Charles Mathias

Charles Mathias

1922–2010

Charles Mathias of Maryland spent 26 years on Capitol Hill as a Republican, but he received a grade of zero from the American Conservative Union for his many liberal stances. Mathias’ maverick record inspired Democratic Majority Leader Mike Mansfield in 1973 to call him “the conscience of the Senate.”

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A Navy veteran of World War II, Mathias served for several years in Maryland state government before running successfully for Congress in 1960. Once in the House, said the Associated Press, he “quickly gained a reputation for bucking the Republican Party,” cementing that image when he joined the Senate in 1968. During his three terms in the Senate, “Mathias was a strong supporter of civil-rights legislation and supported a federal ban on inexpensive handguns known as Saturday Night Specials.” He also opposed the war in Vietnam and championed environmental causes, especially cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. “He generally supported President Richard Nixon on economic issues, but opposed two of the president’s conservative Supreme Court nominees and voted against the administration’s attempts to weaken the 1965 Voting Rights Act.” Mathias landed on Nixon’s so-called “enemies list” and was later denied the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee during the Reagan administration.

Exploring a possible independent presidential run in 1974, Mathias quoted Edmund Burke’s famous dictum, “Your representative owes you ... his judgment, and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” After the crowd applauded, he added wryly, “I would point out that Edmund Burke was defeated at the next election. But it was still the right answer.”