By Robert Field
A few occurrences particularly stick out in my memory concerning the frantic election campaign in 1980 from which Arlen Specter rose from what most considered a political grave and surprisingly emerged as a United States Senator. (Arlen was a fraternity brother of my older brothers Martin and Joe at Penn and later attending Yale Law School with Joe. Arlen and other college friends of my brothers, all destined to reach positions of distinction, were frequent Sunday dinner guest at our house from when I was thirteen years old.)
Having switched parties to become a Republican and subsequently twice being elected district attorney of Philadelphia, Arlen successively lost a Philadelphia mayoralty race to Jim Tate, then was defeated for re-election as district attorney, was beaten in a tight primary race against John Heinz for the U. S. Senate, and was finally rejected by the voters in a gubernatorial primary against Dick Thornburg. Arlen’s political future was so bleak that he had decided to represent his law firm in New Jersey. I recall the electrifying news only about eight weeks before the Pennsylvania primaries in 1980 that Republican Dick Schweiker had decided not to run for re-election. Both Specter and I happened to be in Atlantic City on the following day and I excitedly ran to join him as he walked towards me along Atlantic Avenue. We then went to lunch and I helped plan the forthcoming fund raising efforts…
Immediately upon Arlen successfully squeaking through the primary, I headed off to Pittsburgh, recognizing the need to solidify Republican and corporate support because Arlen had little popularity due to his liberal background, his change of parties, and campaigns against John Heinz and Dick Thornburgh and since the Democrat nominee was the popular former mayor Flannery of Pittsburgh. Fortunately when you represent a senatorial nominee, there is no problem obtaining meetings on short order with CEOs of even the largest corporations. A particular obstacle was Gulf Oil, whose top executives Arlen had savaged for alleged improper campaign contributions in 1975. I placed call to Gulf’s president’s executive secretary, said I was in town representing Arlen Specter, and appointment was arranged for later that day. I was impressed at Gulf, one of the Seven Sisters of world wide oil companies, with the calm and hush surrounding the executive floor. (Top executives should always be surrounded with extra personnel to be able to effectively and promptly respond to urgent matters and emergencies.) When I met Gulf President Lee, I started by telling him that I had known Arlen since my youth and both Lee and I recognize that Arlen can sometimes be impetuous and say the wrong things. Nothing more had to be said. Gulf threw their support behind Specter. To this day, I don’t know that Arlen knows that I made a semi-apology on his behalf!
As Specter’s statewide finance chair, I was summoned to the Republic Convention that spring in Detroit to meet with top officials of the Republican Party to discuss the forthcoming election campaign with the goal of obtaining greater financial support. Arlen, wife Joan Specter, their son Shanin Specter, and the campaign manager Gordon Woodrow were asked how good a campaign organization we had and all spoke in the affirmative. When they turned to me as Finance Chair I said “If Ronald Reagan thinks Arlen Specter is going to help him carry Pennsylvania, he’s mistaken. If Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker thinks Specter will be there to add a pivotal Republican vote, he’s mistaken. And if Arlen Specter thinks he is going to be member of the U. S. Senate, he’s mistaken too… We are totally amateurish. We need help in running the campaign.” Of course that wasn’t what Specter and the others wanted to hear when the invited me to the gathering. I was all but ostracized from the Specter campaign….
Three weeks later I was at a Pittsburgh dinner reception in the back yard of the president of U. S. Steel Corporation. I had succeeded in arranging for Republican Minority Leader Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee to be the guest speaker. (Before it was known that Baker would attend, they offered to hold the event in a small reception room at a downtown hotel!) I had a painful ingrown toe nail, had not been invited to the other events, and was watching from the rear, figuring this was my last involvement in the campaign. A young man in his thirties walked up to me, asked if I was Robert Field, and introduced himself as Rob Mossbacher III from Texas. He said “I’m an aide to Senator Howard Baker, your comments in Detroit were reported to him, and he has sent me to give the campaign and you all the assistance you need.” We got started the next morning in Philadelphia. We never would have won without Rob’s guidance and interventions on our behalf…
Howard Baker was the Republican Minority Leader of the Senate. I would mention that Baker had asked me to meet with the individual and that usually was enough to get the meeting. Also I was perceived as a successful real estate developer, hence a peer, rather than a paid fundraiser. I would sit quietly while these conservatives would tell me all the reason they were not inclined to back Arlen and without contradicting them and at times sounding sympathetic, I would let them go on and on until they had had their full say. Then I would look them in the eye and say “Howard Bakers says he needs Arlen’s vote to organize the Senate.” And a generous contribution would soon be in the mail.
I had to address the State convention of the National Rifle Association because Arlen could not make it (in retrospect, probably wanted to avoid it). Question: “What do I tell them on your behalf Arlen?” Answer: “Anything you like. But remember it may be printed on the front pages of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh newspapers the next day.” Those were my working orders for the campaign as I dealt with political and business leaders throughout the state and nation.
I had arrived in Pittsburgh in late October and received a frantic call from our tearful regional campaign manager. She said that a representative of Governor Ronald Reagan’s campaign had called to cancel the breakfast that had been arranged a few days earlier. She gave me a name and number to call, and I inquired what seemed to be the problem. I was told they did not feel that we could arrange for 300 guests at a $250 a plate breakfast within one weeks time and the governor did not want to be embarrassed so they were cancelling. I told him he was wrong, that we had anticipated the event and Pittsburgh, unlike Philadelphia, was a corporate town and the sponsors would arrange for all the seats to be filled. He was not receptive. I then asked him a simple question: “What reason should Arlen give the attendees for Governor Reagan not having made the event?” He said “What do you mean, we’re cancelling.” I told him “This is a Specter, not a Reagan event, the tickets have been sold, and we are not about to change our plans.” He called back twenty minutes later to say the governor would attend.
It was about three days before the primary. Arlen and I were driving down Second Avenue towards the State Capital for a meeting and I reminisced: “I guess you feel better about having lost the race for governor now that you may soon be a United States Senator?” His quick and emphatic reply: “Robert, I have never regretted undertaking any political campaign. You can’t get a hit sitting in the bull pen.”
Arlen had been sworn in as senator and after a brief reception he and I walked up to his office. He pointed to the chair behind his desk and said “Robert, you should be sitting there rather than me.” Although Arlen is a lot smarter than me and did accomplish some very good things, he gave me cause at times – especially since 2002 – to reflect that he may have been right. (To be continued)
