Hard work, insight enabled Butz to become agricultural leader

By GRACE HOUSHOLDER

Dr. Earl L. Butz's Noble County roots gave him the start he needed to become U.S. secretary of agriculture ... the highest national office any Noble County native has achieved.

Butz held the position under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.

In a 1989 News-Sun interview, Butz said he had the good fortune of being born into a nice family with loving, caring parents who emphasized the work ethic. His farm parents instilled the concept that work itself is good for the soul.

Butz, born July 3, 1909, was the oldest of five children. Although working on the family farm in York Township was important, Butz's parents, Herman and Ada, felt that education was even more important. They demanded that he do well in school, and never asked him to stay home to help when there was extra farm work, such as on "butcher day."

In a 1974 article, News-Sun reporter Dave Kurtz wrote that, "A wall in the old farmhouse still bears part of the message young Earl once wrote to himself in chalk during a particularly busy day: 'Earl go feed the chickens, Earl go separate the milk, Earl go bring in the wood...' it continues, finally concluding with 'Earl go do everything!'"

Butz's first eight years of education were in the one-room Pleasant Hill School. "I am thankful the teacher was so busy teaching the basics that she didn't have time for all the frills we put in modern-day education," Butz said. The subjects were grammar, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography and history. He then attended Wawaka High School and played on its basketball team. There were seven people in the Class of '27, slightly fewer than normal, but Butz liked the small size because he was able to be president of his class, have the lead roles in both the junior and senior plays and be class valedictorian.

Butz said the public speaking and Latin contests in high school were "good training."

"High school was a great experience," Butz said. He went to high school in a horse and buggy. The last year he got to drive a model T Ford - the kind the driver had to crank.

"At that time you could buy a second-hand model T for not much money. I think Dad paid $50 - but those were hard-earned dollars!" Butz said.

With his high grade point average, Butz won scholarships to both Indiana University and DePauw, neither of which he accepted. He decided to run the family farm while his father managed the Farm Bureau cooperative.

For four months he worked in Kendallville, pumping gas for 14 hours a day at his uncle's garage at the corner of Main Street and U.S. 6. He stayed with his Aunt Minnie, who lived two blocks south of St. John Lutheran Church in Kendallville.

It was the county extension agent, J.B. Cunningham, who set Butz on the path he would follow for the rest of his life. Cunningham urged Butz to visit Purdue University, where the dean of agriculture explained to Butz the opportunities available to him. Butz won a 4-H scholarship to Purdue.

Cunningham instituted the 4-H junior leader program. Butz was one of the first junior leaders, showing cattle at the Noble County Fair in Kendallville.

During his sophomore year, Butz was selected to attend the national 4-H convention in Washington, D.C. The 4-H'ers camped in tents on the Mall in Washington, outside the Department of Agriculture Building where Butz would one day sit as secretary of agriculture. On his first night there he met one of the delegates from North Carolina, Mary Emma Powell, his future wife.

During his first year in college he pledged Alpha Gamma Rho, an agricultural fraternity. He later became the national president. He also worked for the Purdue Exponent, the university's daily newspaper, and later became its editor.

In college he developed a reputation for outspokenness. In a 1974 News-Sun article, a college roommate of Butz's, Howard Harper, formerly of Cromwell, recalled Butz's college days this way:

"He'd take anybody to task if he thought he was right and they were wrong - professors and the whole ball of wax."

Butz said the communication skills he picked up at Purdue through newspaper work, debating, ROTC and being a 4-H judge were the keys to his success.

Butz graduated with honors from Purdue in 1932 and earned his doctorate in agricultural economics at Purdue in 1937. That was the year he joined the faculty at Purdue and married his longtime sweetheart, Mary Emma. He taught at Purdue until 1954 when he went to work for three years for President Dwight D. Eisenhower as assistant secretary of agriculture.

