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!
