Harold Hughes, a former truck driver who overcame alcoholism to become a three-term governor and a U.S. senator, has died at 74.
"He died in his sleep overnight" in Glendale, Ariz., state Democratic Party spokesman Peter Wilmert said Friday. He had not been ill, Wilmert said.Hughes, a liberal Democrat, sent shock waves through Iowa politics in 1973 when he announced he was retiring after one term in the Senate to devote himself to religious work and helping those suffering from alcoholism.
Hughes was a major figure in Iowa politics, serving three terms as governor - the last Democrat to be elected to that office - before winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1968. After retiring from politics, he opened the Harold Hughes Center for alcoholism treatment in West Des Moines.