US House of Representatives

Simon resumed his political career in 1974 when he was elected to Congress from Illinois's 24th congressional district, defeating former Harrisburg mayor Val Oshel.^[12] He was re-elected four times. He was later redistricted to Illinois's 22nd congressional district.

In 1978, Simon was the first recipient of the Foreign Language Advocacy Award, presented by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his service on the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies and his support for language study.^[13]

According to the New York Times, Simon was never particularly popular with his House colleagues.^[10]

US Senate

In 1984, he ran for, and was elected to the US Senate, defeating three-term incumbent Charles H. Percy in an upset election, winning 50% of the vote.

He won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 1990 by defeating U.S. Representative Lynn Morley Martin with 65%, compared to Martin's 35%. While serving in the Senate, he co-authored an unsuccessful Balanced Budget Amendment with Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.^[14]

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Retirement announcement by Simon, November 15, 1994, C-SPAN

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Simon gained national prominence after criticizing President George H. W. Bush during the 1992 presidential campaign, after Bush claimed a central role in causing the collapse of the Eastern bloc of the Soviet Union. During a speech at Chicago's Taste of Polonia, Bush had aggressively promoted the success of his own presidency and his importance as Vice President in the Reagan administration's role in Eastern Europe. This was an attempt by Bush to carry Chicago's Polish community in order to win Illinois during the election. Bush's claims were roundly denounced by Simon, and Bush eventually lost the state in the general election, possibly due to Simon's remarks.^[15] Simon did not seek reelection in 1996.

Presidential campaign

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Booknotes interview with Jeanne Simon on Codename: Scarlett – Life on the Campaign Trail by the Wife of a Presidential Candidate, July 23, 1989, C-SPAN

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Simon sought the Democratic nomination for President in 1988. Mostly unknown outside of Illinois and in low single digits in national polls after his March 1987 announcement, Simon made a name for himself as the oldest, some thought most old-fashioned, candidate, with horn rimmed glasses and bow tie, and one who proudly associated himself with the New Deal liberalism associated with Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Simon surged ahead in Iowa in October, and was, by December, the clear front-runner in that state. However, in February 1988, Simon narrowly lost the Iowa caucus to Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri, and finished third in the New Hampshire primary the following week, with weak showings in Minnesota and South Dakota a week later. Out of money and momentum, Simon largely skipped the key Southern "Super Tuesday" primaries on March 8, concentrating on his home state a week later, where key local Democrats were running as Simon delegates on the delegate selection ballot, and wanted to attend the Democratic National Convention regardless of Simon's slim chance of winning the nomination. Simon won the Illinois primary, and decided to make a final effort in the Wisconsin Primary in early April, but dropped out after he finished behind Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Tennessee Senator Albert Gore. Simon endorsed Dukakis, who won the Democratic nomination in July, with Jackson the last active challenger.

To boost his campaign, Simon made an appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), co-hosting with musician Paul Simon (to whom he was not related).^[16]

Social issues

Simon was fiercely against obscenity and violence in the media during the 1990s, and his efforts against media violence helped lead to the adoption of the V-chip.^[18]

During the 1990s, Simon opposed both the Republicans' Contract with America, and President Bill Clinton's welfare reforms. He was one of 21 Senators to vote against the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.^[19] In 1996, Simon joined thirteen other senators (including his fellow U.S. Senator from Illinois, Carol Moseley Braun) in voting against the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage.^[20]

Fiscal issues

Simon was considered a fiscal conservative, who described himself as "a pay-as-you-go Democrat." As a senator, Simon helped overhaul the college student loan program to allow students and their families to borrow directly from the federal government, thus saving money by not using private banks to disburse the loans.^[21]

Foreign affairs

Simon promoted a military response to Somalia during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.^[22] Simon was an outspoken critic of President Bill Clinton's response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Simon believed that America should have acted faster, and Clinton later said his belated response was the biggest mistake of his presidency.^[23] He is, together with Jim Jeffords, supported by Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda from 1993 to 1994, for actively lobbying the Clinton administration into mounting a humanitarian mission to Rwanda during the genocide. According to Dallaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil, he "owe[s] a great debt of gratitude" to both senators.

Presidency

Simon believed modern presidents practice "followership," rather than leadership, saying, "We have been more and more leaning on opinion polls to decide what we're going to do, and you don't get leadership from polls... and not just at the Presidential level. It's happening with Senators, House members, and even state legislators sometimes, [when they] conduct polls to find out where people stand on something."^[24]

Simon was also a supporter of Taiwan and opposed United States policy to isolate Taiwan. He helped convince President Clinton to allow Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to visit the United States.^[25] He also was impressed as a teen listening to Mme Chiang Kai-shek speech and met her at the 50th Anniversary of World War II reception at Capitol Hill in 1995.

Education

Simon rose to national attention in the 1960s, due in part to his well-researched book, Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years. Despite being published 100 years after Abraham Lincoln's death, it was the first book to exhaustively cite original source documents from Lincoln's eight years in the General Assembly. He later went on to write more than 20 books on a wide range of topics, including interfaith marriages (he was a Lutheran and his wife, Jeanne, was a Catholic), global water shortages, United States Supreme Court nomination battles that focused heavily on his personal experiences with Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, his autobiography, and even a well-received book on martyred abolitionist publisher Elijah Lovejoy. His final book, Our Culture of Pandering, was published in October 2003, two months before his death.

After his primary defeat for governor in 1972, Simon founded the Public Affairs Reporting graduate program at Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois,^[26] which helped launch the careers of more than 500 journalists.^[27] Simon, who had written four books at the time, also taught a course titled "Non-Fiction Magazine and Book Writing" at Sangamon State, and also taught at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1973.

Simon lived for many years in the small town of Makanda, Illinois, south of Carbondale, where he was a professor and director of the SIU Public Policy Institute. While there, he tried to foster the institute into becoming a think tank that could advance the lives of all people. Activities included going to Liberia and Croatia to monitor their elections, bringing major speakers to campus, denouncing the death penalty, trying to end the United States embargo against Cuba,^[28] fostering political courage among his students, promoting an amendment to the United States Constitution to end the electoral college, and attempting to limit the president to a single six-year term of office. During the electoral college fiasco that followed the 2000 election, Simon said: "I think if somebody gets the majority vote, they should be president. But, I don't think the system is going to be changed."

Family

Simon was the brother of Arthur Simon, founder of Bread for the World.

On April 21, 1960, Simon married Jeanne Hurley Simon, a member of the Illinois state legislature.^[29] It was the first time in Illinois history that two sitting members of the Illinois General Assembly married. She was an integral part of her husband's rise to national prominence. She later became a successful lawyer, author, and chair of National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. She died in February 2000 of brain cancer.^[30] Upon her death, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin delivered a tribute to Mrs. Simon on the senate floor.^[31] Their daughter, Sheila Simon, became the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in January, 2011. She previously served as a councilwoman in Carbondale, Illinois and was a law professor at Southern Illinois University.^[32]

Simon made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the 1993 political comedy film Dave.

In May 2001, Simon remarried to Patricia Derge, the widow of former Southern Illinois University President David Derge.

Culture

Simon appeared on Saturday Night Live with host and singer Paul Simon (no relation) on December 19, 1987. Also on SNL, Simon was played by Al Franken who would later become a senator himself.