UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #750
DREYFUS, LEE

DREYFUS, Lee (1926-2008)
Governor, State of Wisconsin; President, UW-Stevens Point; Professor, Speech Department; Board of Regents
At UW: 1946-1952, 1962-1967

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Robert Lange
Length: 3 hours

Instructor for UW Extension Center System; Wayne State University; UW-Madison speech department; Statewide television network; Presidency of Stevens Point; Patrick Lucey; Merger; Gubernatorial campaign; Term as governor; Board of Regents; State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Relations between state legislature and UW. 

First Interview Session (March 7, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:00	Lee Dreyfus pursued undergraduate and graduate study at UW-Madison after his time in the armed services.  He was married as a freshman and he and his wife lived in Badger Village.  He was a graduate student. UW-Extension offered LD an instructorship to teach beginning speech in the Extension Center System. He concluded his doctoral work in 1952 and accepted a position at Wayne State University, where he managed a radio station. LD describes his major professors at Madison.

00:03:45	After ten years in Michigan, the speech department brought him back to Madison as a full professor. He chaired a steering committee for statewide television. LD introduced a course on mass media.  He was also responsible to manage WHA. His work in developing a statewide television network brought him into contact with the state university system.  LD supported the diversity of studio ownership within the state because no one group would have control of the content.  

00:08:20	He collaborated with senators in the state legislature.  At that time Republicans controlled state government; the Democrats were moribund. LD taught mass media in the speech department from 1962 to 1967.  He discusses the strength of the department and the decline of basic speech teaching.  

00:12:00	He was persuaded to go to UW-Stevens Point as president.  He insisted that he remain a professor and be able to teach his mass media course there.  As a result he established more student contacts than administrative contacts.

00:16:03	LD describes his presidency at Stevens Point.  He created new colleges, such as the College of Natural Resources, established overseas branches, and increased enrollment.  During his statewide speaking tours to talk up enrollment he began to establish a political base–although at the time he had no political aspirations. He was surprised at the stellar teaching at Stevens Point.  The school was beginning to specialize in natural resources and fisheries. His experience at Stevens Point was central to his later perceptions of the UW System when he was governor.  

00:22:00	Patrick Lucey was one of LD’s neighbors in Madison in the 1960s.  Lucey recruited LD to train Democratic legislators in speech. He met with Lucey and David Adamany in 1970.  LD convinced Lucey to take up the issue of creating a single state university system.

00:25:26	LD proposed merger of the state university system at a pre-inaugural budget hearing.  The issue received statewide print coverage. Former colleagues in Madison viewed LD as a traitor. He proposed that the Madison campus retain the title of University of Wisconsin and that the chancellor, John Weaver, should be head of the system. LD thinks the Madison campus would have been inundated with students had merger not occurred.

00:31:38	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:39	Lee Dreyfus continues to discuss the impact of the merger of the university system on statewide enrollments. He acknowledges that UW-Madison deserves special treatment because of its worldwide status as a research institution.  The other campuses must be treated equally.

00:33:47	Difficulty in obtaining votes from Republicans in the state senate to support the merger.  Republicans opposed merger because Lucey, a Democratic governor, supported it.  Furthermore, UW-Madison lobbied Republicans to oppose the merger. LD used the argument of fairness to Wisconsin students to persuade Republican senators to support the proposal. Regents in Madison and at the other universities opposed merger.

00:39:58	LD describes colleges he closed at Stevens Point and the new colleges he established there. He assisted Lucey’s bid for reelection. He proposed to make the Superior campus into a total Spanish-speaking institution.

00:44:19	Origins of his trademark red vest. LD describes handling student unrest at Stevens Point. He exercised a free hand in running Stevens Point.  He emphasized undergraduate teaching as the school’s main mission.  

00:48:20	Hiring and tenure policies. 

00:50:42	He describes outstanding professors at Stevens Point.  The small size of the faculty and the town allowed him to establish many personal interactions.

00:55:29	Several members of the state Republican leadership approached LD to persuade him to run for office. Students doubted that he could become governor.

00:59:32	In 1977 he decided to join the Republican Party and run for governor. He describes himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

01:02:21	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:00	Lee Dreyfus describes announcing his candidacy for governor in 1977.

00:00:50	He received large amounts of support from students.

00:02:35	He describes his keynote speech at the party convention.

00:06:15	Free press in his campaign.  His defeat at the party convention in 1978 caused him to rethink his strategy.  He received help from friends in unions.

00:10:46	Development of a touring bus.

00:15:10	LD debated David Carly.  He describes a debate with his primary opponent, Bob Kasten.

00:20:12	LD defeated Kasten soundly.  He swept student support at all state campuses, including Madison.

00:21:42	The state Republican Party was in debt at the time.  He was confident of victory against the Democratic candidate, Martin Schreiber.

00:25:18	One of his campaign issues included arguing that the budget surplus meant the government was over-taxing the people.  LD thinks this tax rebate primed the economic pump and mitigated the effects of recession during his governorship.

00:30:08	He describes the night of the election.

00:31:35	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

00:31:40	Lee Dreyfus continues to describe his election as governor. Support from Polish community.  He was sworn in at Stevens Point.

00:34:10	End of interview session.

Second Interview Session (March 8, 2006): Tapes 2-3
Tape 2/Side 2, continued

00:34:15	Interviewer’s introduction.

00:35:23	Democrats controlled both houses of the state legislature when he was elected.  His agenda included bringing young people back into the democratic process.  He also wanted to convince people that government from Madison was accountable and good for the state.  

00:39:30	LD discusses his statement that Madison was “Fifty-two square miles surrounded by reality.”  Preparation of his first state budget.  

00:43:30	Pay adjustments for Wisconsin faculty and state employees.  He had frozen the number of state employees at 56,000.

00:47:38	LD thinks shifting attitudes in the state legislature have contributed to diminishing support given to UW-Madison.   

00:50:12	Extension of prison system.  LD thinks decreases in violent crime are due to greater state investment in prisons. Another item on his agenda was lowering taxes (except for sales tax).  He wanted to index the gas tax to maintain the state’s road system.

00:55:00	LD describes key members of his administration.  Relationship with the UW Board of Regents.  He chose not to run for reelection for family reasons.

01:02:57	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

00:00:00	After Lee Dreyfus left the Governor’s Office, he returned to the national lecture circuit. In 1990 Governor Tommy Thompson appointed LD to the UW Board of Regents.  Three years later Thompson asked him to be State Superintendent of Public Instruction. While he served on the Board of Regents, LD stipulated that no new buildings would be built without the backing of a major donor.  Another initiative he backed was the wiring of all dorms and libraries for internet access.

00:03:50	He also wanted to move administration out of Van Hise Hall.  LD continues to discuss building policy.

00:05:04	He talks about the changing relationship between the university and the state legislature.

00:07:03	Changing attitudes toward college education.

00:10:00	LD discusses his service as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  He talks about the tax freeze policy.

00:17:18	He compares working in academic and political environments.

00:18:48	Experience with lobbyists.

00:22:06	He thinks the state needs to return to a part-time legislature.

00:24:23	Merger of the Wisconsin system has altered how the Board of Regents relates to politicians in the state legislature.

00:26:20	He thinks the university must offer higher salaries to administrators, but that funds should come from donors, not taxpayers.

00:28:26	The share of state funding for UW has declined because legislators are more concerned with their own jobs than with the state or the university.

00:31:35	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2

00:31:37	Lee Dreyfus continues to talk about political leadership at the state and national level.

00:32:40	Budgeting was the most difficult task he faced as governor.  LD is currently writing a textbook on Wisconsin governors.

00:35:21	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END