Idaho.

Experience is made possible with funding from the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, Anne Voilleque and Louise Nelson, Judy and Steve Meyer, With additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

and contributions to the Friends of Idaho Public Television and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Betty Richardson: Who was Frank Church?

Frank Church was probably what a Senator should be.

(Music) Wetherell: I think Frank Church would probably say that he was, most proud of the number of lives that he helped save by, limiting the war in Vietnam.

Peter Fenn: Well, in my mind, he was one of the most courageous politicians of his day.

(Music) Narrator: Frank Forrester Church, the third, was born in Boise, July of 1924.

Carl Burke: Frank was from a very strong Republican family.

There was always politics talked in the in the House.

Peter Fenn: Frank Church from a very early age showed an interest in politics, public service.

The issues of the day Narrator: Church's role model was Idaho.

Senator William Borah.

Borah was known as the lion of the Senate.

One of its greatest orators.

It wasn't so much Borah’s politics that Church admired, as it was Borah’s ability to sway an audience with words.

In his junior year at Boise High School, Church entered and won the American Legion National High School Oratorical Contest, a major feat for a boy from Idaho.

In his senior year, he was student body president, and there was a new pretty brunet transferring from Idaho Falls.

The daughter of Idaho's newly elected Governor, Chase Clark.

Her name was Bethine.

Bethine Church: But for Frank and Carl Burke and Stan Burns and my good friends, I might have been the most miserable person on Earth moving in the middle of a senior year.

Yeah, but instead, I just had a glorious time.

Narrator: The happy moments turned all too serious.

After two semesters at Stanford, he joined the Army.

Burke: He went through the Fort Benning drill.

And became an infantry officer later assigned to intelligence, military intelligence, and later went on to the Far East and India and, China Narrator: Service in the war transformed Church’s thinking about America's role in the world, especially in the Far East.

He and Bethine had an on again, off again relationship because Church could never quite commit.

Fenn: And once he found out, wait a minute.

She may be getting married to somebody else and his friends, all his Boise friends who he kept all his life said to him, Frank, you got to move here.

You gotta get going, because you may lose Bethine.

And at that point, I think he, you know, he made the the proposal.

Narrator: The two were married on the front porch of the Robinson Bar Ranch.

The Clark family cabin.

Church was accepted at Harvard Law School, but he and Bethine returned to Stanford.

Then Church got sick.

A doctor diagnosed testicular cancer.

Initially given three months to live.

Church and Bethine considered committing suicide.

They just couldn't imagine life without each other.

But another physician suggested the cancer might respond to a new radical treatment.

Radiation.

Burke: Bombarded with x rays, just bombarded something fierce.

He was very ill and, but he kept hanging on.

And one day they concluded that they’d killed the cancer Bethine: And with that gift of life, he felt that he didn't know how long it would be, and he just wanted to live every bit of it.

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, we take pleasure at introducing Mr. Frank Church, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Mr. Church.

Church: Good evening.

For the past ten years, the Republican Party has Bethine: He only practiced law for five years.

And I could just feel it building in him.

And finally he said, you know, I'd like to run for the Senate, So I said, well, we have to have some money to run on.

So we sold our house and we had $6,000 that was ours after we sold it, and we ran on that 6000.

Church: I think it's time that we put an end to Idaho's decade of stunted growth.

Ten years of continuous Republican administration of our state of affairs have produced negative results.

It's time for a change.

Narrator: And change came.

By election night, Church won with more than 56% of the vote.

At 32, he became one of the youngest senators in American history.

Fenn: He was fairly thin.

And, he resembled, not only the elevator operators, the young guys, but he almost resembled the Senate pages who were teenagers.

So he’d often, you know, when they called him the boy Senator, that that meant more than just being so young, that meant he really looked like it.

Narrator: Frank and Bethine moved their family to Washington.

While Church got started learning the ropes in the Senate.

Bethine took on the tougher job of being a U.S.

Senators wife.

Bethine: For a Senator from a sparsely populated western state to have a wonderfully engaging spouse who could talk to Fidel Castro that feel, very comfortable with Jacqueline Kennedy.

And everything in between, was a tremendous asset.

It helped open doors.

Narrator: At first, Church struggled to find his place among his colleagues.

Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson froze him out over a previous vote, but changed his mind when Church found a compromise that passed the first civil rights bill since reconstruction.

