.009 --> 00:24:29.890 Wildlife Refuge renewable resource programs and 00:24:29.890 --> 00:24:32.289 the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. This 00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:34.650 deeply established unapologetic voting record 00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:37.049 made him a firmly entrenched figure in conservative 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:39.569 politics. He knew exactly what he believed and 00:24:39.569 --> 00:24:42.170 voted accordingly. But as we move into the final 00:24:42.170 --> 00:24:45.369 part of our deep dive, we start to see how the 00:24:45.369 --> 00:24:47.630 political environment around him began to shift. 00:24:47.950 --> 00:24:51.230 And in politics, even the most established incumbents 00:24:51.230 --> 00:24:54.109 can find themselves vulnerable to scandals and 00:24:54.109 --> 00:24:56.349 sudden electoral upsets. Which brings us to the 00:24:56.349 --> 00:24:59.630 2006 election. This is a classic political rematch 00:24:59.630 --> 00:25:03.390 story. In 2004, Ryan faced a Democrat named Nancy 00:25:03.390 --> 00:25:05.809 Boyda, who was a former moderate Republican. 00:25:06.269 --> 00:25:08.609 In that 2004 race, they spent roughly the same 00:25:08.609 --> 00:25:11.309 amount of money, both raised around $1 .1 million. 00:25:12.230 --> 00:25:14.529 Re -In won that raise very comfortably, 55 % 00:25:14.529 --> 00:25:17.250 to 42%. It was attributed largely to the fact 00:25:17.250 --> 00:25:18.829 that President Bush was at the top of the ticket 00:25:18.829 --> 00:25:21.109 that year, driving conservative turnout. But 00:25:21.109 --> 00:25:24.569 cut to the 2006 midterm election, Boyda is the 00:25:24.569 --> 00:25:27.130 Democratic nominee again. It's a rematch. And 00:25:27.130 --> 00:25:29.089 suddenly there's widespread panic in the Re -In 00:25:29.089 --> 00:25:31.619 campaign. Why the sudden shift? The national 00:25:31.619 --> 00:25:34.400 political environment in 2006 was growing increasingly 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.960 hostile to Republicans due to the ongoing war 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.960 in Iraq and various controversies in Washington. 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:42.299 In Kansas, internal polling for both Rhian's 00:25:42.299 --> 00:25:44.440 campaign and Boyda's campaign revealed something 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:47.160 shocking. Boyda was actually pulling ahead. In 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:49.680 a district that was supposed to be safe. Exactly. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:51.880 This was a district that was initially expected 00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:54.660 to be a completely safe seat for Rhian. But he 00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:57.019 found his campaign deeply faltering on the ground. 00:25:58.049 --> 00:26:00.150 Recognizing the danger, the campaign pulled the 00:26:00.150 --> 00:26:02.009 ultimate alarm cord. They called in the heavy 00:26:02.009 --> 00:26:05.470 hitters. President George W. Bush and Vice President 00:26:05.470 --> 00:26:08.630 Dick Cheney both physically traveled to Topeka 00:26:08.630 --> 00:26:12.190 to campaign and raise funds for Reun. You don't 00:26:12.190 --> 00:26:13.930 bring the president and the vice president to 00:26:13.930 --> 00:26:16.609 Kansas unless you are terrified of losing. But 00:26:16.609 --> 00:26:18.529 even with the White House throwing its full weight 00:26:18.529 --> 00:26:21.420 behind him, it wasn't enough. Nancy Boyda pulled 00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:24.940 off a stunning upset. She defeated him 51 % to 00:26:24.940 --> 00:26:27.660 37%. He did try to get his seat back in the next 00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:30.480 cycle. Right. In March 2007, he announced he 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:32.680 would run again. But the district's Republicans 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.950 had moved on. In the primary, he faced Lynn