Pelosi: John Murtha was her hero
In her new book “The Art of Power,” former House speaker Nancy Pelosi praises the late local congressman John Murtha, and deservedly so.
Murtha – a muscular Washington, D.C., deal-maker who dealt, when need be, across-the-aisle with the Republican opposition – brought millions of federal dollars back to his district, including Fayette County. A long-time member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Murtha turned defense dollars into jobs for his constituents while also steering federal funds to local tourism and historical preservation projects.
Murtha, who made his home in Johnstown after spending his boyhood in Mt. Pleasant, was criticized widely for lavishing taxpayer dollars on the people back home. In 2008, Esquire magazine called him one of the 10 worst members of Congress in part because of the $100 millions he secured in congressional “earmarks” that year.
His political heft was such that Murtha didn’t seem to mind. His attention was riveted on the people who sent him to Washington election after election. At his death in 2010, he was the longest serving member of the House in the history of Pennsylvania.
Pelosi, who gained traction on her way to the speakership thanks to a boost from Murtha, doesn’t mention any of this. Instead, she focuses on the role he played in opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq following 9/11.
A retired Marine colonel (reserves), Murtha received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam. In Congress, he was a defense hawk. He voted for the congressional resolution authorizing the George W. Bush administration to send troops to Iraq to find and destroy the weapons of mass destruction supposedly squirreled away there by that country’s dictator, Saddam Hussein.
Murtha came to regret that vote. It was clear Saddam held no WMDs. By 2005, the U.S. was bogged down in Iraq, and American troops were being wounded and killed by the score in hit-and-run skirmishes with Iraqi insurgents. In November 2005, Murtha (as Pelosi recounts) told his Democratic House colleagues that the Bush policy in Iraq was badly “flawed…. It is time for a change of direction. We cannot continue on the present course.”
Pelosi writes, “Because of his national security credentials, [Murtha] gave people confidence in a new path for our military and hope for peace.”
Suddenly, Murtha was propelled into the national spotlight. The former speaker – Pelosi gave up her post at the age of 83 in 2023 – notes that Murtha “could barely walk through an airport without being thanked and applauded.”
Martha’s position on the war was not universally acclaimed. I recall an address he made to a graduating class at Seton Hill University in Greensburg around this time. A number of the parents in attendance gave Murtha the business, stirring in their chairs and hooting loudly as he spoke.
Pelosi flashes back to a San Francisco fundraiser for the still-to-be-built Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Hosted by filmmaker George Lucas and sponsored by the NBA, the affair featured an unexpected tribute to Murtha. At the mention of his name, Murtha was applauded in absentia.
Pelosi, who attended the event in her hometown, recollects: “I was very happy, because I loved Jack and his wife, Joyce – he had been my campaign manager when I first ran for leadership in the House – but more importantly because of his courage.
“Jack had led many congressional delegations to visit our troops, and we often visited our troops when they came home, particularly our severely injured troops. I remember one of our visits to Walter Reed Hospital, the U.S. Army’s hospital. We were about to enter a patient’s room when we were asked to wait a moment. This was not unusual – but on this occasion, the soldier wanted time to welcome Jack. When the door opened, Jack saw the young man out of bed, standing and saluting him while wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers football team jersey….
“No one paid more visits to soldiers in hospitals than Jack, to comfort the patients and families, to witness their recuperation, and to understand their problems. Jack encouraged all of us to join him. During one visit, I was talking to a twenty-year-old soldier, and as he was describing his wounds, he said, ‘And, ma’am, I don’t have anything going on down below.’
“For him and so many other young men, another horrible price of war.”
At the end of “The Art of Power,” Pelosi again turns her attention to Murtha, calling him a “wise” counselor and her “hero” on Iraq.
Coming from Pelosi, maybe the most formidable and effective House speaker of all time, this is high praise.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.