Congressman Donald James Pease was born to Russell Everett (d. 1975) and Helen Mary (Mullen) Pease (d. 1985) in Toledo, Ohio, on September 26, 1931. His father was a pipefitter and a salesman, and his mother a housewife. After attending Toledo public schools, Pease graduated from Jesup W. Scott High School in 1949. Following graduation he enrolled in Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Pease supported himself through college by working summers as a laborer at a Toledo oil refinery. At Ohio University, this first generation college student (and former newsboy) succeeded in becoming editor of the student newspaper (The Post) and served as a student reporter for the Athens Messenger. He was also elected president of the student body. Receiving the Bachelor of Science degree in journalism in 1953, he graduated third academically in a class of 812. He remained in Athens to earn a Master’s degree in government from Ohio University in 1955; as part of his graduate studies, he did a year, in 1954-55, as a Fulbright Scholar at Kings College, University of Durham, England. For his high academic honors at Ohio University and his support for higher education, Pease was elected as an alumna member of Phi Beta Kappa on May 6 and initiated on June 12, 1987. Pease held honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Ohio University (1987) and Oberlin College (1988).

In June 1955, at the age of 23, Pease entered the U.S. Army and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. Two years of service as an instructor with the Quartermaster Corps in Fort Lee, Virginia, led to his promotion to First Lieutenant. Following an honorable discharge in June 1957, Pease moved with his wife, Jeanne, to Oberlin, Ohio to become (with partner Brad Williams) co-editor-publisher of the Oberlin News-Tribune. Pease also served as vice president and co-owner of the Oberlin Printing Company. In 1968 he sold his financial interest in the News-Tribune to business partner Brad Williams, but remained editor-publisher of the Oberlin newspaper until 1972 and editor until 1976. During his long tenure with the News-Tribune, the newspaper won over 85 state and national prizes for excellence in journalism. The Oberlin News-Tribune was voted best weekly paper in the state nine times and best in the nation four times in its circulation class.

In 1962, Pease was awarded the Golden Quill award by the International Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors for his widely reprinted editorial “We used to be like the Szabos” (Oberlin News-Tribune, September 28, 1961). He was a fellow and past president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. He also held membership in Sigma Delta Chi professional journalism society.

Pease began his political career at the local level by serving two terms on the Oberlin City Council from 1961 to 1964. He was also chairman of the Oberlin Public Utilities Commission, 1960-61, and served in 1960 as vice president and in 1961 as president of Oberlin United Appeal. In 1964, he ran as a liberal Democrat for State Senate against incumbent Republican Roy B. Gardner. He was elected to a four-year term in the 106th Ohio General Assembly, representing the combined 27th-29th District that covered Ashland, Lorain, Medina, and Richland Counties.

As a State Senator, Pease gained a reputation for being a nuts-and-bolts legislator, especially for his proactive work in the area of education legislation. He was the only first-term Senator appointed to the Ohio School Survey Commission, and he was named secretary of the Senate Education Committee and a member of the Senate Public Utilities Committee.

In the fall of 1966 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered reapportionment of the Ohio legislature in order that the state might comply with the one man-one vote edict. The Republican-controlled apportionment board not only cut Pease’s term in half, but also removed the heavily Democratic city of Lorain from his district. Running without his usual labor vote to rely on in the new 13th District (Huron and Richland Counties, and parts of Erie and Lorain Counties) against a five-term State Representative from Huron County, Pease lost his reelection bid to Harry V. Jump by a margin of 1,100 votes. Pease did, however, carry Oberlin by a two-to-one margin (1327 to 666).

In 1968, Pease resurrected his political career by defeating Republican State Representative Henry H. Shriver of Grafton, who two years earlier had defeated his Democratic Party opponent Norman D. Becker by 6,100 votes. In winning by the slim margin of 850 votes to earn election to the 108th Ohio General Assembly, as the representative from the 75th District, Pease worked hard on issues that interested his constituency. In 1970, Pease again ran against Shriver and handily won reelection by 5,200 votes. The increased margin of victory was due in part to a well-orchestrated campaign that had concentrated on voter registration as well as on Pease’s burgeoning reputation as an expert on public education. In 1972, Pease ran in the new 54th District against Republican attorney Scribner L. Fauver of Elyria, Ohio, defeating him on his way to a third consecutive term.

Pease distinguished himself in the Statehouse as a legislator of honesty and integrity. He believed that public service was a public trust, and apparently the electorate trusted Pease to act on its behalf. He supported strong ethics laws for public officials and tough campaign finance laws. His growing reputation as an expert on education led to Pease being appointed chairman of the House Education Committee and vice chairman of the Education Review Commission. He was also a member of the influential Ways and Means Committee of the Ohio House.

Returning to the Ohio Senate in 1974, Pease defeated incumbent Robert J. Corts for 13th District Senator. State Senator Pease served as vice chairman of the Education and Welfare Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee and Health and Retirement Committee. He was named a member of the Citizens’ Task Force on Higher Education and chairman of the Education Review Committee. He also served as a member of the national Steering Committee and Executive Committee of the Education Commission of the States.