Jenkins, 00:26:36.210 --> 00:26:38.450 a slightly more moderate Republican who had served 00:26:38.450 --> 00:26:41.349 as state treasurer. Ryan lost that primary to 00:26:41.349 --> 00:26:43.109 Jenkins, who eventually won the general election, 00:26:43.170 --> 00:26:45.910 and that finalized his exit from Congress. To 00:26:45.910 --> 00:26:48.529 truly understand why a safe incumbent lost that 00:26:48.529 --> 00:26:52.410 2006 race, we have to examine two major controversies 00:26:52.410 --> 00:26:55.390 that clouded his campaign and dominated the local 00:26:55.390 --> 00:26:58.289 headlines during that crucial period. The first 00:26:58.289 --> 00:27:00.829 involves a highly scrutinized real estate transaction. 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:04.130 The DC townhouse? Yes. In the year 2000, specifically 00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:07.029 on December 15th, Reun bought a townhouse in 00:27:07.029 --> 00:27:09.349 the District of Columbia. He purchased it from 00:27:09.349 --> 00:27:11.650 a group called the U .S. Family Network. for 00:27:11.650 --> 00:27:15.170 $410 ,000. OK, let's unpack this real estate 00:27:15.170 --> 00:27:18.089 thing. $410 ,000 for a townhouse in Washington, 00:27:18.089 --> 00:27:20.470 D .C. sounds like an absolute steal, even in 00:27:20.470 --> 00:27:23.009 the year 2000. But the controversy isn't just 00:27:23.009 --> 00:27:24.910 the price. It's who he bought it from, right? 00:27:24.990 --> 00:27:27.109 The U .S. Family Network. That sounds like a 00:27:27.109 --> 00:27:28.910 wholesome group, but they were tied to some pretty 00:27:28.910 --> 00:27:31.769 heavy political players. Exactly. The townhouse 00:27:31.769 --> 00:27:33.470 had been purchased by the U .S. Family Network 00:27:33.470 --> 00:27:37.529 just two years earlier for $429 ,000. And it 00:27:37.529 --> 00:27:39.869 was used to house a consulting firm called Alexander 00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.589 Strategy Group. run by a man named Ed Buckham, 00:27:42.789 --> 00:27:45.109 as well as A .R. MPAC, which was a political 00:27:45.109 --> 00:27:47.490 action committee tied to the incredibly powerful 00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:49.910 House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. So the core 00:27:49.910 --> 00:27:53.430 of the controversy is that Ryun, a sitting congressman, 00:27:53.690 --> 00:27:56.049 bought a house from a politically connected entity 00:27:56.049 --> 00:27:59.609 for $19 ,000 less than that entity paid for it 00:27:59.609 --> 00:28:01.410 two years prior. In a market that was generally 00:28:01.410 --> 00:28:04.069 appreciating. So he gets a discount from a lobbying 00:28:04.069 --> 00:28:06.289 orbit. That sounds incredibly messy. How did 00:28:06.289 --> 00:28:09.029 he defend this? Because I'm assuming his opponents 00:28:09.029 --> 00:28:10.970 hammered him on the optics of getting a sweetheart 00:28:10.970 --> 00:28:13.690 deal from Tom Delay's associates. He was certainly 00:28:13.690 --> 00:28:16.549 hammered on it. And his office released official 00:28:16.549 --> 00:28:19.869 documents to mount a defense. His defense rested 00:28:19.869 --> 00:28:23.109 on three points. First, he stated he paid $80 00:28:23.109 --> 00:28:25.849 ,000 more than the city's tax assessed value 00:28:25.849 --> 00:28:28.670 of the house at the time of purchase. OK. Second, 00:28:28.769 --> 00:28:31.069 he claimed he had put an additional $50 ,000 00:28:31.069 --> 00:28:33.710 of his own money into house repairs. And third, 00:28:33.789 --> 00:28:35.569 he pointed out that another home on the exact 00:28:35.569 --> 00:28:38.950 same block sold for $409 ,000 on the very same 00:28:38.950 --> 00:28:41.309 day he bought his home, arguing that he paid 00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:43.390 fair market value. Wait, hold on. Let's look 00:28:43.390 --> 00:28:46.210 at that defense critically. He claimed he paid 00:28:46.210 --> 00:28:50.630 $80 ,000 over the tax assessed value. But isn't 00:28:50.630 --> 00:28:52.910 the tax -assessed value of a home usually trailing 00:28:52.910 --> 00:28:55.390 way behind the actual market value, especially 00:28:55.390 --> 00:28:57.349 in a booming real estate market like Washington, 00:28:57.349 --> 00:28:59.950 D .C.? Did anyone actually buy that defense? 