{"id":145315,"date":"2022-04-01T13:16:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T17:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=145315"},"modified":"2024-07-03T14:42:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T18:42:35","slug":"from-ed-muskie-36-to-angus-king-the-desk-of-the-senators-from-maine-remains-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/04\/01\/from-ed-muskie-36-to-angus-king-the-desk-of-the-senators-from-maine-remains-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"From Ed Muskie ’36 to Angus King, the desk of the senators from Maine remains the same\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When newly elected Sen. Angus King, an Independent from Maine, was preparing to move into his office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in 2013, he was offered a choice of desks. The one King picked is big and broad, with slightly curved legs that square off in an angle at the top, interrupting its otherwise perfectly rectangular shape, and end in an almost claw-like foot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legs are distinctive but even more so is the desk\u2019s rich legacy, having served as the desk of Edmund Sixtus Muskie \u201936 during his time in the U.S. Senate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The desk was command central as Muskie was working on landmark legislation, including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, the latter of which will have its 50th anniversary this fall. Muskie chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution, a role that famously earned him the nickname \u201cMr. Clean.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In
In a quintessential pose and place, Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36 sits behind his desk and engages in discussion with Vietnam veterans from Maine on April 22, 1971. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was no question in my mind this was the right choice,\u201d King says. \u201cIf you\u2019re ever given the option to use Edmund Muskie\u2019s desk, you take it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And other Maine politicians have done exactly so: When Muskie left the Senate in 1980, after more than two decades, to become Secretary of State to President Jimmy Carter, his former assistant from the early 1960s, George Mitchell, then a federal judge in Maine, was appointed to fill Muskie\u2019s seat in the Senate. King says Mitchell took the Muskie desk as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when Mitchell left the Senate in 1995 and was succeeded by Olympia Snowe, she moved the desk into her office. At Muskie\u2019s memorial service in 1996, Snowe described coming to Washington in 1979 as the new congresswoman from Maine and being touched by Muskie\u2019s kindness and grateful for his advice. \u201cWe were congressional colleagues for only a year and a half, but our friendship lasted throughout the years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. Sen. Angus King poses in his Senate office with “the desk,” which was used by Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36, then senators George Mitchell, Olympia Snowe, and now King. \u201cThis desk\u2019s bipartisan (now tripartisan!) history is one of my favorite features,\u201d says King. (Courtesy of U.S. Sen. Angus King)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The furnishings and decor around it changed \u2014 Muskie liked to hold forth from behind the desk, with visitors grouped around it in chairs, while Snowe was typically pictured in her office sitting side by side with guests in more elegant striped gold and red high backed chairs \u2014 but the desk of the senators from Maine remained the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parties did not though. As was Muskie, Mitchell is a Democrat but Snowe is a Republican. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis desk\u2019s bipartisan (now tripartisan!) history is one of my favorite features,\u201d says King. \u201cIt\u2019s a reminder that I stand on the shoulders of giants who made it their habit to work across party lines to deliver results for our state and our nation. I\u2019m humbled by the legacy of accomplishments left behind by the leaders who came before me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muskie, who died in 1996 just shy of his 82nd birthday, would have turned 108 this week, on March 28. (Late March birthdays are another thing the two former governors of Maine have in common: King turned 78 on March 31). Muskie grew up the son of immigrants in Rumford, where his father was a tailor, before arriving at Bates, conscious of his lack of wealth initially and needing to work his way through college, like many of his classmates during the Depression. By the time he graduated cum laude<\/em> and Phi Beta Kappa in 1936, he was class president and a skilled and confident debater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Behind
Behind his desk, Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36 stands to meet visitors in his Senate office on March 7, 1973. The group may be from the National Student Lobby. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In mid-March, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine raging, King, an adroit user of Instagram who writes often soulful captions for his own photography, posted a sunlit shot of his office, showing part of the desk, his bust of Lincoln, and the rich red walls behind it, hung with paintings by Maine artists (Marguerite Robichaux and Linden Frederick). The scene, and the moment in time, prompted him to share some perspective in light of the Ukrainian crisis. \u201cIn difficult times like these,\u201d King wrote on the post. \u201cI find temporary refuge in history.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That refuge included considering Muskie\u2019s feat in leading Maine, and the nation, \u201cinto the environmental era,\u201d King wrote, noting that Muskie managed the first Clean Water Act to a “unanimous (!) vote in the Senate. And came to embody the idea of integrity in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no question that Muskie worked at this desk as he crafted the Clean Water Act, King says. \u201cLooking back on it, the fact that Muskie got this bill enacted into law speaks to his relentless perseverance. He held hearing after hearing on this subject, drawing from both scientific data and his personal experiences in Rumford to advocate passionately for the importance of clean water in every community across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumford sits on a bend of the Androscoggin River, so in his youth, Muskie could literally see (and smell) the water and air pollution generated by the small city\u2019s pulp and paper mills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe eventually wore down his opposition, and the bill passed the Senate unanimously,\u201d King says. \u201cWhen I\u2019m working on the toughest issues we face and feel like I\u2019m at an impasse, Muskie\u2019s example reminds me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a true working desk then, not ostentatious. It\u2019s solid. Like Muskie. An aide once said that \u2018sham and pretense grate on him like sandpaper.