Earl Butz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts become known. In the event that this article is disruptively edited following the death of the subject, please request administrator intervention on this page.

Earl Butz
18th United States Secretary of Agriculture
In office January 21, 1971 – October 4, 1976
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Clifford M. Hardin
Succeeded by	John A. Knebel
Born	July 3, 1909(1909-07-03) Albion, Indiana, United States
Died	February 2, 2008 (aged 98) Washington, D.C., United States
Political party	Republican

Earl Lauer Butz (July 3, 1909 – February 2, 2008) was a United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

[edit] Background

Born in Albion, Indiana, Butz was an alumnus of Purdue University where he was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1937. He was the uncle of NFL player Dave Butz.

[edit] Career

In 1948, Butz became vice president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and three years later was named to the same post at the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That same year he was also named chairman of the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He left both of the aforementioned posts in 1957, when he became the Dean of Agriculture at his alma mater, Purdue University. In 1968, he was promoted to the positions of Dean of Education and vice president of the university's research foundation.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Butz as Secretary of Agriculture, a position in which he continued to serve after Nixon resigned as the result of the Watergate scandal in 1974. In his time heading the Department of Agriculture, Butz revolutionized federal agricultural policy and reengineered many New Deal era farm support programs. His mantra to farmers was "get big or get out," and he urged farmers to plant commodity crops like corn "from fencerow to fencerow." These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the declining financial stability of the small family farm.

[edit] Scandals and resignation

At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of Pope Paul VI's opposition to "population control" by quipping, in a mock Italian accent: "He no playa the game, he no maka the rules."^[1]

A spokesman for Cardinal Cooke of the New York archdiocese demanded an apology, and the Secretary was reprimanded by the White House,^[1] which forced him to apologize.^[2] Butz issued a statement saying that he had not "intended to impugn the motives or the integrity of any religious group, ethnic group or religious leader."^[1]

Butz was forced to resign his cabinet post on October 4, 1976 after a second gaffe. News outlets revealed a racist remark he made in front of entertainer Pat Boone and former White House counsel John Dean while aboard a commercial flight to California following the Republican National Convention. The October 18, 1976 issue of Time reported the comment while obscuring its vulgarity:^[3]

Butz started by telling a dirty joke involving intercourse between a dog and a skunk. When the conversation turned to politics, Boone, a right-wing Republican, asked Butz why the party of Lincoln was not able to attract more blacks. The Secretary responded with a line so obscene and insulting to blacks that it forced him out of the Cabinet last week and jolted the whole Ford campaign. Butz said that "the only thing the coloreds are looking for in life are tight p - - - - , loose shoes and a warm place to s - - -."

After some indecision, Dean used the line in Rolling Stone, attributing it to an unnamed Cabinet officer. But New Times magazine enterprisingly sleuthed out Butz's identity by checking the itineraries of all Cabinet members.

In any case, according to the Washington Post, anyone familiar with Beltway politics could "have not the tiniest doubt in your mind as to which cabinet officer" uttered it.^[2]

While some newspapers published the remark, others stated only that Butz had said something too obscene to print, and invited their readers to contact the editors if they wanted more information. The San Diego Evening Tribune offered to mail a copy of the whole quotation to anyone who requested it; more than 3,000 readers did.

According to Timothy Noah of Slate, this incident was "epochal" because while prior to this, politicians assumed such offensive remarks could be uttered safely in private, after Butz's resignation, politicians "could no longer assume your fellow whites would protect you for telling a joke insulting to blacks, and you could no longer assume your fellow blacks would protect you for telling a joke insulting to Jews."^[4]

[edit] Retirement and death

Wikinews has related news:

American government official Earl Butz dies at age 98

Butz returned to West Lafayette, Indiana and was named dean emeritus of Purdue University's School of Agriculture. On May 22, 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, for having underreported income he had earned in 1978. On June 19 he was sentenced to five years in prison; however, all but 30 days of the term were suspended. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $61,183 in civil penalties.^[5]

Butz died in his sleep on February 2, 2008, aged 98 at his son Bill's home in Washington, D.C..^[6] At his death, Butz was the oldest living former Cabinet member from any administration.

[edit] References

v • d • e United States Secretaries of Agriculture
Colman • Rusk • Morton • Wilson • Houston • Meredith • HC Wallace • Gore • Jardine • Hyde • HA Wallace • Wickard • Anderson • Brannan • Benson • Freeman • Hardin • Butz• Knebel • Bergland • Block • Lyng • Yeutter • Madigan • Espy • Glickman • Veneman • Johanns • Schafer