Patrick Lucey

Patrick Joseph Lucey (March 21, 1918 – May 10, 2014) was an American politician.

Lucey was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on March 21, 1918, the son of Ella (McNamara) and Gregory Lucey.

He grew up in the village of Ferryville, Wisconsin, and graduated from Campion High School in nearby Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1935.

He later attended St. Thomas College in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The idea was suggested in the 1940s and 1950s by Governors Oscar Rennebohm and Walter J. Kohler, Jr.

During World War II Lucey was drafted and served in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps in the Caribbean until he was discharged with the rank of captain in 1945.

After the war, Lucey graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1946 with a B.A. in philosophy.

Lucey served as justice of the peace in Ferryville, Wisconsin, in 1946.

He also served on the De Soto School Board and was board treasurer in 1946.

Lucey served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1949 to 1951.

From 1957 to 1963 he served as state chairman of the Democratic Party.

Lucey was a Wisconsin campaign aide of John F. Kennedy in his presidential run in 1960.

In 1964, Lucey was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin and served one term from 1965 to 1967.

He held the position of Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1965 to 1967 and unsuccessfully challenged Governor Warren P. Knowles in the 1966 gubernatorial election.

Lucey ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1966 but failed to unseat incumbent Warren Knowles.

At this time the governor and lieutenant governor of Wisconsin were elected on separate tickets, and voters chose Lucey, a Democrat, as lieutenant governor while simultaneously electing Republican Warren P. Knowles as governor (An amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution in 1967 combined elections for governor and lieutenant governor onto a single ticket).

Lucey was the first Wisconsin governor elected to a four-year term after a 1967 amendment to the state constitution extended terms from two years to four.

He was initially a supporter of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in his 1968 presidential bid, but began working for Senator Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign following Kennedy's assassination.

He was the acting director of the McCarthy campaign at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Lucey won the 1970 Wisconsin gubernatorial election and served as governor until 1977, when he accepted President Jimmy Carter's appointment to the position of United States Ambassador to Mexico.

As governor, Lucey presided over the merger of the Wisconsin State University system and the University of Wisconsin System.

In 1970, Lucey campaigned again for governor and was elected with 54 percent of the vote.

A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th Governor of Wisconsin from 1971 to 1977.

He took office on January 4, 1971.

In 1971, Lucey raised the issue again, saying a merger would contain the growing costs of two systems; give order to the increasing higher education demands of the state; control program duplication; and provide for a united voice and single UW budget.

Madison faculty and administrators by and large opposed the merger, fearing it would diminish the great state university.

Most WSU faculty and administrators favored the merger, believing it would add prestige to their institutions and level the playing field for state funding.

Merger legislation easily passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

After much maneuvering and lobbying, it was approved by a one-vote margin in the Republican-controlled Senate.

It took until 1974 for implementation legislation to be finalized.

"I had to be pretty heavy-handed – no merger, no budget", said Lucey in an interview following his term in office.

Lucey also recommended additional funding for tourism, which spurred development throughout the state.

Two examples were the expansion of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources park system and the Mt. Telemark Resort in Cable, Wisconsin.

Lucey ran successfully for a second term as governor in 1974, but he resigned effective July 6, 1977, to accept a nomination as United States Ambassador to Mexico.

One of Lucey's executive initiatives was to revive an idea to merge the state's two university systems, the Wisconsin State University (WSU) system and the University of Wisconsin System, with campuses at Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Parkside (Racine–Kenosha), as well as the University of Wisconsin–Extension.

He was also independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson's running mate in the 1980 presidential election.

Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Lucey served in state and local government offices after graduating from the University of Wisconsin.

He served in the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Army during World War II.

In 1980, he agreed to serve as the running mate to John B. Anderson, a former Republican congressman running an independent campaign.

The ticket of Anderson and Lucey won 6.6% of the popular vote in the 1980 election, which saw Carter unseated by Republican nominee Ronald Reagan.