Friday, January 24, 2020
Jim Cor, former House Speaker, dies at 89
Jim Cor, the speaker who led the House of Representatives for a decade following the 1986 elections, died early this morning at his home in Galveston, Texas. He was 89.
Cor's widow Carol confirmed her husband's death, attributing it to heart disease. The longtime Texas lawmaker had been also suffering from influenza at the time of his death, although it is unknown what role this contributed. Besides his wife, Cor is survived by the couple's three children and seven grandchildren.
An approachable, unflappable legislator, Cor led Democrats in the House from 1987 until his retirement in 2001, with all but the final four years as Speaker. His long tenure (the third-longest in history behind Sam Rayburn and Henry Clay) saw the end of the Democratic lock on the House of Representatives after 42 years of uninterrupted control.
Cor was born on October 16, 1930 in the small Kansas town of Belleville to James Sr. and Mary (Bialik) Cor. His father, a farmer, moved the family to Galveston shortly after Cor was born to escape the Dust Bowl, and became a stevedore. Inspired by the military airmen and aircraft stationed in Galveston during World War II, Cor attended the University of Texas in Austin as part of the so-called Holloway Plan that required recipients to spend two years studying towards their degree, followed by two years of flight school, one year of active duty as a Navy pilot, finishing with the final two years to complete a bachelor's degree.
After precociously graduating high school a year early, Cor was commissioned into the Navy in 1949 after completing two years of work on his bachelor's degree. During his year of active duty, he saw combat as an armed reconnaissance pilot over Korea and was awarded three Air Medals. Graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1954, Cor planned on a military career, but an injury sustained as a test pilot prematurely ended his military service in 1957 as a lieutenant, junior grade. Unperturbed, he accumulated a series of small businesses that were providing a tidy profit when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 300 miles away in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
A stalwart Democrat, Cor had vocally supported Kennedy before his assassination and the martyred president's shocking death spurred him to get involved in politics. In 1964, he won the Democratic nomination for the open seat in Texas' 22nd congressional district and was swept into office on fellow Texan Lyndon B. Johnson's coattails. Although a firm backer of Johnson's Great Society programs, Cor found himself frequently siding with Republicans on foreign policy issues, especially as many within his party became increasingly critical of the war in Vietnam. When Johnson was succeeded by Richard Nixon, Cor transferred his support for the president's foreign policy to him.
When the House begun to investigate the Watergate break-in, Cor stunned observers by criticizing the hearings as "guilt-by-association smears" and "trumped-up witch hunt." He would, however, change his tune as the hearings brought more and more evidence of the administration's corruption, admitting that he had been wrong to trust Nixon, who he said had "abused the trust all Americans should have in their president." After Nixon's resignation, Cor became Speaker Carl Albert's unofficial liaison to the Ford White House. After Ford was defeated and Albert retired in 1976, he was promoted to House Majority Leader by Albert's successor, Tip O'Neill.
When O'Neill retired in 1987, Cor was elected to succeed him as Speaker, helped by an endorsement from president-elect D. Wire Newman. During his decade as speaker, Cor's patient, even-handed style of leadership kept his caucus together even on divisive issues such as NAFTA and gun control. His stable leadership and ability to manage his caucus helped the Democrats retain their House majority in two straight presidential election defeats, but a critical mass of retirements in crucial districts and several scandals ensnaring Democratic congressmen (including former Senate majority leader Tony Berelli) resulted in voters giving Republicans a majority of House seats in 1996.
Cor continued to lead the Democrats in the House for two additional terms before retiring in the 2000 midterm elections. He was an early supporter of his former staffer John Hoynes during the latter's presidential runs in 1998 and 2006, but endorsed a series of liberal candidates (Arthur Breech in 2010, Ben Newell in 2014 and Sam Seaborn in 2018) in subsequent contests. In his long career, several of his former staffers and aides became large names in Democratic politics; in addition to Hoynes, former congressman Tim Fields and Amy Gardner, counselor to President Sam Seaborn, started their political careers in Cor's office.
President Seaborn issued a statement saying that the "Congress has lost a legend", with Cor's passing and extended his condolences to the Cor family. Former president Glen Allen Walken, who eventually succeeded Cor in the latter's role as speaker, echoed Seaborn's words, saying that "Jim Cor was a dedicated, patriotic and faithful public servant who sought conciliation over confrontation...and decency over division." Presidents Seaborn and Walken, alongside current speaker Daniel Maddox and the other living former speakers (Jeff Haffley, Mark Sellner and Carol Gelsey) are expected to attend a memorial service for Cor at some point in early February.
Cor in 2014 (photo by N. Alden Armstrong)