00:29:00.269 --> 00:29:02.450 The media certainly didn't, and they dug into 00:29:02.450 --> 00:29:05.210 the property records to test his claims. And 00:29:05.210 --> 00:29:07.650 you are right to be skeptical, because the comparisons 00:29:07.650 --> 00:29:09.809 didn't quite line up. Let's look at that other 00:29:09.809 --> 00:29:12.650 home that sold for $409 ,000 on the same day. 00:29:12.730 --> 00:29:15.089 The neighbor's house. Records showed it didn't 00:29:15.089 --> 00:29:17.900 have a garage. It didn't have a back patio. And 00:29:17.900 --> 00:29:20.000 it sat on a plot of land that was roughly half 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.380 the size of Ryan's property. Furthermore, if 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:24.460 you look at later assessments to gauge the trajectory 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:26.920 of the neighborhood's value, the discrepancies 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:29.980 grow. How so? By 2006, that smaller neighbor's 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:33.660 home was assessed at $528 ,000. And homes directly 00:29:33.660 --> 00:29:35.319 across the street from Ryan's were selling on 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:38.619 the open market for over $900 ,000. Wow. So the 00:29:38.619 --> 00:29:41.000 optics of getting a massive discount from a politically 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:43.420 connected entity remained a major unresolved 00:29:43.420 --> 00:29:46.420 issue in the minds of voters. And just when he's 00:29:46.420 --> 00:29:48.319 dealing with the fallout of that real estate 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.480 deal, a second incredibly damaging issue explodes 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.799 right before the 2006 election. And this one 00:29:55.799 --> 00:29:58.359 involves his connection to Representative Mark 00:29:58.359 --> 00:30:01.859 Foley. A very dark chapter for Congress. In October 00:30:01.859 --> 00:30:05.420 2006, Mark Foley resigned from Congress in disgrace 00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:07.920 following revelations that he had sent sexually 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.839 explicit emails and instant messages to teenage 00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:13.940 congressional pages. When a scandal that toxic 00:30:13.940 --> 00:30:16.500 breaks, everyone scrambles to distance themselves. 00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:19.950 What did Ryan do? Ryan initially tried to distance 00:30:19.950 --> 00:30:23.029 himself entirely, claiming total ignorance. He 00:30:23.029 --> 00:30:25.109 contended to the press that he barely knew fully, 00:30:25.250 --> 00:30:27.190 had never spent any meaningful time with him, 00:30:27.430 --> 00:30:29.630 and was completely unaware that they live directly 00:30:29.630 --> 00:30:31.490 across the street from each other in Washington 00:30:31.490 --> 00:30:33.630 D .C. He actually told reporters on the record, 00:30:33.769 --> 00:30:35.890 I know that we were neighbors, only because somebody 00:30:35.890 --> 00:30:38.069 has mentioned that too already. Which was a very 00:30:38.069 --> 00:30:40.170 bold claim to make. I just find that so hard 00:30:40.170 --> 00:30:42.029 to believe. You live in a townhouse in D .C. 00:30:42.089 --> 00:30:43.589 You're both in Congress and you don't know the 00:30:43.589 --> 00:30:46.460 guy across the street. And the media didn't buy 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:48.480 it either. They did some digging and found a 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:54.170 paper trail. And it wasn't just a generic dinner 00:30:54.170 --> 00:30:56.609 at a hotel. It was literally called the D Street 00:30:56.609 --> 00:30:59.529 Block Party. It was hosted on their street on 00:30:59.529 --> 00:31:02.630 May 18, 2006, just months before the scandal 00:31:02.630 --> 00:31:05.549 broke. The invitation literally featured side 00:31:05.549 --> 00:31:08.930 by side pictures of Jim Ryan and Mark Foley. 