After 18 years as a blunt-spoken and effective member of the U.S. Senate, Jake Garn is retiring from the political arena in January, bringing to a close a remarkable and successful public service career. He never lost an election at any level - city commissioner, mayor or senator. With his departure, Utah loses a powerful voice in the nation's capital.
During his three terms as a senator, Garn has been hard-driving, often impatient with the slow pace of legislative intrigue, and sometimes capable of lashing his fellow members of Congress with caustic language.Like any strong-willed, active political figure, he has made his share of mistakes and received his share of criticism. Yet he also is widely liked and respected and admired.
His work on the Central Utah Pro-ject, banking, military affairs and the aerospace industry have all benefited Utah. He has always been popular at home. After his first run for the Senate in 1975, he invariably won re-election by huge margins, even with minimal campaigning.
Despite all his years as an outstanding figure in the Senate, Garn has remained something of an outsider, more comfortable in Utah than in the nation's capital, always looking forward to returning home to live, and voluntarily relinquishing his powerful Washington position while barely 60 years old. Not many lawmakers are able to let go like that.
Garn has always been a doer, a man of action. As a teenager, he learned to fly his father's plane. Later, he became a jet pilot in the U.S. Navy and planned to make it a career but decided he would rather live in Utah. He joined the Utah Air National Guard to keep up his flying, eventually logging more than 10,000 hours of flight time. He finally retired as a brigadier general.
His love of flying, coupled with his Senate duties overseeing NASA operations, eventually led him to the greatest flight of all - a seven-day orbital flight around the Earth as crew member aboard the shuttle Discovery. While a couple of former astronauts have been elected to Congress, Garn remains the only member of Congress to have flown in space while serving in office.
Garn ran for the Senate in 1975 while serving as mayor of Salt Lake City. He filled the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, defeating young Congressman Wayne Owens for the post. Ironically, Garn's seat will now be filled by Bennett's son, Robert - who defeated Owens for the post.
Garn's first year in the Senate was not a happy one. An executive who was used to seeing things get done, he had trouble adjusting to the political practices, jockeying for position and the slow procedures of Washington. He was open and blunt about his disgust with his fellow senators, even identifying them by name. But he eventually toned down his criticism, becoming both more mellow and more powerful.
The senator has had his share of trouble and tragedy. His beloved wife, Hazel, was killed in a car rollover in Nebraska in 1976 while driving between Utah and Washington, D.C. In 1977, he married the former wife of his administrative assistant. After the tragic accident, he said he learned that he had better spend more time with his family. In 1986, he donated one of his kidneys to his ailing 27-year-old daughter.
Although he has been a sought-after public speaker around the country, Garn is not a flamboyant orator. He has often preferred to work hard at his assignments behind the scenes instead of seeking the public spot-light.
Garn is retiring from the Senate, not from active public and business life, where he still has much to offer. As he steps down, Utahns offer him thanks for a job well done and best wishes for a further happy and productive life.