ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
``His brand of tireless public service is vanishing,'' said a former Senate colleague.
Muskie will also be recalled as the man who may have lost a presidential nomination by choking up in public.
The former secretary of state died of heart failure early Tuesday, two days shy of his 82nd birthday. He underwent surgery last week in Georgetown University Hospital for a blocked artery in his leg, then suffered a heart attack a few days later.
His was a life of public office. Three-term state legislator in his native Maine, twice governor of the state, U.S. senator for 22 years, Democratic nominee for vice president in 1968, candidate for president in 1972.
He left his beloved Senate, where he had championed clean air and clean water legislation, to become secretary of state in the Carter administration. As such, he helped oversee the successful efforts to free 52 Americans held hostage by Iran.
``I have never known any American leader who was more highly qualified to be president of the United States,'' Carter said in tribute. ``His coolness under pressure and his sound judgment helped him play a crucial role in bringing all the American hostages home from Iran to safety and freedom, and he was always careful to give credit to others for this achievement.''
President Clinton called Muskie ``a leader in the best sense.''
Praise for Muskie, a Democrat, came from both political wings in the Senate.
``Ed Muskie was a patriot,'' said Republican leader Bob Dole. ``The state of Maine and America are better because of Ed Muskie's life and career.''
To Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., Muskie was ``perhaps, the most cogent persuader on the floor of the United States Senate. ... Time and again, he gave of himself. His brand of tireless public service is vanishing.''
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said, ``Senator Muskie's place in history is assured.''
Muskie leaves Jane, his wife of 47 years, two sons, three daughters and seven grandchildren. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday.
A crucial incident, devastating to his campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, occurred in New Hampshire while Muskie was speaking outside the Manchester Union Leader newspaper, denouncing a story critical of his wife.
He broke down in angry emotion; it was not clear whether he was crying or his face was wet with snow.
No matter. The episode ``changed people's minds about me, of what kind of guy I was,'' he later told author Theodore H. White. ``They were looking for a strong, steady man, and here I was weak.''
George McGovern won the nomination. Muskie returned to the Senate.
Muskie was Hubert Humphrey's 1968 running mate in the campaign against Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Despite the loss, the race made him a national figure - Lincolnesque to political analysts.
His 6-foot-4-inch frame and his modest manner caught the imagination. In his tribute Tuesday, Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, said ``He never forgot his humble origins.''
Muskie's lasting accomplishment in the Senate was written in laws to control water and air pollution. It got him known as ``Mr. Clean.''
Following his retirement from politics, Muskie became a partner in the Washington law firm, Chadbourne and Parke, where he worked until he was hospitalized. He also undertook a series of foreign policy missions on behalf of the private Center for National Policy, focused on normalization of relations with Vietnam.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB