One of the Finest Leaders in the House of Representatives

By Ray Smock
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Robert H. Michel of Illinois who died this week at the age of 93 was the Republican Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1995 and served a total of 38 years in the House, retiring in 1995. Bob’s entire career in the House was as a member of the minority party during the long ascendancy of the Democrats that lasted forty years.  It was bittersweet for him to announce his retirement in 1994, when the election that year resulted in the Republicans gaining control of the House. By then, however, Newt Gingrich was on the rise and he and the new Republicans that rode to victory that year had a completely different style of militant leadership. Those of us who witnessed the “Gingrich Revolution” could not help but think that Bob Michel would have a difficult time with the new style of leadership had he remained in the House. 

Congressman Robert H. Michel

House Republican Leader Bob Michel and Ray Smock in 1989.

​Bob Michel knew that compromise was the art of politics and he found ways to work with the Democratic majority. The Democratic leaders he worked with were not his enemies; they were his political opponents. He and Speaker Tip O’Neill were good friends.  His skill as a parliamentarian and leader was a key factor in the success of the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.  The House in the 1980s, while Democratic in number, always had a group of about 30 members who, on any given issue were just as likely to vote with the Republicans as not. Speaker Tip O’Neill tried to hold his members together while Bob Michel tried to woo them over to his side, often with great success. 

Bob Michel could give a fiery, fist-pounding speech on the floor of the House, but most of the time it was his geniality, his gentlemanly style, his good humor, and his genuine affection for the House of Representatives that characterized his long tenure. He was of that generation that served in World War II.  He participated in the Normandy Invasion. Wounded by machine gun fire, he was awarded the Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars. When he left the Army after the war, he went to Bradley University in his hometown of Peoria, graduating in 1948. Then he went to work for the congressman in his district Harold Velde, and later was elected to that seat. Newspaper stories of his passing have included the story he often told that his parents didn’t think much of him going into politics which they considered a dirty, rotten business. But his reply to them was that they had taught him the difference between right and wrong. This carried Bob Michel a long way.
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In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Bob Michel the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.