In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

155 In late 1935, while serving as special commissioner in the Muench kidnapping case, Rush H. Limbaugh was surprised to learn that he was being considered as a possible candidate for governor among some circles within Missouri’s Republican leadership. As 1936 was a presidential election year and Franklin D. Roosevelt would head his party’s ticket, many thought the prospects poor for Republican electoral success in Missouri and elsewhere. To overcome this difficulty, some Republicans considered Limbaugh’s newfound popularity a great asset and believed that his candidacy was their only chance for victory. The first to approach him about running were reporter Hume Duval and Republican politician Walter C. Ploeser, who in 1931 had served with Limbaugh in the state House of Representatives where they had become good friends. After his speech urging the impeachment of State Treasurer Larry Brunk, Ploeser had congratulated Limbaugh on having given “the finest speech he had ever heard.” Limbaugh, who later admitted to being “flattered” by Duval’s and Ploeser ’s proposal, expressed doubt that any Republican, especially one from southeast Missouri, “which was as politically detached from the rest of the state as was Gaul from Rome,” could be elected governor. He also noted that he lacked any substantial statewide political experience, a significant deficiency in his qualifications for Missouri’s chief executive office.1 After Limbaugh’s decision in the Muench case was published in the newspapers and editorial comment was almost universally favorable, the pressure to announce his gubernatorial candidacy was immediate and substantial. Both friends and “several of the active members of the state Republican committee” argued that such good publicity was rare and Limbaugh’s time had come, if he would only embrace the opportunity. Among these was his friend Forrest C. Donnell, who himself would become governor in 1940. Another of these early supporters was Fred E. Kies, editor of the Cape County Post, who presented Limbaugh to the public as that rare Missouri politician, honest and untainted by any connections to the political machines in Kansas City and St. Louis. Despite all of this, Limbaugh was not swept away by the enthusiasm of others, having been urged to run for office several times before and still smarting from his defeat in the 1932 Cape Girardeau mayoral race. Nevertheless, he did not The Second World War Chapter Eight 156 The Original Rush Limbaugh definitively dismiss the prospect either, perhaps in part because his wife, Bee, considered the possibility “more seriously” than he did and desired that he at least not decline running before investigating the matter further. Thus, in late 1935 he traveled with Bee to Springfield for a meeting of the Judicial Council of Missouri and afterward spoke with various Republican leaders. One of these was Mercer Arnold, then the Republican party’s elder statesman and a veteran of successful runs for statewide office and a failed gubernatorial race. Limbaugh respected Arnold, who attempted to persuade him to run for governor, noting that such an opportunity came but once in a lifetime. Another acquaintance , Jesse W. Barrett, former state attorney general, however, was then openly seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination and sought to persuade Limbaugh not to run, but promised that as a loyal Republican he would support Limbaugh’s candidacy if he should gain the GOP’s nomination. Limbaugh promised the same to Barrett. In the end, Limbaugh’s lack of resources to conduct a statewide contest and the bleak prospect for success convinced him not to seek the nomination. His judgment proved sound when Barrett gained the nomination, and, although he conducted “a vigorous campaign,” lost by a wide margin to his Democratic opponent.2 After deciding not to run for governor, the state Republican committee elected Limbaugh to serve as a delegate to the national convention held in Cleveland , Ohio. Having supported progressive policies in college and afterward, by 1928 Limbaugh had returned to his Republican ideological heritage of limited government and resistance to government’s ever greater intrusion into American life. Along with many others, he was alarmed by the expansion of the federal government’s power through the passage of New Deal legislation, especially in the creation of a great number of new bureaucracies such as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the National Recovery Administration. These agencies were staffed by appointed functionaries with authority over much of the country’s economy. Limbaugh believed that these unelected bureaucrats had far too much power with few checks and balances upon their authority...

Share