\u2019”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Some mysteries remain about the desk. No one seems to know exactly what kind of wood it is, but King says that \u201cit\u2019s from the early 20th century, and had been in the Russell Senate Office Building originally.\u201d It\u2019s double-sided, so it could accommodate two people sitting across from each other, with a footrest for each. \u201cI\u2019ve never used the desk for that purpose,\u201d King says. \u201cSo I get extra room to stretch out my legs.\u201d (A nice feature when you\u2019re 6-foot-2.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a true working desk then, and despite the turn of its legs \u2014 which make it easy to identify in historic photos, like the one of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan making her way into Snowe\u2019s office for a meeting when she was still a nominee \u2014 it is not ostentatious. It\u2019s solid. Like Muskie, who The New York Times<\/em> described in its obituary as \u201cabove all, a creature of the Senate. A blunt man, with a hair trigger temper that detonated often, he nonetheless became one of the Senate’s most influential members. An aide once said that \u2018sham and pretense grate on him like sandpaper.\u2019”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell was stunned and intimidated. “I couldn\u2019t control the shaking of my legs even though I was sitting down. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Note the mention of the temper, which was legendary. The first time George Mitchell glimpsed the desk that would eventually become his, he also saw the temper. On March 26, 1996, Mitchell shared his memory as part of the many Congressional memorial tributes to the former senator from Maine. Mitchell recalled going for an interview for a job as an assistant in Muskie\u2019s office. He was fresh out of law school. Mitchell had been advised to prepare a memorandum on the legal aspects of an issue that was being considered by the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought the memo was pretty good, but unknowingly I had made a huge mistake,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI reached a conclusion that was the opposite of the Senator\u2019s. I had never met him but he didn\u2019t bother with any small talk. Within minutes of our introduction, he unleashed a ferocious cross-examination. He came out from behind his desk, he towered over me, he shook his finger at me and he took my memo apart, line by line.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Future
Future senator George Mitchell sits with Sen. Edmund Muskie ’36, presumably behind Muskie’s Senate office desk, in this undated photograph. Mitchell served as Muskie’s executive assistant from 1962 to 1965 and took over Muskie seat in the Senate \u2014 and his famous desk \u2014 in 1980. (U.S. Senate Historical Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell was stunned and intimidated. “I couldn\u2019t control the shaking of my legs even though I was sitting down. I tried as best as I could to explain my point of view and we had what you might call a lively discussion. As I left he said, \u2018The next time you come in here, you\u2019ll be better prepared.\u2019 That\u2019s how I learned I\u2019d been hired, and I sure was better prepared the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King says he tells visitors about the desk\u2019s history, \u201coften and eagerly, without any prompting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, King ran into Ned Muskie, the youngest of Ed and Jane\u2019s Muskie\u2019s five children, in Washington, D.C., and invited him for lunch in the Senate dining room. \u201cI said that would be incredible,\u201d Ned Muskie says. \u201cBecause I have wonderful memories of Dad taking us there. Back then, Dad was like a rock star, even among other senators. They all wanted to interact with Dad. So our lunches would be interrupted by people like Hubert Humphrey or Sam Nunn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before King and Ned Muskie went to lunch, they stopped by King\u2019s office. Muskie remembers King telling him, \u201cI have something special to show you. And sure enough, it was the desk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was set at a different angle \u2014 \u201cDad had it in a very conventional way, at the end of the room\u201d \u2014 but Ned knew it immediately. \u201cHell yeah,\u201d he says. He told King about his own history with the desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew this desk from when I was a very little boy. Very similar to John-John Kennedy, who would sit on the stretcher below his father\u2019s desk, I also did the same thing. Dad would be on the phone and I’d crawl under the desk. I\u2019d tickle his feet or do something silly like that, so I have very fond memories of the desk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ned\u2019s four siblings would sometimes join him in play under and around the desk while his father worked. \u201cHow Muskie ever got the Clean Water Act passed with kids darting back and forth, I\u2019ll never know!\u201d King says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King considers the desk timeless. \u201cNot only because it\u2019s been passed down from senator to senator, but because the impact of the work done at this desk still affects Maine people today. Just look at the Clean Water Act: Mainers depend on the ocean, lakes, and rivers to live and work. Without this historic legislation, our waterways would not be the same today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Thankfully, Maine had Ed Muskie working for us. So yes, the desk is timeless. It\u2019s a piece of history, and I\u2019m honored to continue the tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How the legacy of a piece of office furniture mirrors the responsibilities of representing Maine in Washington, DC.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1283,"featured_media":145321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[7,195,224],"tags":[960,3145],"class_list":["post-145315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-news-politics","category-society-culture","tag-angus-king","tag-edmund-s-muskie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145315"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145439,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145315\/revisions\/145439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}