Lugar was one of America’s finest

It was a Dick Lugar moment.

Those who had the pleasure of crossing paths with the late, great senator from Indiana know what I’m talking about.

Richard Lugar was always exceeding normal expectations.

He was smarter than other elected officials. He was more articulate. He was more thoughtful. And he was kinder.

Any reporter who ever interviewed him at length will tell you it was an educational experience, a sort of one-on-one seminar.

For me, the Dick Lugar moment that came to mind when I learned of his death occurred back in 2005 in Washington, D.C.

My old pal George Krimsky and I had been asked by the International Center for Journalists to conduct some training for a group of independent reporters and editors from Belarus, a country whose government is not known for tolerating independent reporters and editors.

George was the lead dog. I was in a supporting role.

But I had an idea. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Belarusians could meet with Sen. Lugar? He was the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was incredibly well-informed on issues involving the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.

When I floated the idea with the folks at the ICFJ, they were skeptical.

But when I contacted Mark Helmke on the senator’s staff, he was enthusiastic.

So it was that mid-way through one of the afternoon training sessions, the group took a break and drove the short distance to the Capitol to see the senator from Indiana.

The ICFJ staff viewed the whole thing as a waste of time.

The senator will be 15 minutes late, one guy said. And you’ll be lucky to get five minutes of his time.

Sen. Lugar had other ideas.

When the group — nearly a dozen of us including the interpreter — arrived at the senator’s office, he was instantly available.

Gracious as always, he asked about the state of things in Jay County and flattered me by implying he remembered our previous encounters.

Then he led us into the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s domain, where one side of the room was set up for committee members.

Sen. Lugar took the chairman’s seat and, to my surprise, told me to sit in the witness chair directly across from him.

He then proceeded to put me — gently — on the hot seat. He asked me about the group, about the ICFJ and about the purposes of our training sessions.

And then came the Dick Lugar moment.

Without hesitation, he delivered a comprehensive, off-the-cuff address outlining the current state of relations between our two countries. He pulled no punches in his criticism of Belarusian president Lukashenka, whom President George W. Bush had labeled “the last dictator in Europe.” 

And then he took questions.

In effect, he held an on-the-record press conference specifically for the visiting reporters and editors. No subject was out of bounds, and the reporters were having a field day, filling their notebooks and tape recorders.

At one point, a light on the wall started blinking.

Sen. Lugar explained that it meant there was a vote being called on the floor of the Senate. He excused himself and was gone for about five minutes.

When he returned, the press conference picked right back up where it had left off.

As I recall, it ended up running for 45 minutes in total before the senator’s staff pulled him away to some other obligation.

The Belarusians were blown away. 

They had been told they were going to meet an American politician. Instead, they encountered an American public servant.

In fact, they had met one of the finest public servants in U.S. history.