Copyright 2014 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014012499
ISBN 978-1-60635-215-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
Every effort has been made to obtain the permission of persons interviewed
by the authors to be quoted in this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Diemer, Tom.
James A. Rhodes : Ohio colossus / Tom Diemer, Lee Leonard, Richard G. Zimmerman.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60635-215-1 (hardcover)
1. Rhodes, James A. (James Allen), 19092001.
2. GovernorsOhioBiography.
3. OhioPolitics and government20th century.
I. Leonard, Lee, 1939 II. Zimmerman, Richard G., 1934 III. Title.
F496.4.R46D54 2014
977.1043092dc23
[B]
2014012499
18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1
To my wife, Judith Zimmer, and my mother, the late Joan Diemer,
for their constant love and support.
To all those who knew James A. Rhodes and contributed the stories
that enliven this volume.
Colossus: 1. A statue of gigantic size, especially that of Apollo set
at the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes c. 280 B.C., and considered
among the seven wonders of the ancient world. 2. Any person or thing
of extraordinary size or importance.
Websters New Universal Unabridged Dictionary
TOM DIEMER, LEE LEONARD, and the late Rick Zimmerman do a masterful job of describing the life and achievements of a one-of-a-kind Ohioanfour-time governor James Allen Rhodes. I should know; I studied at his knee for most of twenty years.
This volume captures in nitty-gritty detail the rise of this quintessentially (a very non-Rhodes word!) self-invented political overachiever. From the rough days of his childhood in Coalton to the glory days of his remarkable service in the governors office, the authors describe just how completely Jim Rhodes honed his sales skills (from working North High Street and the Ohio State University campus to wooing Soichiro Honda in a full-court press in Japan) and exercised leadership (from the Knothole Gang to the Ohio Statehouse).
In the process, Rhodes grew to embody the mythic tale he spun about himself and his rise. Diemer, Leonard, and Zimmerman convey how Rhodes and his handpicked chroniclers transformed a story that began with only a few fading black-and-white photos into a 3-D, full-color, larger-than-life spectacular.
Why was Jim Rhodes so successful? I believe it boils down to this: nobody loved Ohio, every nook and cranny, every bar and barbershop, every farm and factory, and every county fair, more than he did. He loved Ohio more than partisan politics or political ideology. If Ohio needed revenue, he put the State above his political promises and raised taxes. He loved Ohio more than Washington, D.C. He just kept coming back to his first and only love.
And he loved the ordinary people of Ohiolike his neighbors in Coalton and Springfield, and the voters of Columbus who gave him his first boost. He cared deeply about their problems. And from his perspective, the one solution to all of their problemspoverty, poor housing, ill healthwas a job. That had been the medicine he sought as a young mannot one job, but any and all that he could wangle.
Jim Rhodes understood the importance of a jobfor personal dignity and family security and for community stability. He also understood, perhaps from the outside looking in, that education opened fresh opportunities for young people. He also knew that education and smart were two different things. He said to me on the eve of my inauguration (presciently, it turned out), You got too many PhDs in your cabinet.
Yet, no one did more than Jim Rhodes to promote higher education and put it within an easy commute of every Ohioan.
Jim Rhodes balanced genuine humility, never forgetting where he came from, with massive self-confidence, which enabled him to take on electionsprimaries as well as generalsagainst the odds. I suspect that one reason he did not pay too much attention to people in his partys establishment is that he was certain that in his bones he knew Ohioans far better than they did. He was right, of course.
But as the authors point out, Rhodes also made a point of having experienced and capable people around him. And he usually listened to them. Here is one example that may help to explain the lack of death-row executions after the early part of the first of his four terms. One day as I was preparing to take office as governor in late 1982, I encountered John McElroy, the respected attorney and Rhodes confidant. He told me that making decisions on death-row cases would be one of the toughest challenges I would face.
When I asked him why, he said that Rhodes had sent him to witness an execution that took place shortly after he became governor. McElroy said it was the most shocking and traumatic experience of his life. The next morning, he marched into the governors office and announced that he would resign if Rhodes ever sent him on that duty again. In fact, McElroy said, I told him that he should go personally and witness the next execution so that he would truly understand what his decision entailed. Rhodes never let another death sentence be carried out.
There is no question that Jim Rhodes loved his family, even though he was torn, as many politicians are, by the demands that political ambition and public service put on family time. The authors do a fine job of conveying Rhodess effort to be present for his family membersand protect them from the perils of life in the public eye. Rhodes knew how to dive into the weeds when he faced public controversy. He kept his family even more distant from the press with great success. When I stood in his office with him before the inauguration in 1983, he pointed to my wife and children and said: Take a good look at them, Dick. After this is all over, they will be the only ones who still care about you.
Why did Jim Rhodes run one last time, against the wishes of his wife and many in his political party? I am sure that it was because he did not believe either of his primary opponents or me, for that matter, knew and loved Ohio as much as he did. It wasnt about ambition; he had nothing to prove. It was about his abiding love of his state and its people.
When he came to believe that I loved Ohio, from lake to river, and honored promises he made (but was not able to fund), like the Honda expansion in Marysville or the completion of the Jackson bypass in his backyard; when he saw me set up office at the Ohio State Fair and cheer side by side with him for the OSU Buckeyes; perhaps even when I went to the Kent State campus on a May 4th anniversary to apologize personally to the families of those killed and wounded on that tragic day, Rhodes knew that I loved Ohio as deeply as he did.
