INDIANAPOLIS — Dick Lugar goes down in history as Indiana's longest-serving senator. But that's not all.
The republican statesman dedicated his life to public service — putting collaboration and compromise above all.
A naval officer.
A mayor.
A united states senator.
A world leader.
To people like Charlie Richardson, Lugar's legacy is far reaching and timeless.
"He was truly the most important public official of the second half of the 20th century for Indiana and the first 20 years of the 21st," Charlie Richardson said.
Richardson, a retired lawyer, remembers Lugar as a mentor and a friend — and recalls the first time they met.
"He came to my fraternity in February of 1967 during the primary campaign for mayor and gave the initiation address at my fraternity," Richardson said. "We could all tell this person was going to be destined for great things."
Today, Charlie wears the same Lugar campaign button he wore on Nov. 7, 1967, the day Lugar won the Indianapolis mayoral election.
In fact, he has every campaign button over the course of Lugar's political career.
Richardson ended up working in Mayor Lugar's office during a time of innovation for the city, including the merging of the Indianapolis and Marion county governments, known as Unigov.
"The beginning of Dick Lugar's contribution here in downtown Indianapolis has caused ripples throughout the nation and indeed the world," Richardson said.
After 2 terms as mayor, Lugar was elected to the U.S. senate in 1976. He shined when it came to foreign policy, unafraid to stand up to tyrants and dictators.
In congress, Lugar was a driving force behind the "Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction Program," a comprehensive plan to dismantle more than 30,000 biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, following the end of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Professor Scott Pegg chairs the political science department at IU Indy, a campus Lugar helped bring from idea to fruition, during his time as mayor.
" [He] generally made the world a dramatically safer place. I think that's his signature accomplishment," IU Indy Professor Scott Pegg said.
Professor Pegg met Senator Lugar twice and even introduced him during a political event on campus.
"He had lunch with us and I remember saying to him, 'Senator, is there anyone you'd like to sit with?' And he said, 'yeah, I'd like to sit with undergraduate students.' And so, it was me and Lugar and 4 or 5 students and he just took questions and answered questions from them the whole time," Professor Pegg said.
He was known as an eloquent statesman, whose advice mattered to 8 presidents — working across the aisle to forge a path of progress.
"He was also amazing as a speaker. He, in a nutshell, made an argument that if you can't have lunch with somebody, if you can't have dinner with somebody, whose views you don't agree with, how can you possibly do the people's business?" Pegg said.
Lugar championed measures to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis at home and overseas. He advocated for Hoosier farmers with his work on the senate agriculture committee.
"Got in to the substance of policy, brought expertise and knowledge, in-depth focus to issues. There's very few of those people left in our political system," Professor Pegg explained.
Richardson, who served on a committee to commission a statue honoring Lugar, reads a quote from the senator— a message that resonates in politics and in life.
"Growing up in Indiana, one learns early on that talent and accomplishment count --- but honesty and integrity count more. Doesn't that say it all? Doesn't that express what our lodestar ought to be and what we ought to be thinking about every minute of everyday?"
Dick Lugar's senate career ended in 2013. He even made a run for president in 1996, however Bob Dole won the GOP nomination for that election.
Lugar died in 2019. He was 87.
Today, there is a U.S. navy ship named in his honor and at IU Bloomington, the School of Global & International studies bears his name.
A new monument now sits at the Bicentennial Plaza outside of Gainbridge Fieldhouse to honor Lugar.
