Richard Lugar, the former Indiana senator whose work in pursuit of nuclear non-proliferation helped cement his place as one of the Republican Party’s…
Richard Lugar, the former Indiana senator whose work in pursuit of nuclear non-proliferation helped cement his place as one of the Republican Party’s most influential voices on foreign policy, died on Sunday at the age of 87.
The former six-term senator died in Falls Church, Va. of complications from a neurological disorder known as chronic inflammatory demylinating polyneuropathy. Lugar’s wife Charlene and his four sons — Mark, Bob, John and David — were with him at the time of his death, following a short illness in the hospital, according to a statement from the Lugar Center.
Lugar’s political career began in 1964 when he was elected to the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners. As the school board’s vice president, he worked to desegregate the city’s schools, according to The Indianapolis Star.
He went on to serve two terms as Indianapolis’ mayor before his election to the U. S. Senate in 1976.
During his time in the Senate, Lugar twice served as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and eventually became the longest-serving senator in Indiana history.
It was in the Senate where Lugar would turn his focus to the issue of nuclear non-proliferation. The work was fueled by his concerns that even as the Cold War was ending, the weapons of mass destruction created as a result of the conflict would continue to pose a threat.
Working with former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., Lugar created the Soviet Threat Reduction Act in 1991, « to address the large nuclear arsenals inherited by former Soviet states Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan after the Soviet Union’s collapse, » according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
The bill created the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program within the Department of Defense. The program, also known as Nunn-Lugar, has led to the deactivation of more than 7,600 nuclear warheads, according to the Lugar Center.
« Our nation has lost an extraordinary statesman who made the world a safer and better place. I have lost a wonderful friend and trusted partner, » Nunn said in a statement on Sunday. « Dick Lugar treated every person with dignity and respect.
