LeRoy Ashby

It seems improbable today that the state of Idaho once elected a man like Frank Church to the United States Senate. A committed liberal whose positions were often at odds with those of his conservative constituents, he nonetheless won four terms to the United States Senate and lost his bid for reelection to a fifth term by only a few thousand votes. LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer's biography offers a thorough study of his public career, noting his numerous achievements over the course of his time in the Senate. Unlike some prominent Senate liberals of his era, he sought concrete legislative achievements in a number of areas, including the environment and care for the elderly. It was Church's position on the Vietnam War, however, which secured for him a place in the spotlight, and which led to the Church hearings in the mid-1970s which exposed to the public the transgressions of American intelligence agencies. Though much of this legacy is receding into the past, Ashby and Gramer's biography is a suitable monument to the man, one that should be read by anyone seeking to learn about the life of this fascinating figure and the long shadow he cast over his times.… (mehr)