Richard M. Nixon. Gerald R. Ford. Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan. George H.W. Bush. William J. Clinton. George W. Bush.
Those were the seven presidents – five Republicans and two Democrats – during the tenure of U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Navarre.
Regula’s son, Stark County Commissioner Richard Regula, detailed the relationships his father and mother had with each of those presidents and their first ladies in a talk he gave last week to the Alliance Rotary Club. It is a talk he previously has given to other area groups.
“What got it started was realizing dad served with seven presidents and mom served with seven first ladies,” he explained, noting the importance of his mother, Mary Regula, to his father’s career. “That’s something that we should memorialize.”
Regula’s career extended from Watergate and President Nixon’s resignation to the 9/11 attacks and the “weapons of mass distruction” conflict in the Middle East. Throughout those years, Regula’s son notes, he worked with congressmen and presidents from both sides of the political aisle.
“Dad did things on a bipartisan basis,” said Regula, who explained that the speaker of the house was Democrat Thomas “Tip” O’Neill when his father got to Congress in 1973 and O’Neill fostered that bipartisan spirit. “Tip took dad under his wing. He molded dad into the bipartisan politician that he became.”
Regula became known as a politician who could work with presidents of either party, toward the goal of getting things done that would help voters of any political persuasion.
First presidents Republican
The first president under whom Regula served – briefly – was the Republican Nixon. His relationship with Nixon was tenuous and in the end disturbing.
“When Nixon resigned, dad started getting death threats,” recalled the younger Regula. “I can remember getting home one night – bombing into the driveway in my ’63 Dodge – and there were deputies there. One of them asked, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I live here.'”
When Vice President Gerald Ford ascended to the Oval Office following Nixon’s resignation, Regula found himself on more familiar ground. Regula and Ford already knew each other. When Regula was in the Ohio legislature, Ford was in Michigan’s, and they were companions on trips taken to research steel manufacturing.
“When they both got to Congress, Gerald Ford was minority leader and he put dad on the Appropriations Committee. He was the first representative from the 16th District on Appropriations since William McKinley. Dad always said the Appropriations Committee controlled the checkbook. That’s why it was such a plum assignment.”
Democrats less familiar
Other than age – Jimmy Carter would have been in Regula’s graduating class had the latter Beach City native not altered his intention to attend the U.S. Naval Academy at the last minute – President Carter and Regula had little in common.
Still, the congressman and Carter developed a working relationship, and he and Mary Regula developed enough of a closeness with Rosalyn Carter that when she requested her husband’s childhood home become part of the National Park system, Regula got the funding to preserve that home.
Regula developed a similar congenial relationship with President Bill Clinton, although the Regulas’ were closer to first lady Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton took an interest in the National First Ladies Library,” explained Richard Regula, who noted the first lady was instrumental in the development of the library that was his mother’s passion and was a prominent guest at the dedication of the National Park system property in Canton.
Clinton was “a very gracious lady,” said Regula, recalling that the first lady even requested to place a wreath at President McKinley’s memorial while she was in Canton.
Republicans at ease with Regula
The pair of Republican presidents in office between Carter and Clinton – Reagan and the elder Bush – likely were the presidents with whom congressman Regula had the closest connections. He was at ease with both of them, and they were with Regula, as well.
Richard Regula once went to the White House with his father to have his picture taken with Reagan.
“Out of the Oval Office came President Reagan, and I thought, ‘What do you say to the leader of the free world?'”
The young man who grew up on the Regula farm near Navarre and who knew Reagan had a ranch told the president, “We could have used you down on the farm building a fence.”
“What kind of fence you folks building?” President Reagan asked.
The conversation began a continuing correspondence between president and congressman that included a handwritten note from Reagan to Regula with instructions for building a fence out of telephone poles, which Regula ultimately constructed at his farm.
“The last letter dad got from Reagan said, at the end, ‘P.S. You graduated summa cum laude in fence building.'”
Regula was even closer to President H.W. Bush.
“They served in Congress together,” said Regula. “And mom and Barbara Bush were close; they had the congressional wives club.”
Regula praised at retirement
Regula knew President George W. Bush to a lesser degree, but was respected by that chief executive.
“While serving for over three decades in Congress, Ralph has … long had a commitment to creating jobs, strengthening schools, supporting small businesses, and protecting Ohio’s natural treasures,” George W. Bush wrote in a congratulatory statement at the time of Regula’s retirement in January 2009. “As the longest continuously serving U.S. Representative in his State’s history, Ralph will retire with the respect of his peers and the appreciation of his constituents.”
Those words, perhaps, prompted the younger Regula to begin giving his talks about his father’s and mother’s relationships with seven presidents and seven first ladies.
“I want people to remember what mom and dad were like and what they meant to the community,” said Regula.
Both possessed the ability to converse with both individuals in power and the voters who gave them that power.
“Dad touched so many lives. His motto was ‘Constituents First.’ He didn’t care if he was in front of a president. If his staff called and said a constituent had a concern, he went back (to his office) to find out what that concern was.”
Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP
Ralph Regula on presidents
Ralph Regula served in Congress under seven presidents. Here were his thoughts on them when interviewed shortly before his 90th birthday. They were re-published in The Canton Repository when Regula died in 2017:
Richard Nixon — “Smart guy …. too bad he got mixed up in Watergate. He’d have been a superb president.”
Gerald Ford — “Good guy. Right man for the job at the time. Jerry was a homespun Michigan guy.”
Jimmy Carter — “I never could warm up to him very much.”
Ronald Reagan — “He was a good guy with a personality that people were able to warm up to.”
George H.W. Bush — “He had good intentions and probably would have been a great president if he’d been re-elected.”
Bill Clinton — “A likeable guy, very effective.”
George W. Bush — “He wasn’t his father when it came to talent.”
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