00:31:09.109 --> 00:31:11.029 This is a classic example of how the shifting 00:31:11.029 --> 00:31:13.170 narrative is often more politically damaging 00:31:13.170 --> 00:31:15.869 than the initial connection. Once that invitation 00:31:15.869 --> 00:31:19.069 surfaced, Ryan's campaign manager had to backtrack 00:31:19.069 --> 00:31:21.309 publicly. What did they say? They had to admit 00:31:21.309 --> 00:31:23.730 that Ryan had, in fact, always known he was Foley's 00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:26.369 neighbor. When a politician is caught changing 00:31:26.369 --> 00:31:28.890 their story from, I didn't know he lived across 00:31:28.890 --> 00:31:31.990 the street to, yes, we hosted a block party fundraiser 00:31:31.990 --> 00:31:34.849 together on our street, it fundamentally shatters 00:31:34.849 --> 00:31:37.049 trust with the electorate. And in a tight race 00:31:37.049 --> 00:31:39.049 where internal polling already shows you trailing, 00:31:39.250 --> 00:31:41.750 that loss of trust is fatal. Exactly. It was 00:31:41.750 --> 00:31:43.769 too much to overcome. So what does this all mean 00:31:43.769 --> 00:31:47.430 for Jim Ryan today? Well, he lost the seat. lost 00:31:47.430 --> 00:31:49.369 the primary attempt to get it back and essentially 00:31:49.369 --> 00:31:52.329 retired from the brutal arena of politics. But 00:31:52.329 --> 00:31:54.410 his story does have a more recent postscript. 00:31:54.890 --> 00:31:58.369 In July 2020, his legacy, primarily his staggering 00:31:58.369 --> 00:32:00.930 athletic legacy, was formalized at the highest 00:32:00.930 --> 00:32:03.009 level when President Donald Trump awarded Jim 00:32:03.009 --> 00:32:05.569 Ryan the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A kid 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:07.789 from Kansas who couldn't make the junior high 00:32:07.789 --> 00:32:10.589 basketball team ends up in the White House receiving 00:32:10.589 --> 00:32:12.950 the nation's highest civilian honor. It is an 00:32:12.950 --> 00:32:15.230 unbelievable trajectory. If we connect this to 00:32:15.230 --> 00:32:18.190 the bigger picture, Consider the duality of Jim 00:32:18.190 --> 00:32:21.349 Ryan's life. On the track, his success relied 00:32:21.349 --> 00:32:24.150 entirely on his own two legs, his solitary lungs, 00:32:24.609 --> 00:32:26.650 and an internal drive that allowed him to push 00:32:26.650 --> 00:32:30.049 past unimaginable physical pain to set world 00:32:30.049 --> 00:32:32.509 records. He was in complete control of his destiny. 00:32:32.609 --> 00:32:34.609 He didn't need anyone else to win. But in the 00:32:34.609 --> 00:32:37.470 halls of Washington, his fate was entirely tied 00:32:37.470 --> 00:32:40.200 to others. the shifting pides of his district, 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:43.059 the complex voting records of his party, and 00:32:43.059 --> 00:32:45.380 the deeply damaging proximity to the scandals 00:32:45.380 --> 00:32:48.599 of his neighbors and colleagues. It raises an 00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:50.950 important question for you to consider. Is it 00:32:50.950 --> 00:32:53.289 easier to conquer the unyielding laws of physical 00:32:53.289 --> 00:32:55.970 endurance or the unpredictable deeply flawed 00:32:55.970 --> 00:32:59.069 nature of human politics? Wow, that is a heavy 00:32:59.069 --> 00:33:01.269 and fascinating thought to leave on. The contrast 00:33:01.269 --> 00:33:03.369 between the pure meritocracy of the stopwatch 00:33:03.369 --> 00:33:05.930 and the messy reality of the ballot box. Thank 00:33:05.930 --> 00:33:07.849 you so much for joining us on this deep dive 00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:10.509 into the sources of Jim Ryan's incredible complicated 00:33:10.509 --> 00:33:12.630 life. Keep asking questions, keep digging into 00:33:12.630 --> 00:33:14.390 the history around you, and most importantly, 00:33:14.650 --> 00:33:15.250 stay curious.