Maine History Online

Edmund Muskie and Maine's Political Renaissance

Political scientist Duane Lockard noted in 1959 that "in few American states are the reins of government more openly or completely in the hands of ... economic interest groups than in Maine," a situation he attributed to lack of competition in the political arena.

The Republican lock on Maine politics once again put the state outside the national pattern, but by the early 1950s the party was beginning to lose its grip on politics. Economic stagnation led many voters to question the party's collusion with paper, textile, and utilities interests, and this critical tone widened a split between old-guard and liberal Republicans.

In 1954 Democratic party chairman Frank M. Coffin and Waterville lawyer Edmund S. Muskie launched a low-budget, statewide grass roots campaign that ended in one of the great political upsets in Maine history.

Republican Governor Burton Cross, somewhat blunt in his political pronouncements, proved unpopular after failing to take an interest in rural poverty, and with the economy soft and Maine labor on the move, Muskie and Coffin personified the youth and energy voters were looking for.

The son of an immigrant Polish Catholic tailor, Muskie grew up in Rumford, attended Bates College and Cornell Law School, and practiced law in Waterville. His mill-town origins insured solid backing from the paper and textile workers' unions and their immigrant Catholic rank and file, but Muskie also received support from farmers, small shop and factory owners, and professionals, all frustrated by the state's poor economic performance.

His victory reflected a nationwide anti-monopoly mood evidenced in a series of populist Democratic victories across the northern tier of states.

Still, the small-business element in Muskie's constituency dictated moderation, and the new governor faced an overwhelmingly Republican legislature with powerful corporate allies. Thus like Hildreth before him, Muskie turned first to encouraging local industries. He launched an ambitious 37-point program to shore up the economy with improvements in schools, roads, and research capability.

To boost consumer spending, he advocated increases in the minimum wage, stronger labor legislation, and broader sales tax exemptions. Muskie was reelected easily in 1956, and with a friendlier legislature he created a new Department of Industry and Commerce and issued bonds for highways, hospitals, and the state's university and teachers' colleges.

Reminiscent of the New Deal Maine had rejected so decisively only two decades earlier, Muskie's administration focused on an "aggressive program of industrial development," beginning with a statewide survey of economic assets – labor force, housing and building stock, raw materials, transportation systems, and potential industrial sites.

Muskie faced a difficult challenge. The state's large land area, scattered small towns, and sparse population complicated the problem of providing health, educational, and welfare services, as did its heavy dependence on property taxes, its aging population, and its stagnant economy, all of which kept tax revenues low.

Traditionally Maine spent disproportionately more for highways than for education and welfare, and in 1955 the state bore only 18 percent of the cost of education, meaning great disparities in access to schooling.

Rural poverty, characterized by overcrowded multi-generational housing, outdoor plumbing, lack of electricity, and limited access to doctors and schools, was almost impossible to root out, given the state's inability to fund adequate education and welfare programs.

In 1957 Muskie and Senator Roy Sinclair, chairman of the joint Legislative Education Committee, drafted an act to increase aid for towns that joined together as School Administrative Districts.

In addition, the state offered "foundational" aid to ensure each district a minimum level of funding. As a result of the Sinclair Act, students in rural Maine, often for the first time, gained access to science labs, school libraries, and specialized curricula.

In 1961, despite surprising resistance, the legislature authorized the state to accept federal funds for education, opening the door for millions of dollars in school-aid programs, and in 1965 it endorsed a "uniform effort principle" that required each town to levy a proportion of its property tax base for schools. If the amount was insufficient to meet minimum per-student funding criteria, the state made up the difference.

Another mid-1950s initiative was transportation. Maine had completed a four-lane, user-fee highway from Kittery to Portland between 1941 and 1947, and in 1949-1955 the Maine Turnpike Authority extended this route through Lewiston to Augusta.

The new "mile-a-minute" highway, the largest road construction project in Maine history, included 91 bridges and set national standards for safety planning. Federally funded Interstate 95 extended this system to Bangor in 1960 and to Houlton in 1967.

Muskie's administration was not so successful that Maine recovered from the textile depression, but it was successful enough that he defeated Republican incumbent Frederick G. Payne in a Senate race in 1958, becoming Maine's first popularly elected Democratic U.S. senator (those prior to 1913 having been elected by the state legislature).

With Democrats back on track, Maine fell in line with the rest of the nation politically. Subsequent administrations shifted between parties, Muskie being followed by Democrat Clinton Clauson, who was succeeded by Republican John Reed, Democrat Kenneth Curtis, and Independent James Longley.

In the U.S. Senate, Muskie joined Republican Margaret Chase Smith, a popular senator who established a national reputation with her "Declaration of Conscience" speech in the Senate on June 1, 1950, condemning the tactics used by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy in his anticommunist crusade. Like Muskie, the Skowhegan native came from a working-class background.