The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

the giAnt KiLLeRs 169
ute to debate. Here, the equivalent of the caucus meets very rarely. The
ability of an individual to contribute something to the ultimate process is
much greater.” That said, Gorton observed that his party was not nearly
as unified as Dodd thought. “We have no more agreement now within
the party on many of the social issues which we may be dealing with later
this year or early next year than the Democrats do, and perhaps even less.
So, again, what is that direction? I’m pleased with the direction as far as
economics is concerned. To the extent that we have a party platform
which takes very, very rigid positions on some of the social issues, I don’t
like it particularly.” 13
Gorton was one of six GOP freshmen on the Budget Committee. The
others were Grassley, Quayle, Steve Symms of Idaho, Mark Andrews of
North Dakota and Bob Kasten of Wisconsin. All but Gorton had served
previously in the House. The most junior “Giant Killer” quickly became
one of the most influential.
hAving pRoMised not to do so and, at 70, certainly old enough to know
better, Ronald Reagan put both feet on the third rail of American politics
in the spring of 1981. At the urging of David Stockman, his wunderkind
budget director, Reagan endorsed raising the full retirement age for Social
Security from 65 to 68 and dramatically reducing benefits for those
who opted to take early retirement at 62. The plan would have saved $50
billion over the next five years while shoring up the trust fund. Jubilant
Democrats, seeing their first break in the political clouds, vowed to protect
the mother of all entitlements and basked in the public’s outrage.
Speaker O’Neill called the plan “despicable.” Claude Pepper, the 80-yearold
chairman of the House Select Committee on Aging, stopped just
short of pronouncing it the most infamous attack on Americans since
Pearl Harbor. Reagan beat a hasty retreat. A resolution condemning any
attempt to “unfairly penalize early retirees” was unanimously approved
by the Senate. 14
When in doubt, appoint a commission. As commissions go, however,
this one had some bipartisan moxie, with Alan Greenspan as its chairman.
Gorton said he wished they hadn’t all chickened out. They should
have just done it and endured the flak. Stockman was right, Gorton
said. Adjust ments to the full retirement age and penalties for early retirement
were imperative. Sooner or later—and sooner was better—
Congress would have to make tough choices. Otherwise the Baby Boomers
reaching retirement age in the 21 st Century would find the system