Thornburgh No Stranger To Department

If reports prove correct and Institute of Politics Director Richard L. Thornburgh becomes the next Attorney General, he will be no stranger to the Department of Justice.

From 1969 to 1975, the former Pennsylvania governor-turned-Harvard-academic, was the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh. He then moved to Washington to become the assistant attorney general, heading up the criminal division from 1975 to 1977.

Born on July 16, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Thornburgh is the son of an engineer and grandson of a professor. He graduated from Yale in 1954 with a degree inengineering and went to law school, and thenpracticed law in Pittsburgh. He married his secondwife in 1963, Virginia "Ginny" Judson, who hasworked to help the handicapped and mentallyretarded.

Thornburgh got his start in politics in 1969when he became the U.S. attorney for westernPennsylvania. The young Thornburgh quickly won aname for himself as he aggressively attackedorganized crime, corruption, drug trafficking andpornography. As a result of his strong anti-crimestance, in 1975 he was appointed by President Fordto the post of Assistant Attorney General of theU.S., in charge of the Justice Department'sCriminal Division.

Ending his tour as Assistant Attorney Generalin 1977, Thornburgh decided to try a run as hisparty's candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.Facing a strong Democratic opponent who held anearly 30-point lead in a overwhelmingly Democraticslate, Thornburgh waged a tough campaign to win thepost he would hold for the next eight years.

As governor in 1979, Thornburgh pushed througha program which centered on reducing taxes and theamount of state expenditures. During hiseight-year term he cut state income and businesstaxes by $1 billion over three years and fired15,000 state employees. He further reducedgovernment expenditures by kicking what helabelled able-bodied adults off the welfare rollsand passing laws restricting the amount of medicalcost assistance.

Thornburgh governed his state through one ofthe toughest economic periods in its history. Hardhit by economic recession and the decline of itssmokestack industries in coal and steel,Pennsylvania's unemployment rate reached seventhhighest in the nation when he took office.

By encouraging national economic trends towardsservice-oriented and high technology businessesand creating job retraining programs, Thornburghis credited by his supporters with creating morethan 500,000 new jobs and reducing unemployment tothe point where Pennsylvania was at the nationalaverage. His voters seemed to approve, as theyreturned him to office by more than 100,000 votesin 1982.

As the state constitution forbade him fromholding office a third consecutive term, theattraction of running in an election was not loston Thornburgh as 1986 approached. First he toyedwith the idea of running against incumbent ArlenSpecter (R-Pa.) for a U.S. Senate seat. Hisstatewide popularity would have made that electiona close one, but friendship with Specter and adesire to "get out of politics for a while" madeThornburgh change his mind, he said last summer.

Nevertheless, he waited for a job that wouldallow him "to gain a perspective on politics for awhile" and "keep in touch with my colleagues andthe issues of the day. For Thornburgh, the IOPposition was the perfect job. He even turned downan offer by President Reagan to become FBIDirector because "it was a 10-year commitment Iwasn't ready to make."

But while Thornburgh may have decided againstcampaigning for a political post, he has stillbeen actively involved in the political worldwhile at Harvard. He has been mentioned as apossible running mate for Vice President GeorgeBush in the fall campaign. And he testifed onbehalf of Judge Robert Bork, whom he knew from hisearlier Justice Department days, during hisunsuccessful nomination hearings before the SenateJudiciary Committee last year