Memories of Metcalf
The Daily Inter Lake editor published a feature article on the late Sen. Lee Metcalf in the June 11 issue.
Frank Miele led into the article with reference to the recent “scandal” over Greg Gianforte “body-slamming” a reporter who represented a super liberal publication from out of state. That is a story that made big-time media across the nation and I considered it a political tempest in a teacup.
Miele’s coverage went way back, even mentioning Metcalf’s demotion in the Army for throwing a sergeant down some stairs.
There is no denying Lee Metcalf had a short fuse and did not take shoving around from anybody. He made the news several times in Washington, D.C. for incidents involving everyone from police to an elevator operator. The multiple events cited by the Daily Inter Lake were accurate to the best of my knowledge. Major point was the fact that a congressman could be involved in physical violence and not be kicked out of office.
Miele also cited good things, like Metcalf’s leading the push into law of the Wilderness Act and other important conservation legislation, and that he has a federal wildlife refuge and a Forest Service wilderness named for him. He has been rated high among the most influential Montanans of the last century.
As a legislative assistant in Metcalf’s office during the 87th Congress, I recall one experience where he raised his voice to me and I shall not forget it for several reasons.
He called my desk during a serious debate, seeking facts about an existing practice at the Department of the Interior, “right now.”
The high-ranking official I talked to gave me information which I immediately called over to Lee. He used the info in the congressional record and it was challenged by an opposing senator.
The Interior official was summoned to the Capitol, where he then denied what he told me. Metcalf was outraged and came to the office, where he told me, “George, I don’t ever want you to tell me anything, including the time of day, unless you are prepared to defend the information in front of the United States Supreme Court.”
The senator continued treating me with his usual respect and confidence but never again mentioned the double cross pulled on us by the high-ranking bureaucrat. Maybe three months later, he came to my desk and handed me an envelope “with a bonus in it.” He suggested I take Iris and our two little kiddies for a vacation at Ocean City on the beach.
Two times, once just before I came home from Washington and then a couple of years later, Sen. Metcalf offered me a position in the Department of the Interior. They were tempting but I politely turned them down.
We remained good friends and I did some work for him, including getting a visitor’s center at the National Bison Range.
Lee Metcalf, to me, was an amazing, yet tragic figure. He was a war hero commanding a tank unit from Normandy and into Germany. He suffered almost constant pain from a non-combat service injury to his legs. He was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals.
I saw tears in his eyes as he told Brit Englund and me about a visit he just made to a ghetto children’s hospital in Washington, D.C.
Toward the end, I felt, alcohol had a serious effect on his life. An unfair ending for the youngest person ever elected to Montana’s Supreme Court.
G. George Ostrom is an award-winning columnist. He lives in Kalispell.