Orrin Hatch's nine point victory
over three-term Democratic Sen. Frank Moss in 1976 was described at the
time as "the Cinderella campaign of the season."
No one would have guessed at the time
that Hatch, who made Moss' 18 years in the senate a major campaign
issue, would go on to become Utah's longest serving senator, having been
in office for 33 years and counting.
Over the years, Hatch, who turns 76
Monday and is not camera shy, has been photographed many times by
Deseret News photographers. Photo researcher Ron Fox has collected
several photos from the early years of Hatch's political career.
__IMAGE1__Although born and raised in Pittsburgh,
Pa., Hatch's campaign made the most of his Utah roots — his
great-grandfather, Jeremiah Hatch, founded Vernal.
After he received his law degree from the
University of Pittsburgh, he served as a Mormon bishop and practiced law in Pennsylvania and Utah for
14 years. Then, Hatch told Deseret News staff writer JoAnn
Jacobsen-Wells, his friends told him to stop complaining about Moss'
performance and "to get in and do something about it."
Wells wrote in a candidate profile in the
Oct. 30, 1988, Deseret News: "The political newcomer with no name
identification, no strongly organized support and little money to
conduct a campaign upset the popular Moss on election day in November
1976, taking 54 percent of the ballots cast. It was the largest
percentage accorded a Republican nominee for the Senate by Utah voters
since 1926."
As a political newcomer, Hatch made an
immediate impact on the national scene.
Then-Deseret News political editor LaVarr
Webb captured part of Hatch's appeal in an April 29, 1980, column:
"Utah's junior senator is moving so fast,
in so many directions, with so much exuberance and intensity, that it's
difficult to put him in a neat package."
"In less than four years, this one-man
conservative dynamo who is out to save the world from liberalism has
become more of a 'national senator' (at least among conservatives) than
any other Utah congressman in recent history. ...
"Prop Hatch up in front of a microphone,
they say, press a button and he'll spout conservative gospel on any
subject for any length of time."
Hatch attributes his early success to
circumstance.
"In my first year in the Senate, which at
the time had 62 Democrats and only 38 Republicans, I led a successful
charge against the misnamed Labor Law Reform Act. I was 98th in
seniority and all that was left willing to take on the 'unwinnable'
battle," he said in an interview Friday.
One AP photo taken in
1981, while Hatch was still a freshman, foreshadows the friendship he
would develop with Sen. Edward Kennedy. The photo was taken after Hatch
had succeeded Kennedy to the chairmanship of the Senate Labor and Human
Resources committee.
Another photo shows Hatch, his mother,
his wife, Elaine, and son celebrating his 1982 re-election, when he
defeated Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson by 17 points. No subsequent
challenger has come that close.
In a Nov. 6, 1988, candidate profile by
Jacobsen-Wells, Hatch acknowledged his penchant for creating
controversy:
"'My wife says I have a special knack for
making enemies,' said Hatch, who led the fight to defeat the Equal
Rights Amendment, praised Supreme Court Justice-nominee Robert Bork,
defended Oliver North, fought the nuclear freeze, kept the MX missile
and Strategic Defense Initiative alive."
In 1988, Hatch received the endorsement
of Muhammad Ali, and photos show the now-veteran senator in Salt Lake
City celebrating his re-election with the former heavyweight boxing
champion, his wife and a grandchild.
Hatch unabashedly attributes his success
to picking battles Utahns wanted him to fight, and winning them.
"Over the years, battle after battle, I
found much support from Utahns as I stood up for them," Hatch said.
E-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com