Former US Sen. Malcolm Wallop Dies

By JEREMY PELZER Star-Tribune capital bureau with wire reports
Posted: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 8:00 pm

Former three-term U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, who became a leading conservative voice during the Reagan era in fighting for space defense and a tough anti-communist policy in Central America, died Wednesday. He was 78.

Kerrie Kimmel of the Kane Funeral Home said Wallop died at his home near the small community of Big Horn in northern Wyoming. Family friend and Cody Enterprise Publisher Bruce McCormack said Wallop had been ill for the past couple of years with coronary disease and advanced Parkinson's disease.

The Republican served in the Senate from 1977 to 1995 and had an unusual resume for a Western politician. He was part of the third generation of a Wyoming pioneer family; he graduated from Yale University; and his grandfather served in the British House of Lords.

In Washington, Wallop established a reputation as being one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate: a staunch anti-communist, pro-defense libertarian who opposed government regulations -- including environmental regulations -- and championed states' rights.

Wallop gained a significant victory when President Ronald Reagan began pushing the spaced-based anti-missile defense concept. Wallop was among a group of conservatives who had espoused the plan for years before Reagan came to support it.

"Hundreds of millions of people around the globe are safer today because in the '70s, a rancher from Wyoming had a better vision than simply promising that we would kill as many of our enemies as they might try to kill of us," said George Landrith, president of the conservative think tank Frontiers of Freedom Institute, founded by Wallop in 1995 shortly after he left the Senate.

Key legislation Wallop helped pass included an energy bill in 1992 and major portions of Reagan's tax cuts in 1981. In 1984, Wallop helped create the Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund, an account used to finance state fisheries and boating programs. The fund uses money raised through special fees and taxes on fishing gear and motorboat fuels.

"His annual red tape award was perhaps the least coveted honor in Washington, but it was just one of the many things that secured his place as a leader among the conservatives of his day," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a media release.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson served with Wallop as part of Wyoming's congressional delegation for 10 years.

With Wallop's seniority on powerful Senate committees and Simpson and Cheney holding senior party leadership positions, the three constituted what was perhaps the most powerful Wyoming congressional delegation ever.

"Malcolm was sort of the spark plug, he was the senior guy, and Al and I were delighted to work with him," Cheney said in a telephone interview from Florida with The Associated Press. "My record and Malcolm's record were pretty similar in terms of how we voted on the issues."

His Senate tenure included several prominent assignments. He was chairman of the Select Committee On Ethics from 1981 to 1983 during the trial of New Jersey Democrat Harrison A. Williams Jr. on Abscam bribery charges. Wallop was the first nonlawyer to serve on the Judiciary Committee.

Personally, Wallop often was very proper and reserved, but he was also approachable and gentlemanly, said Nadia White, a University of Montana journalism professor who covered him in Washington, D.C., for the Casper Star-Tribune.

"He didn't seem to need to be liked by everyone. He knew who he was, and if you didn't like who he was, he didn't care," White said. "I always kind of appreciated that straightforward part of him."

Several members of his Senate staff adored him, seeing him as a sort of father figure and staying in touch with him long after he left Capitol Hill.

"Malcolm was the kindest man -- he was so thoughtful," said Kristi Wallin, a former Wallop staffer who now serves as state director for U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. "He was so intelligent that you had to really push yourself to think things through."

Wyoming Supreme Court Justice William Hill, who served as Wallop's Senate chief of staff, said he was just as friendly to the lowliest workers on Capitol Hill, such as the often-overlooked elevator operators.

"When you said, 'Senator Wallop,' they would stop and they'd look at you and say, 'He is a really good guy,'" Hill said. "And they didn't really share that opinion about a whole lot of those guys."

Wallop's campaign style caused amusement in the state but won him elections. When he first ran for the Senate, he ridiculed federal regulations in political advertisements by showing a cowboy riding across the range with a portable toilet on top of a pack horse.

In 2000, Wallop's wife, French Wallop, filed for divorce after 18 years of marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 allowed Malcolm Wallop to keep his family ranch, then valued at $4.6 million. He was married four times in all.

Wallop was born Feb. 27, 1933 in New York City -- his rancher parents were there for only a brief time -- and attended Big Horn School and Cate School, a private boarding school in Carpinteria, Calif. He graduated from Yale in 1954.

Wallop's grandfather, Oliver Wallop, was the Earl of Portsmouth and also served in the Wyoming Legislature. Malcolm Wallop's sister Jean married Lord Porchester, a longtime friend of the British royal family and manager of Queen Elizabeth II's racing stables.

The queen herself made a well-publicized visit to Wyoming in the fall of 1984, staying at the Wallop family ranch in Big Horn.

Wallop served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957 and returned to Wyoming to ranch.

He served two terms in the Wyoming House, from 1969 to 1972, and one term in the Wyoming Senate, from 1973 to 1976. He ran for Wyoming governor in 1974, losing in the Republican primary.

Simpson first met Wallop when they were both young boys growing up in northern Wyoming. He then served alongside him in the Wyoming Legislature and U.S. Senate. Simpson said Wallop was "a civilized man" who put to use an unusually strong command of the English language.

"He was sure as hell a passionate guy about things he believed in, and when he believed in something it was a matter of principle with him," Simpson said. "If you wanted to challenge him on anything else, you certainly couldn't challenge him on his passion and his principles and his love of Wyoming and the country."

"He was just a guy you wanted on your side," Simpson said.

Wallop is survived by his wife, Isabel, and four children.

Contact capital bureau reporter Jeremy Pelzer at 307-632-1244 or jeremy.pelzer@trib.com.


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