At that time, Butz had developed a reputation around the nation as an advocate of free-market agriculture. Butz served under Ezra Taft Benson who later went on to head the Mormon Church. One of Butz's friends during his service under Eisenhower was Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

Butz returned to Purdue as dean of agriculture in 1957. In 1971, when Butz was dean of continuing education and vice president of the Purdue Research Foundation, Agriculture Secretary Clifford Hardin resigned. President Nixon called on his old friend from his vice president days. He liked Butz's free-market philosophy and knew he had tremendous popularity with American farmers. Butz had also become active in Republican politics.

Butz's goal as secretary of agriculture was to "get the government out of the ag business."

He said his major accomplishment as secretary was restoring pride to American agriculture. Butz said nothing was more irritating to him than to hear a man say, "I'm just a farmer."

"Get your head up and your shoulders back and say, 'By George, I'm a farmer!'" Butz said.

Under Nixon, times were good for farmers. Government regulations decreased, and U.S. exports increased.

Butz believed Nixon was very intelligent, and he is sure that history will be kinder to Nixon than his contemporaries were.

Butz thought Nixon, who operated through his staff, was harder to work for than President Ford. Butz said Ford was a "people's president" and people liked to be in his presence. Nixon liked to work through memorandums, but Ford liked to talk things out with people.

"You worked FOR Nixon," Butz said. "You worked WITH Ford."

One battle Butz fought as secretary was over the use of nitrates in bacon and sausage as a preservative. A Harvard University study found that nitrates could cause cancer.

"I asked some physician how much nitrosity would I have to ingest to get the same amount, pound for pound, as those laboratory rats at Harvard University," Butz said. "He said I'd have to eat about 15 tons of bacon a day. And I don't care for that much bacon."

Butz was famous for his barbed humor. When asked about the pope's stand on birth control, Butz quipped, "He no playa the game, he no makea the rules!"

Catholics and Italian-Americans howled in protest.

The quip that caused Butz's resignation was his reply to a question about why the Republican Party wasn't attracting more blacks.

Butz apologized for the remark, but it was not enough. Because he did not want the racial slur to hurt Ford's chances for re-election, he resigned and quietly returned to Purdue.

In 1981 he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne to evading $74,057 in taxes. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. All but 30 days of the term was suspended.

For many years Butz remained active in Republican politics, speaking at Lincoln Day dinners across the country. He also campaigned for Sen. Robert Dole who was seeking the Republican nomination eventually won by George Bush.

Butz, 90, is dean emeritus of agriculture at Purdue. His wife, whom he called "a full partner," died several years ago. Butz lives at Westminister Village, a retirement community about a mile and a half from his office. He goes to his office for a few hours every day.

"He keeps very, very busy," says Mary Sunden, his secretary.

"He is a distinguished gentleman. I love working for him. I never feel like I work for him. I feel like I work with him. It makes a big difference." (Sunden was amazed when she was told her quote was very similar to what Butz had said when he compared Presidents Nixon and Ford.)

Butz is looking forward to coming to Noble County next year for a recognition of 4-H leaders. His only living relative in Noble County is Wilbur Buffenbarger, his brother-in-law, who is retired and lives in Albion. Buffenbarger rents the Butz family farm, which is northwest of Albion and two miles south of Wawaka. About 140 acres are tillable.

Butz's two sons both earned their doctorates. William is associate director of the National Research Council in Washington, D.C., and Tom is a management consultant in California. Butz has six grandchildren.

Asked if he has any great-grandchildren, Butz quickly replied, "All my grandchildren are great!"

Butz was sad to see Elizabeth Dole pull out of the race for the Republican nomination. "She is an extremely capable person," he said. Butz predicts Texas Gov. George W. Bush will be the next president.

His advice for the nation as it looks forward to the next millennium is: "Keep the private sector of our economy healthy."

He believes there are too many people on welfare. Food stamps are under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture, and with 15 million receiving them, he believes the number of recipients is too high. "It's ridiculous," he said. "Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) is so generous we have illegitimate babies on the incentive basis. We ought to police welfare more closely. Every city has jobs. If you want to work, anybody can get a job these days."

Butz enjoys good health. His only challenge is a problem with balance, so he uses a cane. "I carry a cane so if I meet a 'Clinton Democrat' I can whack him," he said. "I meet very few of them. They won't admit it."