In Memoriam: Senator Nancy Kassebaum

IN MEMORIAM: U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum, Emeritus Honorary Co-Chair of the Henry Clay Center

The Board of the Henry Clay Center extends our heartfelt condolences to the family of U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum, a founding Honorary Co-Chair of the Center. Senator Kassebaum, along with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, was named Honorary Co-Chair at the Center’s inception in 2007. Both were attracted to the Center’s mission by their friend, Dr. Kay Clawson, who led the effort to create the Center in Lexington.

Sen. Kassebaum attended and addressed several Student Congress sessions. She strongly advocated the Center’s mission to educate future leaders in the pursuit of civil dialogue and compromise and introduced the Center to many bipartisan policy groups, particularly in Washington, D.C.

During her Senate career, she was acclaimed for working across the aisle, sometimes in direct conflict with her own Republican Party. She was also the first woman to chair a major Senate panel, a significant milestone in Senate history.

At her retirement from the Senate in 1997, Senator Kassebaum expressed her frustration with the direction where the highly partisan Congress was evolving: “The higher the decibel level gets, the more it’s like a boxing match.” She added sadly, “I couldn’t get elected today,” reflecting on her personal style of building consensus from disparate points of view.

Our Center mourns, with the Nation and her family, this outstanding advocate of a bipartisan democratic process. Let us add, thank you, Senator Kassebaum, for your dedication in helping the Center find our path during our early days.