My Unexpected Journey
The Autobiography of
Governor Harry Roe Hughes
Raised in a sleepy Eastern Shore farming town where he was the son of a popular high school teacher, Harry Roe Hughes’s dream was to play for the New York Yankees. He never envisioned a life in politics, let alone become the governor of Maryland. As often happens, life steered him on a different course. In 1954, he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and entered a political world where he would prosper for the next thirty-two years. He steadily rose from delegate to senator, from back bencher to committee chairman to majority floor leader, and from legislator to cabinet secretary to governor.
Reviews
Pitted against better-known rivals, hopelessly short of money and running a campaign staffed with amateurs, Hughes came out of nowhere to win the September 1978 Democratic primary for governor in what remains one of the biggest upsets in Maryland political history. Two months later, he was elected in the largest landslide in state history to the first of two terms as Maryland’s 57th governor.
In contrast to the rampant political partisanship and government paralysis so common today, Harry Roe Hughes took a workmanlike approach to public service, more interested in results than personal advancement. His record – major tax and education reform, protection of the Chesapeake Bay and more – is one of lasting significance to all Marylanders. He respected the policy-making role of the General Assembly and governed through consensus. He eschewed the political. His style reflected his personality and approach to life: decent, honest, efficient, low-key and businesslike.
Elected in an era of political scandal, Harry Roe Hughes restored Maryland’s reputation for integrity and good government – an approach that, sadly, seemed quaint and old-fashioned by today’s standards.
“Toward the end of this extraordinary account of his lifetime in public service, Governor Hughes sums it up as ‘a workmanlike career.’ This is, in my view, a masterpiece of understatement…
“… Whatever the substance of the issue at hand, Harry’s approach was inevitably fair-minded and deliberative—qualities that have regrettably become all too rare in our public discourse. He sought results, not credit or glory. He had a deep respectfor the delicate balance among institutions that democratic governance under our Constitution requires. This did not change when he moved from the legislature to an executive agency or on to the governor’s mansion.
“As governor, Harry considered the legislature to be a partner in working through policy matters, not an adversary. This approach was a major factor in his success. Many of the reforms he introduced remain bedrock policy today.”
“Governor Hughes has done what all public servants should do. He has provided a cogent, absorbing account of his years of public service, and the lessons learned from his experiences. In this lively, nicely illustrated and eminently readable narrative, he helps us better understand the times and the decision-making process that shaped his years as a state senator, cabinet member and governor.”
Book Details
ISBN
1-59629-117-6
Publisher: The History Press, Charleston, South Carolina
Foreword by U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland
Release Date: 2006
224 pages including 62 photographs