A Tribute to Ralph Munro, A True Republican!

 

In Tribute to Ralph Munro: A traditional Republican and a Decent Human Being

Ralph Munro became Secretary of State in Washington in 1981, not long after I arrived in the state pursuing graduate studies at Washington State University. I never paid much attention to him. Secretary of State in state politics was an obscure position to me.

As I grew into my career as a scholar-activist I was recognized for my contributions in higher education by the Washington Education Association in 2003. Ralph Munro was also recognized for his strong advocacy for public K-12 education. We met at the awards dinner that day.

I still didn’t pay much attention to Ralph’s activities. But he was also a strong supporter of public higher education in the state and an alumnus of Western Washington University. After retirement Ralph founded the Munro Institute for Civic Education at Western. A graduate in education and political science, the institute is housed in the political science department.

I had the honor of directing the Munro Institute from 2015-21. Over those years I got to know Ralph a little. A centrist Republican who made a career of working both sides of the aisle, he knew he had planted his institute in the liberal bastion of the political science department at Western. During my first year at the institute, we held a conference themed “The Power of Civic Engagement.” Our keynote speaker was Pramila Jayapal, the liberal firebrand from Seattle who was then mounting her first campaign for Congress. The conference was a success attendance-wise and Ralph was a valuable audience member in a couple of the panels. He was happy that the conference went well, but as we planned subsequent programs, he would often privately counsel me, “remember Vernon! Not too liberal-biased. Make sure both sides get represented.” And indeed, over the years we did just that!   

I remember one year I had an institute table at the capitol in Olympia when nonprofit organizations were being featured. During lunchtime I walked around the capitol with Ralph. All kinds of people stopped to say hello and chat with him. I took note of a couple of people of color who greeted him warmly. They were people in civil rights and social services work in Seattle and Tacoma.

I came to learn more about Ralph’s commitment to dare I say, diversity, equity and inclusion over the years. He had befriended Terry Sullivan, a disabled child, while he was an aid to Washington Governor Dan Evans. In 1968 Evans visited the school for the disabled that Terry attended to dedicate a building. Ralph took the opportunity to introduce the governor to Terry. Sometime later Ralph got Evans to spend a day in a wheelchair to see what it was like.

Moved by the experience, Evans pushed for legislation to grant children with developmental disabilities the right to public school education. The Education for All” act passed in 1971. It was the first state legislation of its kind in the country.

Across his career in public life, Ralph would support orca protection in Puget Sound, expansion of voting, polio eradication in East Africa as well as Washington’s international trade.

Recognizing how far he seemed from the direction the Republican Party was drifting, I finally asked him why he remained a member of the party. He replied, “I’m still a Republican, because I want make sure somebody in those circles still has a conscience.”

The Latin root of Republican is “res publica.” It means the “public thing.” In contemporary political parlance it refers to public affairs, or the stewardship of the spaces we share in common. As we watch present-day Republicans slash government programs geared toward public welfare, we can say that they seem to have lost their way.

I raise a toast to the memory of Ralph Munro, a true Republican!