Fenn: When Church, came to Lyndon Johnson with the jury trial amendment and, and helped craft it, it allowed for that first Civil Rights bill to go through and it also led the way for Frank Church to be, selected by Lyndon Johnson to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee as a freshman, Narrator: With the support of presidential candidate John Kennedy.

Church campaigned to be the keynote speaker at the 1960 Democratic Convention.

(Crowds Cheering) Church: If the Soviet Union is communism on exhibit.

Even more is the United States the showcase of democracy?

How urgent it is for us to show all the watching world that democracy has the will to serve vital public needs.

Narrator: Church was rapidly becoming a national figure and a powerful force in the Senate.

Church: I've never known a man who went up on an Idaho mountainside and spent a night under a star studded, summer sky who felt self-important the next morning.

Narrator: Church was a supporter of the Wilderness Act.

It would set aside millions of acres of federal land from being developed.

But when the Interior Committee chair fell sick, he asked Church to take the bill to the floor.

Church managed the floor debate, and it passed 73 to 12.

He then headed home to campaign for reelection.

It seemed like everyone, including his father in law, challenged the wisdom of supporting the wilderness bill.

Wetherell: How do you expect to win, supporting this bill?

The mining industry is going to oppose it.

The timber industry is going to oppose it.

you'll lose this election.

Well, Church, did the work on it.

It was successful.

And the people of Idaho reelected him.

Narrator: Church won with almost 56% of the vote, though it would be another three years before the wilderness Bill would make it out of the house and be signed into law.

(Angry Crowds) Back in Washington, Church was concerned about the mood of the country, civil unrest and the rise of the radical right left him with a sense of foreboding.

He wasn't wrong.

Walter Cronkite: President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Narrator: To honor the slain JFK.

Now, President Lyndon Johnson moved quickly to pass his first major piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Brady: Well, it's difficult task because the South had a near strangle hold on the Senate at that time, and they were Democrats and they were in the majority Larry LaRocco: Church became a key vote on some amendments, actually.

And he carried amendments on the Senate floor for Johnson.

Narrator: And as part of his work on the Select Committee on Aging, Church moved to do something for another group of Americans.

Penny Gross: The poorest people in the country were aging widows.

their husbands may have had Social Security, but their Social Security allotment was so small it couldn't keep body and soul together.

It was sort of a scandal.

Narrator: Back in 1957 Church had supported the establishment of Social Security disability insurance to help those who couldn't work because of a disability.

Now, he joined with President Johnson to create Medicare.

But the escalating events in Vietnam outraged Church.

So in 1965, he spoke out against American intervention in Vietnam.

Church: It's a long way from Idaho to Vietnam.

From the time the first American soldier landed in Vietnam.

I have voted to give our fighting men all possible support.

But I was against sending American boys into Vietnam in the first place.

General MacArthur warned after Korea that we should never again involve ourselves in another war on the Asian mainland, where we can spend away our men and money without limits.

I agree.

I didn't want us caught up again in another winless war George McGovern: Frank and I came out, almost simultaneously against the war.

we decided we had to begin speaking out more sharply.

And we both took the floor of the Senate from January 1965 until the end of that war, in trying to force a conclusion to it.

Walter Mondale: He was willing to risk his office over it.

I mean, this is the way you lose elections.

But he went home and told the folks that he thought this was a foolish war.

That, and from all the reasons that we later learned the hard way.

And, I think that's one of the great legacies he left our country.

An example of courage and under fire.

Narrator: Church indeed took heat for his views back home in Idaho.

Ron Rankin, a north Idahoan with ties to the John Birch Society and wealthy conservatives from California, started a recall petition.

The effort didn't go far, but it put Church on notice that his campaign for reelection in 1968 was going to be a fight.

(Singing) Who's there for Senator Frank church?

Narrator: Church ran against Congressman George Hanson.

Richardson: It was a nasty campaign.

George Hansen: I don't believe in feeding and fighting the enemy at the same time.

I have consistently opposed all trade concessions with communist nations, particularly so long as they supply the means to the enemy and Vietnam to prolong the war and kill American soldiers.

Narrator: Church had a huge advantage on the campaign trail.

Bethine!

(Bethine talking ) Frank ran out of pamphlets too.

Hi, Joe.

How are you?

How you.

Doing?

