Longtime Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies

Longtime Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, who became the first Jewish American to be nominated on a major party’s ticket, died Wednesday at age 82.

Politico reported that Lieberman’s family stated that he died “due to complications from a fall. He was 82 years old. His beloved wife, Hadassah, and members of his family were with him as he passed.”

Lieberman served in the Senate for 24 years, first elected as a Democrat in 1988. Al Gore chose him as his running mate in the 2000 presidential election, losing one of the closest races in American history to George W. Bush. “No Jew had ever sought such a lofty office,” wrote the authors of “Jews in American Politics,” per Politico.

Four years later, Lieberman unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president.

In 2006, Lieberman sought the Democratic Party’s renomination for U.S. Senate in Connecticut but lost to a more liberal candidate. Shortly afterward, he declared himself an independent, defeating both the Democrat and Republican candidates in the general election.

Known as a hawk on foreign affairs, he was a leader in creating the Department of Homeland Security, which was established in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He often aligned himself with Republican Sens. John McCain, of Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, particularly when it came to American military policy in Iraq.

McCain considered choosing Lieberman as his running mate on the 2008 GOP presidential ticket but was persuaded otherwise by Republicans worried that it would cause a rift in the party, per Politico.

“I completely trusted, liked and worked well with Joe,” McCain wrote in “The Restless Wave.” “And I still believe, whatever the effect it would have had in some quarters of the party, that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would have been received by most Americans as a genuine effort to pull the country together for a change.”

Standing up for Latter-day Saints

Lieberman often joined with Republicans to fight for causes dear to conservatives — including condemning Hollywood sex and violence, condemning President Bill Clinton’s affair with an intern and joining with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to seek reducing capital gains taxes, the Deseret News reported in 2000.

Lieberman once took to the Senate floor to defend members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints against attacks in Russia. Alexander Lebed, an unofficial running mate to former President Boris Yeltsin, had called Mormons “mold and scum” endangering Russian society.

“What Alexander Lebed said was wrong, and because of who he is, dangerous. . . . When the faith of one is challenged, the faith of all is challenged,” Lieberman said. “Russia has nothing to fear from the Mormon faith.”

Lieberman made that defense during a time when his own Jewish faith was also under attack by Lebed. Latter-day Saint and Jewish senators combined forces to condemn Lebed’s comments.

Lieberman also wrote a back-cover endorsement to urge people to read “Standing for Something,” a book by President Gordon B. Hinckley, the leader of the church at the time. He wrote that President Hinckley “looks at all that ails our society today and offers the most powerful cure: facing God and the virtues that emanate from it. His voice in this book is prophetic and full of love. People of all religions will benefit.”

In a speech at Brigham Young University in 2011, Lieberman said that should Mitt Romney win the Republican nomination for president, it would be a test of the American people to see whether they are willing to “be fair” and abide by the Constitutional protections that prevent a test of religion to take public office.

“I would bet you, that whatever that percent of people who said (in public opinion polls) they’d be reluctant to vote for a Mormon candidate for president, I bet they have had little or no real contact with members of the LDS church,” he told a crowd of more than 5,000 at the Marriott Center. “When I hear expressions of bigotry, and you should do the same, don’t hesitate to speak up in your own defense, you’ve got a lot to defend.”

Romney wrote Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, “Joe Lieberman will be remembered as a man of devout faith, a dedicated public servant, and defender of American values. Ann and I send our prayers to his wife Hadassah, his children, and his loved ones.”

In 2016, Lieberman and other prominent Jewish leaders joined Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Mount of Olives to commemorate the 175th anniversary of an early church leader’s prayer dedicating Jerusalem as a gathering place for the Jewish people.

‘America’s best days ahead’

Lieberman joined KSL NewsRadio’s Boyd Matheson on his podcast “Therefore, What?” in 2019, saying, “America’s best days are ahead of us. This is still the greatest place in the world to live, we’re blessed to be Americans. And now we’re squandering our current, and to some extent our future, because we’re squabbling politically for reasons that are not as important as the well-being of the country and every one of us as citizens. So we, the people have to demand that our elected officials get with it and work together for the betterment of our country.”

Lieberman and former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., served as co-chairs of No Labels, a national organization formed years ago to end partisanship in the nation’s capital. Lieberman considered Huntsman a close friend after getting to know him when both backed McCain in 2008.

Huntsman’s wife, Mary Kaye Huntsman, wrote in an Instagram post that Lieberman was more than a friend, saying “he’s that unusual soul who infuses your life with goodness and inspiration. Who captured the essence of being an American, broke barriers and carried himself as a true patriotic independent citizen. He loved his dear wife Hadassah more than life itself and they were inseparable. We learned so much just being with them. Joe is now gone. But his legacy of decency we all proudly carry forward. It is the formula for a better more unified nation.”

Lieberman said on the Matheson podcast that the whole idea of No Labels is to bring people to the center to solve problems, noting Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill in the 1980s and Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich in the 1990s worked together to accomplish things, including a balanced budget.

“So it can be done and that’s what No Labels has tried to do, first by just ideas that are supported by a majority of people that we try to interest the Republicans and Democrats in, and then the last couple of years, we decided that a lot of the problem in government is political and has a lot to do with campaign money and it was only going to be solved and made better if we got in there, raised some money, and supported what we would describe as center right Republicans and center left Democrats against, particularly in primaries, against further right Republicans and further left Democrats.”

In a statement, No Labels called Lieberman a “singular” figure in American political life who always put his country before party.

“He was a deeply principled and pragmatic leader who believed public service was a privilege and who dedicated his life to the betterment of others. As a four-term senator, he led passage of transformative bipartisan legislation that made America’s air and water cleaner, that made us safer after 9/11, and that expanded equality and opportunity for all,” the statement said in part.

“But Senator Lieberman’s legislative record — as impressive as it is — can’t begin to tell the story of his impact on America’s public life. He was a man of uncommon integrity who did the right things for the right reasons.”

Utah GOP Gov. Spencer Cox posted Wednesday on X, “I was always impressed with Senator Lieberman. He was a statesman, a gentleman and a patriot. I’m more grateful every day for public servants like him.”