Donald Paul Hodel is a name unknown to most political observers, at least those who are not history buffs. This is regrettable because, for decades, from his days organizing and leading Republicans at Harvard College to his home in Oregon where he boosted and led grassroots and state-level Republicans to Washington, D.C., where he lead energy-related and programmatically significant federal departments at the request of President Ronald Reagan to his years of pro-bono service on behalf of Christian nonprofit organizations, Hodel earned the respect and admiration of millions of people.
Fortunately, Hodel remedied that historical shortsightedness with the release of his autobiography, Called to Serve: My Path to President Reagan’s Cabinet and Beyond, on Feb. 2. Nonetheless, Called to Serve is not only for Reaganites, political junkies, Westerners, conservatives, or Christians, for whom Hodel’s explanation of how, after lifetimes as Christians, he and his wife first met Jesus Christ and became witnesses for him, is an inspiration. Indeed, for those interested in the secrets of a long and productive life well-lived, in which the hero suffered “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” at the highest levels and endured unspeakable tragedy not once but thrice and yet persisted with patience, goodwill, humor, and humility while evoking a self-deprecating wisdom, Hodel’s inspiring and bracingly honest tale is a must read.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, by emigrants from Regina, a city in Saskatchewan, Canada, whose forebearers came from all across Europe when the government sought farmers to create the “Breadbasket of Canada,” Hodel admired his parents as “bright, strong, special” people who instilled in him “solid values — ethics, primary principles, and the meaning of right and wrong.” His father, an excellent student, was forced into the workforce early by the 1918 influenza pandemic, and his willingness to take any paying job, diligence, and long hours of hard work were particularly inspirational. Hodel forever sought his father’s approval. His parents provided him with a lifetime of love, encouragement, and support.
A deep desire to please others, while committed to being respected rather than liked, to avoid giving insult, and to help as many people as possible caused a youthful Hodel to aspire to become president, or perhaps a pastor, but always, a “statesman, never a politician.” Valedictorian, president of his high school, and symphony-quality violinist, Hodel won a “full ride” at Harvard because, as a family friend advised, it was attended by the best lawyers, judges, and statesmen. Although Hodel played violin in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, it was politics where he flourished. He became president of the Harvard Young Republican Club, the school’s largest, in a conservative coup, which he took to “make a difference,” not just to hold the office. Then, at the 1956 Republican National Convention, Hodel managed hundreds of young Republicans in some early hijinks.
All else at Harvard, however, paled in comparison to his meeting the love of his life, Barbara Beecher Stockman, in a chance encounter at Wellesley College. After marrying, they returned to Oregon, where Hodel excelled at the University of Oregon School of Law before entering private practice. Later, seeking time with his wife and sons, Hodel left that to become in-house counsel to Georgia-Pacific Corporation. As at Harvard, Hodel’s interest in politics was unabated; nonetheless, those opportunities came to him, which, deferentially, he took only until “someone qualified” came along. Hodel’s mother told him he had arrived politically when she was introduced as “Don’s mother,” instead of him being presented as “Rose’s son.”
It was not just opportunities, for which he always sought to be prepared as his youthful readings of Horatio Alger taught him, that came Hodel’s way, but also lifelong friends. His Portland schoolmates, Harvard roommate, HYRC friends, political acquaintances, and work colleagues all emerged and reemerged throughout his life. In Hodel’s retelling, Oregon sounds like a small town, from the former family dentist to sons of men who were in Kiwanis together: all factored into his life. Yet, most significant was the lesson he learned from the 1964 Oregon Republican primary between Sen. Barry Goldwater and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller: “There was no room for someone who was neutral.”
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It was Reagan’s 1964 address on behalf of Goldwater, later known simply as “The Speech,” that turned Hodel into a committed supporter and an early advocate of Reagan’s presidential run, first urging him to enter the Oregon primary and then to campaign nationwide. It’s little wonder that Hodel was called to serve the man he so greatly admired for eight years in Washington. Three things, in Hodel’s view, made Reagan “a patriot to the hilt”: “his abiding belief and confidence in God, a fundamental commitment to human freedom everywhere, and a love of country.”
On reading his story, Hodel could be describing himself.
William Perry Pendley, a Marine, Wyoming attorney, and Colorado-based public-interest lawyer for three decades, with victories at the Supreme Court, served in the Reagan administration and led the Bureau of Land Management for President Donald Trump.