Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson and former Rep.Norm Mineta (Photo: Ray Locker)
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a political legend whose quick wit bridged partisan gaps in the years before today’s political acrimony, has died. He was 93.
Simpson died March 14 after struggling to recover from a broken hip in December, according to a statement from his family and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a group of museums where he was a board member for 56 years.
“My family will remember him best not for his many accomplishments, but for his loyal friendship — and sharp sense of humor,” said former President George W. Bush said in a statement.
A political moderate by current standards, Simpson’s three terms as senator from 1979-97 covered the Republican Party’s rejuvenation under President Ronald Reagan. Simpson played a key role rallying GOP senators around the party’s legislative agenda as a top Senate leader during that time.
His Democratic friends included Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Norman Mineta, transportation secretary under President George W. Bush.
Simpson and Mineta met as Boy Scouts when Mineta and his family were imprisoned as Japanese Americans in the Heart Mountain War Relocation Authority Center near Simpson’s hometown of Cody, Wyo., during World War II.
After leaving politics, both promoted awareness of the incarceration of some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry in camps during the war.
By 1995, he’d had enough of the Senate and decided not to run again.
After leaving the Senate, Simpson taught about politics and the media at Harvard University and the University of Wyoming. In speeches he often urged college students to be politically involved.
In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded Simpson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Simpson is survived by his wife, Ann; his brother, Pete Simpson; sons, Colin Simpson and William Simpson; and daughter, Susan Simpson Gallagher.