Forrest Church: I'm confident that, his success is at least, in half measure due to, my mother's a tremendous, loving political instinct.

She, always, would be the first person in the family to shake a hand in the morning and the last person in the family to shake a hand at night.

Announcer: Though Idahoans threw their support behind Republican Richard Nixon for president.

Enough crossed party lines to give church a narrow victory.

Howard K. Smith: We want to go now across the continent to Boise, Idaho, where Sal Celeski, our ABC correspondent is with Senator Frank Church.

Sal Celeski: Senator, do you see this projection, which is apparently going to be 56, 58% as indicative of your, policy regarding Vietnam?

Church: Well, no, I think that, it's more representative of the very, independent mindedness of Idaho people.

I think the vote reflects that.

And I've tried to give them independent judgment, independent representation in the Senate.

Narrator: In addition to his work on Vietnam, Church had amassed a long list of conservation accomplishments, including the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the National Seashores Act.

Now, he saw it was time to protect what he felt was the heart of Idaho.

The Sawtooths and the White Clouds.

Sen. Frank Church: The White Cloud Mountains in Idaho are among the most beautiful in the country.

They become the subject of a heated controversy, of which many of you are acquainted for the discovery of molybdenum at the base of Castle Peak.

Narrator: Church had long tried to get a bill passed, but it always failed in the House.

And with a Republican president, he knew he needed even more help.

But this time, he had a Republican ally.

Second District Congressman Orval Hansen.

Hansen got first District Congressman Jim McClure on board.

Orval Hansen: We came together and decided that we would introduce the same legislation trying to push it.

Church: For me, the passage of this bill was especially gratifying, for it capped a personal effort of more than 12 years in the Senate.

Narrator: But the war in Vietnam raged on, and protests across the country led to civil unrest.

Church reached across the aisle again to team up with Kentucky Republican Senator John Sherman Cooper.

The series of Cooper Church amendments prohibited the use of ground troops in Cambodia by cutting off funding.

Church didn't forget other areas of national concern.

Now, chair of the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, he pushed through legislation dramatically improving Social Security.

Wetherell: If you're a Social Security recipient today any increase you've received for cost of living increases and Social Security, you can thank Frank Church for.

Narrator: In 1974, Church campaigned in the shadow of the Watergate scandal.

At first, no one thought it would be a tough race, but an old opponent used a new political action committee to spread dirt.

Man: I received a little deal on my gate the other day from John Birchers.

I was worrying if you might want to make some comments relating to that information that was handed at my gate there.

Church: I can't help but feel that it will backfire, because Idaho people are pretty intelligent people and pretty fair minded people.

And I just don't think that they're going to be taken in by a dirty trick campaign of this kind directed against me.

I've been representing the state for 18 years.

And I don't think the people of Idaho will buy this either.

Narrator: Church won by a large margin and went back to Washington, thinking he might run for President.

Instead, he faced one of the biggest challenges of his career.

Announcer: From CBS news, Washington.

A spontaneous and unrehearsed news interview on Face the Nation.

Narrator: Cy Hersh of The New York Times had produced several scathing reports outlining CIA efforts to destabilize foreign governments, tap the phones and read the mail of thousands of Americans and many other covert operations of the nation's intelligence agencies.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield knew there needed to be an investigation, but at first he wasn't sure Church was the man to do it.

Fenn: And he said to the Senator, I don't want you to run for President when you're chairman of this committee.

And Church pledged to him that he would not have a campaign for President, LaRocco: So its a huge assignment that Mansfield asked him to do.

This was the NSA, the FBI and the CIA.

There was no oversight, of those agencies until Church's work.

Fenn: We looked at the infiltration of the antiwar movement and the Civil Rights movement, by America's intelligence agencies.

We looked at the effort to, foment coups in foreign countries.

Church: This has not been brought on because the Congress wish to interfere with intelligence work.

It's been brought on because of the evidence that the agency has not been operating properly, and within the law.

Fenn: They created a new permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

And they created something called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to stop the spying on Americans.

Mondale: Today the most important document bearing on, I would say American liberty that exists.

And wherever you read about this issue somewhere or another in that story, they still talk about the Church Committee.

Church: So to those who say it's too late, I reply that it's never too late to try.

Nor are the odds ever too great.

That was the spirit with which the West was won.

And in that spirit, I now formally declare my candidacy for the office of President of the United States.

