Boehner called him “an inspiring defender of life and American liberty.” Kentucky senator Ron Paul called him an old friend.
Former Illinois congressman and Hillsdale alumnus Philip Crane ’52 died from lung cancer on Saturday night at his daughter’s house in Maryland. He was 84.
Born in Chicago, Crane graduated from Hillsdale and went on to study at Indiana University and serve in the U.S. Army for two years. After working on Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, where he was a charismatic speaker, he was elected as representative for Illinois’ 12th (now 8th) District in 1969, a position he held for 35 years. He served as vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee while in Congress, was a champion for free trade and lower and simplified taxes, and supported many bills to limit government spending. Crane described himself as a “conservative first and a Republican second.”
In 1973, Crane founded the Republican Study Committee, a group which works toward advancing political and social agendas within the House of Representatives. He was an influential figure in the founding of the Heritage Foundation as well.
When it was unclear in 1978 whether Ronald Reagan would run for the GOP nomination, Crane decided to try his hand at securing the nomination himself. But when Reagan entered the race, Crane withdrew, and graciously supported the future president.
Crane wrote many books, including his most famous, “The Democrat’s Dilemma,” as well as “The Sum of Good Government” and “Surrender in Panama: The Case Against the Treaty.”
Though there are few at Hillsdale now who knew him, Crane was a Trustee Emeritus of Hillsdale College and remained an active member on the board from 1968 to 2012.
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn wrote his impressions of Crane in an email:
“Phil Crane had a long and distinguished career. He was proud of his consistency of principle and proud that he maintained it through thick and thin for two generations. He was proudest of all that he had been a history teacher and the founder of a school. He loved our college, his alma mater, and he took throughout his life a keen interest in its well-being.”
“He was a fine man who had an impact on history,” Mike Harner, chief staff officer for the President’s Office, said.
“While Crane was a fierce partisan in debate and on the campaign trail, he was very personable and well-liked by members of both parties who he served with and got to know over the years,” Kirt Johnson, Crane’s former chief of staff, said in an obituary he wrote for Crane. “He was well-known for his great sense of humor and was a master joke-teller and a prankster, as anyone who spent time with him would soon discover.”
And as any true Hillsdale student, Crane had a great love for the U.S. Constitution, which he cited often in public speeches and cases.
Crane is survived by his siblings Daniel, David, and Judy, his seven children, and many grandchildren.
Funeral services will be on Saturday in Indiana. Crane is to be buried near the family farm.
As a successful politician and family man, Crane described a life well-lived in his own words and the words of his father:
“As my dad said, you have an obligation to leave the world better than how you found it. And he also reminded us to be givers in this life, and not takers.”
