Like the mountains he loved so much, the legacy of Dan Evans, who died Friday at 98, is enormous and presents different faces to all of us.
Some will remember him as a conservationist, and a mountaineer. Others will remember him primarily as leader in higher education, the man who helped create the Evergreen State College, our community college system, and the world class public policy school that bears his name at the University of Washington.
Most will think of him as Washington state’s greatest governor, and one of the most successful governors in American history. From his work in education, to the creation of the first Department of Ecology in the nation, to his championing civil rights and vital infrastructure projects, he transformed our state. It would not be a stretch to argue that three men, Democratic Senators Henry Jackson and Warren Magnuson in Washington D.C., and Dan Evans in Olympia, created today’s Evergreen State.
But some will also remember Dan Evans as a fearless political warrior, fighting for a Republican Party that was not just moderate, but proudly progressive. He was ambitious and built for himself a great career. But unlike many politicians, he knew that in a democracy, parties matter, and America needed a principled yet pragmatic Center-Right Republican Party. And he was always willing to fight for that.
Dan Evans came from a family of Seattle Republican activists. When he returned home from the Navy after World War II, Evans became active in a group of idealistic young progressive Republican reformers who would dominate the GOP for decades, including future congressman and Lt. Governor, Joel Pritchard, future Attorney General and US Senator, Slade Gorton, and future King County Executive and Governor, John Spellman.
Evans was elected to the State House in 1956. In 1964, he was elected Governor, despite the national Democratic anti-Goldwater landslide. Then, as now, worried only about themselves, most politicians did everything possible to stay out of messy and divisive party battles. Not Evans.
Evans built a moderate political machine led by state party chairman, Montgomery “Gummie” Johnson, that consistently beat the far right and maintained control of the state party throughout his years as Governor.
In Olympia, Evans was able to pull together a broad progressive coalition that included teachers, state employees, environmentalists, and higher education advocates that was able to get his agenda passed. Reaching across the aisle over and over again he made state government work.
Nationally, he defied the rising conservative tide in the GOP and supported progressive New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller for President in 1964 and 1968, and supported Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan in 1976.
Then, as now, there were dark, extreme voices that sought to take control of the party of Lincoln. Evans wouldn’t have it. He relentlessly fought the extremists in the party, the most famous incident coming in 1965 when Governor Evans stood before the Republican State Committee meeting in Port Angeles and declared that the right-wing radicals of that era, the John Birch Society. “have no place in our party. Let them leave!”
Evans eventually lost control of the party to the forces of Reagan, but despite the years of bitter struggle, the differences between the Evans supporters and the Reaganites were really rather subtle, which is why leaders like Slade Gorton, and even Evans himself, were able to adapt to the new era.
In 1983, Dan Evans won a special election to the U.S. Senate following the death of Senator Henry Jackson. In the Senate, Evans generally agreed with Reagan on economic and national defense issues but did not hesitate to break with his President and GOP activists on aid to the Nicaraguan contras, and especially the environment and protection of wilderness areas and open spaces.
Evans never stopped fighting to make real his vision of what the Republican party should be. Just this year he added his name to a list of GOP luminaries as founding members of a new organization, Our Republican Legacy, dedicated to fighting for traditional core principles within the party.
Dan Evans represented a Republican Party that, for today at least, has ceased to exist. More than that, in an era when we have watched countless Republicans bend the knee to Donald Trump to preserve their careers, or simply walk away and let their party be taken over by reaction and mindless culture-war nationalism. Dan Evans reminds us that there was a time when Republican leaders were willing to do battle with extremism.
Dan Evans hated what Donald Trump did to the GOP, but Evans never left the Republican party. He never stopped believing that the party, and the country he loved, would eventually recover. Evans might be proven right, but only if a new generation of Republicans are willing to step up, follow his example, and fight back.
I appreciate your thoughtful piece, Chris. I believe a large number of Democrats had high regard for Governor Evans, as I certainly did. To me, he seemed to transcend partisan politics, especially in his later years. I always cherished the many conversations I had with him.
Yes – as I think you make clear – it isn’t really Trump’s politics that new generation has to save the party from, it’s Reagan’s. Trump is just an ugly flower that will be gone pretty soon, but Reagan politics will continue producing them until it’s pulled out at the roots.
Responsibility, including to future generations and the environment we live in. Trust in American institutions. Respect for science. Trumps can’t breed in that water.
Dan Evans was probably Washington’s greatest governor. We were privileged to endorse his probity and vision and share in his beneficent legacy. What is truly sad us that the party he never abandoned, abandoned him to embrace the squalid rancor of racism, reaction and riot.