American Agriculture Loses a Great Leader, the Ultimate Public Servant

By Michael R. McLeod

     With the death of Richard Lyng on February 1, American Agriculture lost a great leader, perhaps the most competent and skillful Secretary of Agriculture in the modern era.  He also set a new standard of public service in the job.

     He was not the greatest orator or the highest profile leader of the Department of Agriculture.  However, he mastered the art of managing the huge bureaucracy of USDA and working well with the Department’s many constituencies better than any other Secretary of Agriculture.  The job of Secretary of Agriculture is one of the most difficult in government, and it is routine for members of Congress to call for the resignation of the Secretary of Agriculture.  However, no one ever called for Dick Lyng’s resignation.  He skillfully worked with members of Congress of both parties, while remaining loyal to the conservative doctrine of the Reagan Presidency.

    It is impossible for a Secretary of Agriculture to satisfy all diverse and often opposing interests of small farmers, large commercial farmers, the grain trade, consumer advocates, environmentalists, the timber industry, the hunger lobby and food safety advocates.  Yet, Lyng was remarkably adept at working with all sides.  He disarmed his critics with his open-door policy and willingness to meet with all groups.  When he had to disagree with a group, he did so honestly, but in a gentle way   that made it hard for the group to dislike him.

     Lyng earned his ability to master the Department of Agriculture the hard way, by years of experience in both the California Government and the Federal Government. He did so after a successful private sector career.  Mr. Lyng, a native of Modesto, California graduated from Notre Dame in 1940 and served in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific in World War II.  From 1945 to 1967, he was president of Ed J. Lyng Co., a family owned seed and bean business.

     In 1967 he was appointed a deputy director of the California Agriculture Department under Governor Ronald Reagan and was promoted to director of the Department within a year.  In 1969 he came to Washington as the assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services in the Nixon Administration.

     Lyng was not entirely comfortable in the Nixon administration and left after Nixon’s first term to serve six years as President of the American Meat Institute.  Lyng joined the Reagan Presidential Campaign and headed up the Reagan farm campaign effort.  His message found a ready audience among farmers that felt that the Department of Agriculture was more interested in consumer interests than farmer interests and a farm constituency mad about the grain embargo that occurred in the Carter administration.

     When Reagan was elected, Lyng was appointed Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, where his administrative skills and insider knowledge were essential in a department, headed by John Block, a newcomer to Washington.  As the number two official at USDA he handled most of the administrative responsibilities while Block was the public face of the Department 

     Lyng retired in 1985 and went into business with Bill Lesher, where he served as a private consultant to some agricultural groups.  One was the American Association of Crop Insurers (AACI), a group that I have represented for many years.  As a public director of AACI, he provided wise counsel and guidance to a fledgling industry that badly needed his leadership.

     Although Lyng had made a decision to retire from government and had heart by-pass surgery in 1985, he could not refuse a call from his President.  Thus, President Reagan appointed him Secretary of Agriculture in 1986.  Lyng came to the position of Secretary with better credentials than any of his predecessors.  His knowledge of the Department came from serving as an Assistant Secretary and the Deputy Secretary (the person most responsible for daily management of the Department).  His service in the private sector both before his original public service and between stints in the public sector, made him realize the importance of treating his job as that of a public servant.  He understood that it was important that the Department truly serve rather than dictate to its many constituencies.

     Many appointed officials come to Washington with the finest of intentions but are soon overwhelmed by the complexity of their jobs.  Eventually they follow the course of least resistance and allow the career bureaucracy to make the decisions.  This never happened to Lyng because he had strong principles and he knew the Department too well.  His accessibility to all groups prevented any subordinates, either career or appointed, from abusing their positions.  All groups knew that they could talk directly to Lyng if they really had to.

     Some political appointees are hamstrung by the Department’s lawyers who tell them what they can or cannot do.  This is a real problem for appointees who, like Lyng, are not themselves lawyers.  Since most laws are vague, the lawyers often wind up making policy.  Lyng did not allow this to happen.  He made it clear to USDA’s lawyers that he would determine the policy, and it was the lawyers’ job to implement that policy in a manner consistent with the law.  Of course, Lyng never tried to break the law.  He simply insisted on the same kind of creative and responsive counsel that private sector executives routinely get from their attorneys. 

     One key to Lyng’s success was his knowledge of the limits of his power.  While he served an administration whose policy was to oppose the elaborate farm subsidy programs of USDA, he knew that it was foolish to go up to Capitol Hill and waste political capital pushing that philosophy in Congress.  Therefore, he was content to manage the Department in the most efficient way possible and cut red tape and excessive regulation wherever he could.

     Lyng was fiercely loyal to his political patron, President Reagan.  During the first Reagan term, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget was David Stockman, a hard line foe of government spending in general and farm program subsidies in particular.  Stockman was encouraged to leave after making some disloyal comments about President Reagan.  He then wrote a tell-all book about the Reagan Administration entitled The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed.  Among the people he criticized was Lyng, who he considered to be merely an advocate of wasteful farm subsidies.  I read the book and kidded Mr. Lyng about it.  I asked if I could send him a copy.  He responded that he would borrow it, but refused to help someone as disloyal as Stockman by either buying his book or allowing anyone to buy one for him.  I sent him a copy of the book, and sure enough, he returned it to me a few weeks later. 

     Dick Lyng served as a wise and gentle mentor to many young people who worked in agriculture.  I was one of those fortunate people.  He provided wise counsel to me in a number of tangible and intangible ways.  He also was an early supporter of farmer-funded commodity promotion programs, one of my firm’s main practice areas.  When we started the National Dairy Board program, the question arose as to whether the Board could have outside counsel.  The bureaucracy was adamantly opposed.  Lyng, however, pointed out that USDA’s Office of General Counsel did not have enough personnel to service all of the legal needs of the new National Dairy Board, which was much larger than any existing program.  Thus, the National Dairy Board and other boards were able to hire outside counsel that enabled them to function effectively.

     In addition to fostering my career, Lyng helped numerous other young people on their way up the ladder.  They are too numerous to mention here, but two examples are (1) Manly Molpus, who succeeded Lyng at the American Meat Institute and ultimately became CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers of America; and (2) Ann Veneman, who Lyng brought to Washington and mentored as she began a career that ultimately resulted in her being the first woman appointed to the position of Secretary of Agriculture.