(cheering) Narrator: Church entered the race for the Presidency in March 1976.

(Music) The Nebraska primary would be his first test.

Forrest: We started out at 0% in the polls with 12 days to go.

And at the end of this, 12 days intensive, introduction to Frank Church, he won the primary against, Jimmy Carter.

Narrator: But even though he was doing well in the remaining primaries, he eventually recognized he couldn't get enough delegates for the nomination.

Church: Last Wednesday, following the final Presidential primaries in Ohio, California and New Jersey, I phoned Jimmy Carter to congratulate him on his forthcoming nomination.

(Office Sounds) Narrator: Back in the Senate, Church wanted to save the largest blocks of primitive wilderness in the lower 48.

He proposed the Central Idaho Wilderness Act to preserve the area surrounding Idaho's famous River of No Return.

Church took heat from some mining and recreational interests.

LaRocco: And Church answered some of those questions by preserving, the landing strips and the backcountry and allowing jet boats and so forth, and making sure that the boundaries made a lot of sense from a science standpoint, from the the watersheds and the landscapes and and so forth.

Narrator: Church was now chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

President Carter wanted to improve relations with Latin American countries, especially Panama.

So he pushed a Panama Canal treaty.

Fenn: I felt during the time that the Panama Canal treaty was the greatest non-issue of our time.

It should have been passed quickly and easily.

It took 67 votes.

It's a treaty, obviously, but the opposition to that treaty was unbelievable.

David McCullough: I know that many of the people who voted for the Panama Canal treaties in the Senate knew that it wasn't popular and could cost them their seat, and they voted for it anyway, as a matter of conscience, as a matter of principle.

And Frank had, in my view, he had what Truman had.

And it's one thing to have courage.

But what really matters is when you have the courage of your conviction.

Bethine: When we started the campaign, he said, look, we're not going to talk about this again, but I don't think we're going to win this one.

I said, all right.

And he said, but we have a lot of people who have a vested interest and who care dearly, and we just got to give it the best shot we can.

Narrator: It was a dirtier campaign than anyone imagined.

The National Conservative Political Action Committee was pioneering the use of independent expenditures to influence elections.

Church: Look at his ad today for example.

Narrator: In 1980, it spent millions of dollars targeting Democrats like Church to try and take control of the Senate.

In his first campaign in 1956, Church spent $10,000.

In his 1980 race, he spent 3 million.

Fenn: And in the end of the day, we lost just a little bit over 4000 votes.

One of the closest Senate races in the entire country.

Bethine: And I remember the morning that, he had been defeated and of course, it was so close.

Nobody let him concede the night before, although he wanted to.

So we waited till the next morning and someone said, well, what are you and Bethine going to do?

And much to my surprise and everybody else's, he said, we've decided to stay together.

And it it just blew away the crowd.

Narrator: In January of 1984.

Doctors discovered advanced pancreatic cancer.

Church went home where he wanted to stay until the end.

But for a guy who knew very young, that his life might end all too soon.

He lived it to the fullest, to the very fullest.

Narrator: To honor the man who had done so much for the institution of the Senate, for his home state, and for all Americans.

Congress and President Reagan renamed the Idaho Central Wilderness as the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness area.

he always had had this feeling that Borah was a great Senator for Idaho.

and he always was a little bit jealous that he had a mountain named after him.

And he said to me rather sweetly, just that last month before he died, he said, well, Bethine, I now have a lot of mountains and a lot of rivers.

He said, I've really got a very special place.

And then he grinned at me.

Made it all worthwhile for him.

Narrator: Frank Forrester Church the third, died on April 7th, 1984.

He was 59.

Forrest: Not only did he teach us how to live, he also taught us how to die.

My father, from a very early age, was touched with natural grace.

He learned following his struggle with cancer at the age of 23, that life is a gift and not a given.

This gift comes with a price attached.

My father was a bit like the day star.

Rising early to prominence.

Brilliant in the dusk and against the darkness.

Showing other stars the way.

When it came time for him to go.

When his precious flame flickered, he was ready peacefully.

Naturally, with serenity and grace he returned his light unto the eternal horizon.

Idaho.

Experience is made possible with funding from the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, Anne Voilleque and Louise Nelson, Judy and Steve Meyer, With additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

and contributions to the Friends of Idaho Public Television and viewers like you.

Thank you.