Thinking back nearly 40 years, I found myself unearthing a memory about a guy named Hughes. No relation to our own Harry Hughes, a Denton native who served two terms as governor of Maryland.
This fellow, Harold Hughes, was a politician who conquered alcoholism to become a three-term governor and one-term senator from Iowa and then gave it all up to become a lay worker and establish a religious retreat at Cedar Point, outside Easton.
I interviewed him as a Star Democrat reporter. In his autobiography, “The Man from Ida Grove: A Senator’s Personal Story (1979), he wrote about finding God and giving up drinking just as he prepared to commit suicide by gunshot. His epiphany came as this heavy-drinking and decorated World War II veteran was about to blow his brains out. His resurrection came, as it so often does, when his despair nearly overcame his desire to live.
It’s not often that a reporter meets a person who faced his demons and then candidly and courageously disclosed his attempted suicide. I may be going out on the limb a bit when I opine that admissions such as Harold Hughes’ were not as common 40 years ago as they are now. I don’t believe that “tell all” books were as common then as they are now.
As I’ve learned over the years living in Talbot County, our community draws many exceptional people, highly accomplished in the worlds of business, law, politics and civic engagement. Every once in awhile, you hear the stories and realize the lives lived by these folks shatters your small-world perspective.
Though his stay in the county was a short one, four decades ago, Harold Hughes ranks as one of the truly extraordinary people who spent some time on our part of the Eastern Shore.
What I learned primarily from the interview was that alcoholism is a disease, a chemical dependency difficult to combat. Up to that interview, I thought that alcoholism was a personal weakness; beating it simply called for self-discipline and an aversion to self-destruction. Harold Hughes patiently disabused me of that misconception. Though my memory is a bit vague, the view of alcoholism as a disease instead of a personal flaw has taken time to establish itself.
I learned something else from the interview and Sen. Hughes’ autobiography. With luck and perseverance, you can gain a second or even a third chance to turn your life around. His spiritual rebirth provided him the strength to become a trucking executive, a Democratic political leader in Iowa and a U.S. Senator once even considered for the Presidential nomination in 1972.
As a U.S. senator from 1969 to 1974, he led the effort to enact the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Act of 1970, which established the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Originally a strong supporter of the Vietnam War, Hughes became an outspoken opponent, creating a rift with President Lyndon Johnson. The estrangement solidified when Hughes gave the nomination speech for Eugene McCarthy at the 1968 Democratic Party National Committee.
When his term ended, he became a lay worker for two religious foundations based in Washington, DC and established a religious retreat in Maryland. That’s where I met him. He returned to Iowa in 1981, opening the Harold Hughes Center for the treatment of alcoholism in a Des Moines suburb. He died at age 74 in 1996.
I suspect that, except for political junkies from the 1960s and 1970s, few have heard of Harold Hughes, whose political roots were in Iowa, not Maryland. His journey from near suicide to political leadership in Washington, followed by his spiritual activities after resigning from the U.S. Senate, bespeaks a man of incredible courage and character.
Harold Hughes offered me not only a good story but a primer on alcoholism.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
Rachel Carter Goss says
Thank you for this wonderful article. I appreciate you taking the time to share Sen. Hughes’ story.
As a woman in recovery, I enjoyed his book thoroughly. He continues to inspire me to work towards breaking the Stigma of alcoholism and addiction.