Bold Travels Give Nelson A Worldly Perspective

By KEVIN BEGOS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Oct 22, 2006

He doesn't smoke, drink or curse, and Sen. Bill Nelson sometimes ends conversations by saying, "God Bless." He once complained to a friend when there wasn't a Bible in the guest room he was staying in.

In the high-pressure world of politics, some might find him boring.

But Nelson also has also zoomed into space on the shuttle Columbia (when veteran astronauts said that was essentially like riding a bomb), flown into Afghanistan at night right after the defeat of the Taliban, and been a member of a secret society at Yale.

Not so boring.

In an era when many voters are disgusted with corruption in Washington, Nelson's clean-cut yet passionate all-American story is easy to like. He has been mentioned as a candidate for vice president in 2008, and he's positioned to wield more and more power in the Senate if he wins re-election Nov. 7.

Born Sept. 29, 1942, in Miami, Clarence William "Bill" Nelson grew up in Melbourne, and his roots go back to settlers who came to Florida in 1829. In 1959, even before he finished high school, a lifelong pattern emerged for Nelson: keeping one foot anchored at home while the other seeks to explore the world.

U.S. leaders, deeply embarrassed by the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the world's first satellite, created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and launched an all-out campaign to win the space race. Engineers, scientists and money poured into Brevard County, home to Cape Canaveral.

"Melbourne was a little-bitty place, but it was changing before our eyes," Nelson recalled. Already enamored with space travel and new frontiers, he sought the prestigious post of president for Key Club International, a Kiwanis-sponsored program for high school students, and won. That led to scores of speeches on a tour of North America and a visit to Europe.

"I saw the barbed-wire fences, I saw the machine gun tower, I saw the guard dogs" behind the gates that separated West Germany from communist East Germany, Nelson said. "That made quite an impression on me at age 17."

A Breath Of Fresh Air

He started college at the University of Florida but finished his degree at Yale, again seeking a bigger road over an easy one, said Bruce Smathers, his roommate at Yale.

Nelson was so overwhelmed with social pressures and events at UF that "he really felt that he was losing the opportunity for an education," said Smathers, now a Jacksonville lawyer. At Yale, "he was sort of a Southern breath of fresh air" without all the intellectual pretensions some embraced.

Nelson joined one of Yale's secret groups, the Book and Snake, which was started by science and engineering students. Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and former CIA Director Porter Goss also are reportedly former members. The Book and Snake "clubhouse," an enormous Greek-style building, was built on a prominent street in 1901, across from a cemetery.

Yale's secret societies expected members to speak about their ideas, dreams and problems in formal speeches, and Smathers called it a great training ground for people who want to be leaders.

"Bill was not as crazy as the vast majority - but still he was a college student," Smathers said. Nelson was idealistic, and a member of the ROTC while the Vietnam War was unfolding.

There were some sad moments, too.

"His father had passed away, and his mother was ill. He was very concerned about going back and taking care of his family's business," Smathers recalled. "He had to mature at a much younger age than the rest of us."

Nelson was named class orator at graduation, where he shared the stage with the class poet, Smathers said. "Bill gave a very idealistic, public service-oriented, almost patriotic, motherhood and apple pie address. And the class poet gave his poem in Mandarin Chinese."

Nelson went on to serve three years in the Army Reserve starting in 1965, got his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1968, and then served two years of active duty in the Army.

Smathers introduced Nelson to future wife Grace Cavert in 1971. The next year, Nelson married her and won his first public office, in the Florida Legislature. Thirty-four years later, the two are still married - with two children - and Nelson is still in politics.

A Steward Of The Earth

Nelson served in the Legislature until 1978. Next he was elected to Congress, representing the Orlando area. His position as chairman of the Space Science and Applications Subcommittee led to fame, and controversy, that has followed him ever since.

In January 1986, Nelson spent six days in space on the shuttle Columbia. He was the second politician to make such a trip, which even some fellow Democrats called the ultimate junket.

But the criticism was muted when the shuttle Challenger exploded on takeoff just 10 days after Nelson's flight ended. It was clear Nelson had risked his life by going into space, no matter his limited role as a "payload specialist."

Nelson said the trip changed his view of the world. At first he looked for specific things on earth, such as Cape Canaveral. Then he looked for Florida, and finally he looked for entire continents.

Then such divisions faded, and he saw one thing.

"When you look at the planet, you don't see the political, racial or religious divisions.

"What you see is one whole, and you see the thin film that sustains life. It made me want to be a better steward of the earth and its resources. I suspect that most space flyers come away with that sort of feeling," Nelson said.

Twenty years later, Nelson is one of NASA's biggest supporters. His main criticism of President Bush's call to send humans to Mars was that enough money wasn't being set aside.

"The main thing about the space program is to fulfill the destiny of the American people. We want to explore the unknown," Nelson said. In the past, he said, tax money spent on space research has come back to benefit society many times over as cutting-edge technology becomes available to consumers.

Nelson left Congress to seek the Democratic nomination for governor but had a rare setback when he lost to Lawton Chiles, who ultimately won the seat.

Nelson sat out politics for a few years and returned in 1994 to win the campaign for Florida treasurer, and he served for six years. In 2000, he was elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time.

An Optimist

Now, Nelson said, one of his biggest priorities is making America energy-independent within 10 years. He's also worried about how much the federal deficit has increased in recent years.

"The financial chickens come home to roost," he said. The solution is "you go back to an old American value" of balancing the household budget.

Smathers, his college friend, said that if Democrats take control of the Senate in November, Nelson will have an opportunity to make a major impact on policy. But Smathers also is worried that even that opportunity for his friend has a downside, because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are so complex.

Nelson has spoken about such problems, but his solutions differ little from the course set by President Bush and others.

"Nation-building has to be successful because the stakes are so high," Nelson said during a visit to Afghanistan in early 2002, and during a 2003 town hall meeting in Plant City he said that in Iraq, "what we've got is a mess."

"Where we should go in the future is we've got to try and stabilize Iraq," he said recently, to make the struggle there the world's effort instead of just a U.S. responsibility.

"All those other wealthy nations ought to be footing the bill," Nelson said - a suggestion bound to appeal to Florida voters but unlikely to persuade taxpayers in other parts of the world to open their wallets.

Still, he stresses the positive. These days, you can almost imagine Ronald Reagan delivering some of the lines from a Nelson stump speech.

"In the midst of this uncertainty, I am still an optimist. I believe in family and faith. I believe in the power of individuals to behave responsibly and to do great things. I believe in a future filled with hope."

Reporter Kevin Begos can be reached at (850) 222-8382.