Wyoming Republican and vocal moderate, Alan Simpson, passes away in Senate career marked by frankness.
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Saying goodbye to the colorful character that was Alan Simpson, a lifelong Republican senator from Wyoming renowned for his bipartisan solutions and undying advocacy for a balanced conservatism, has blessed us with a peaceful departure. At 93, he took his final bow.
His demise occurred early on a Friday morning, following a long battle to recover from a broken hip he sustained in December, as confirmed by a family statement along with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West to The Associated Press.
Simpson, with his uncensored rhetoric and towering 6-foot-7 frame, was a Capitol Hill fixture. A stalwart of challenging congressional assignments, he brought his characteristic candor to monumental legislative fights.
During the 80s, Simpson was at the heart of groundbreaking discussions on environmental protection, nuclear regulation, and care for veterans, often sprinkling his work with a touch of humor. He once humorously explained, "In your country club, your church, and business, about 15% of the people are screwballs, lightweights, and boobs, and you wouldn't want those people unrepresented in Congress."
In line with his ideology, Simpson largely supported his party's key votes, advocating for GOP social welfare rollbacks, immigration, and foreign policy. However, he wasn't hesitant to cross party lines on pressing issues. He was an early advocate for abortion rights and a strong supporter of same-sex marriage. In 2008, he openly stated, "I've worked very closely with the gay-lesbian community; we're all human beings, for God's sake."
His unwavering support for same-sex marriage was evident in a spirited interview with comedian Bill Maher in 2004. In response to Maher's jest about gay Republican lawmakers, Simpson swiftly responded, "Oh come on, pal. That’s just bullshit. And I don’t have to come on this program - I don’t have to come on this program when Matthew Shepard was killed in this state and the people of this state were offended. So put that one in your pipe."
A passionate proponent of federal support for the arts, Simpson once expressed, "If you’re just interested in politics alone, it’s barbaric. That won’t keep you alive. You have to have the marvelous softening agents of books, letters, art, culture, and theater."
His blunt nature earned him both friendships and enmities. An example of this was his decades-long alliance with former Vice President Dick Cheney, which survived a tense dispute with Cheney's wife, Lynne, who reportedly chastised him at a reception in 2013.
"I’m not out to hurt anyone," Simpson retorted after the incident. "That’s not who I am."
Survived by his wife of 70 years, Ann, and their three children; Colin, Susan, and William.
A Troubled Youth, A Brighter Future
Born on September 2, 1931, in Denver, Simpson grew up in Cody, Wyoming, a town with fewer than 10,000 people. His father, Milward Simpson, served in the Senate and as the governor of Wyoming, while his mother, Lorna Kooi Simpson, led the Cody Red Cross.
Simpson admitted that he was a "monster" in his youth, having served federal probation for two years due to shooting mailboxes with his friends. An incident wherein he "belted" a police officer trying to arrest him after shoving another man outside a pool hall resulted in spending a night in jail amidst a "sea of puke and urine."
Spurred by this experience, Simpson described a "creeping maturity" that changed the course of his life. "The older you get, the more you realize ... your own attitude is stupefying, and arrogant, and cocky, and a miserable way to live."
"Anybody in our society − unless they are totally out to lunch − can understand that a guy of 25 or 35 is not the same guy of 17. You can’t just throw a kid in the clink forever."
Following high school in Cody, he graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1954 and completed his law degree from the school four years later. Before his political journey took off, he served two years in the US Army and worked as a private attorney.
His political career commenced in earnest in 1965, when Simpson was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives, a post he held for over a decade. Leveraging these years, along with his reputation for injecting real-life experiences into his job, Simpson made a successful Senate bid in 1978. Standing as the tallest senator in US history until 2017, he served as the Republican whip from 1985 to 1995, even being considered a possible vice-presidential candidate in 1988.
"I’m a legislator. I love to legislate," he shared with the University of Virginia's Miller Center in 2008. "Plotting, strategizing, philosophizing, those things mean nothing to me. I’m a trigger guy. Give me an issue; let me wrench the emotion, fear, guilt, and racism out of it, and get some facts into it, and see if we can pass the son-of-a-bitch."
Simpson declined to run for reelection in 1996 and went on to teach at Harvard University. Even after stepping away from Capitol Hill, his disdain for partisanship didn't waver. In 2010, he co-chaired a bipartisan Presidential Commission on deficit reduction alongside Democrat Erskine Bowles. The panel, created by then-President Barack Obama, was tasked with identifying policies to "improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run."
While the group's plan failed to gain traction, Simpson's role in the effort thrust him back into the political spotlight as a powerful voice on national debt, an issue he passionately tried to ingrain in young minds.
"Stop Instagramming your breakfast and tweeting your first world problems and getting on YouTube so you can see 'Gangnam Style,'" he said in a 2012 video, attempting to raise awareness about the national debt.
Former President Joe Biden cited Simpson's "spirit" when he awarded his former Senate colleague with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022.
"He allowed his conscience to be his guide," Biden said from the White House. "And he believed in forging real relationships even with people on the other side of the aisle, proving we can do anything when we work together as the United States of America."
"It matters, it matters, it matters. We need more of your spirit back in the United States Senate on both sides of the aisle."
By the end of his life, Simpson also identified the widening political divide in Congress as a significant threat to the nation's well-being, expressing his concern to CNN in 2018, "You can see the bitterness that goes on."
"You see the fact that if they’re a Democrat, you just ignore them, or if they’re a Republican, you ignore them."
- Simpson, known for his advocacy of a balanced conservatism, often injected humor into politically charged discussions, such as environmental protection and veterans' care, and was not hesitant to challenge lightweight politicians.
- During his Senate career, Simpson supported key GOP votes, championing social welfare rollbacks, immigration, and foreign policy, but also crossed party lines on pressing issues like abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
- Injecting his ideology into his work, Simpson once humorously pointed out in a debate that about 15% of Congress members could be categorized as screwballs, lightweights, and boobs, a reflection of his belief that all segments of society should be represented in Congress.
