ONLINE: Patrick Lucey: A Lasting Legacy

media release: Join WisPolitics.com for a virtual lunchtime discussion with the author of the Lucey book and those who knew the former governor, ambassador and vice presidential candidate. The panel consists of author Dennis Dresang, daughter and voting rights attorney Laurie Lucey and Lucey advisers Joe Sensenbrenner and Jim Wood.

The program is set to run Tuesday, Sept. 22, from noon to 1 p.m., via a webinar. The event will begin with a moderated discussion with the panel and then shift to questions from the audience.

Buy the book here. Read an excerpt here.

REGISTER FOR THIS FREE EVENT:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchims6FYfD6U2F61VBHIMHso64jSLFY6Yba7iNJEK3BtM5RQ/viewform

On the morning of Sept. 22, you will be sent a link to view the event.

Thank you to our event sponsors: Husch Blackwell, American Family Insurance, Xcel Energy, Walmart, AARP Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

The program will also air on the Wispolitics.com YouTube channel.

About the Book:

This fall, biographer Dennis J. Dresang reintroduces Wisconsin to Gov. Patrick J. Lucey in his new Wisconsin Historical Society Press biography. As Wisconsin governor from 1971 to 1977, Lucey pursued a wide-ranging and ambitious progressive agenda, tempered by the concerns of a fiscal conservative and a pragmatic realist. A progressive with small town roots, he was known for bridging partisan divides, building coalitions and keeping politics civil.

A politician who loved political combat within a context of civility, he was respected by leaders on both sides of the aisle, noted former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson in his advance review of the book, "Perhaps the greatest testament to Governor Lucey’s leadership is the fact that the only thing he enjoyed more than politics was governing and getting things done. I am proud to have been one of his followers."

In addition to his work as Wisconsin's first four-year term governor, Lucey was a political organizer, Kennedy confidant, ambassador and vice presidential candidate. He merged Wisconsin’s universities into one system, equalized the funding formula for public schools, and played a key role in rebuilding the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, returning a state that had been long dominated by Republicans to a more moderate two-party system. Later in his career, Lucey served as ambassador to Mexico under US President Jimmy Carter, was a key player in a number of state and national campaigns, and unsuccessfully ran for vice president as an independent in 1980.

Rediscover the progressive Wisconsin governor who "got things done" and shepherded long-lasting reforms in Dresang's biography, Patrick J. Lucey: A Lasting Legacy. The biography is available at your favorite book retailer or library or as an e-book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dennis L. Dresang is professor emeritus of Public Affairs and Political Science and founding Director of the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research and scholarly publications have focused on state politics, public personnel management, and community issues.