Pease set his sights on the U.S. Congress in 1976, following the announcement by incumbent Republican Congressman Charles A. Mosher (1906-1984; B.A. Oberlin 1928; M.A. 1983; Honorary LL.D. 1983) that he would not seek reelection. Mosher’s retirement left vacant the seat in the 13th Congressional District that he had held since 1960. Pease vied for the open seat against former Lorain City Councilman and Mayor Woodrow W. Mantha, defeating his Republican opponent by garnering 66 percent of the popular vote. Pease’s Congressional success was aided by votes from the constituents of his former State Senate and State House districts, now including the heavily Democratic city of Lorain. It is notable that Pease would seek the seat vacated by his long-time friend Charles Mosher. Pease’s career paralleled that of Mosher who had also served as editor-publisher of the Oberlin News-Tribune (1941-61), member of Oberlin’s City Council (1945-51), and member of the Ohio Senate (1951-60) before representing the 13th District in Congress for eight terms.

Pease’s election to the 95th Congress began a career at the national level that would span sixteen years. Following his election to U.S. Congress, Pease was selected as chairman of the New Members Caucus. Additionally, he was appointed to the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. As a freshman Congressman, Pease worked hard behind the scenes to promote his ideas, approaching politics as an ethical pursuit and legislation as an intellectual exercise. Strongly committed to advancing human rights, one of his notable achievements in Congress was to sponsor, marshal support for, and pass legislation banning U.S. coffee imports from Uganda in protest against Idi Amin’s genocidal regime. His interest in basic human rights carried over to trade policy matters in the 1980s as well. He consistently pushed to protect international labor standards and to link trade benefits with human and worker rights.

In 1981, Pease was selected to serve on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He followed an intellectual and methodical approach, which led him to become an influential voice on state, national, and international issues through his service on the Committee, its Subcommittee on Trade, and its Subcommittee on Human Resources. In particular, Pease was a key player on international trade issues and federal tax policy. As early as 1982, Pease boldly opposed “Reaganomics” by sponsoring an alternate budget to stand against President Ronald Reagan’s plan. Through actions such as this, Congressman Pease distinguished himself as an advocate of tax reform, favoring a simpler code, demanding lower rates for the poor and middle class, and seeking less tax welfare for the wealthy. This led House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-8, Illinois) to handpick Pease to serve as one of eleven conferees on the landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986.

In the crucial federal budget debate of 1990, Congressman Pease gained national recognition for his plan to limit the tax deductions allowed individuals making in excess of $100,000. For his proposal, which became widely known as the “Pease Plan,” the New York Times declared Pease the lawmaker “that broke the budget deadlock” (October 3, 1990). Pease’s recommended limit on tax deductions for the wealthy was a politically palatable concept that led a bipartisan majority to a budget solution.

On the U.S. Trade Subcommittee, Pease focused on restraining imports and extending the Trade Adjustment Assistance (T.A.A.) program to aid American businesses and workers displaced by imports. He actively voiced the concerns of constituents residing in the economically troubled industrial 13th District and the “rust belt” cities of Elyria and Lorain in particular. Balancing protectionist sentiment with the necessity of political compromise, Pease concluded that the federal government’s fiscal policies, particularly the budget deficit, were a major cause of the nation’s trade deficit. He therefore authored a successful trade amendment requiring “trade impact statements” in the President’s and Congress’ budgets. Pease was one of the key architects of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, the most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. trade laws in twenty years.

Domestically, Pease reflected his journalistic background in the day-to-day business of the U.S. House of Representatives. He warmly supported open “sunshine” government rules and consistently opposed closed markup sessions. His ability to get results by working quietly behind the scenes resulted in the successful acquisition of special funding for several local economic development projects throughout the 13th District. For example, Pease revived a stalled proposal to construct a highway by-pass on Route 250 in Ashland, resulting in an $8.7 million award to complete the project. He was a key figure in directing a federal grant, in the amount of $1,782,266, to the Lorain City School Board to expand and extend the school district’s Magnet School Program. Finally, Pease succeeded in obtaining $1.8 million for the development of the Lorain Harbor in 1986, and some $110,000 in annual program funding for the Erie Basin Resource Conservation and Development Area, which benefited Ashland, Huron, and Richland Counties.

In addition to his legislative activities, Pease was an active but selective participant in several Congressional organizations and caucuses. For example, personal interest led Pease to hold membership in the Environmental Study Conference, Members of Congress for Peace through Law, the Northeast-Midwest Coalition (co-chairing the Unemployment Insurance Task Force), Congressional Clearing House for the Future, Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Congressional Arts Caucus, Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, and the Congressional Steel Caucus. Pease also served as chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the U.S. Congress-European Parliament Exchange. Subsequently, he served as regional vice chairman and executive board member of the Democratic Study Group.

Although his legislative and congressional activities limited civic involvement, Pease remained active in a number of local arenas. His service as a trustee of WOBC (the Oberlin College student radio station), director of the Ohio University Alumni Association, president of Oberlin United Appeal, vice president of the Oberlin City Club, and vice chairman of the Lorain County United Fund Drive also kept him in touch with his home base of political support.

When Congressman Pease announced his decision not to seek reelection to a ninth congressional term in 1992, he vacated what many observers considered a safe seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. His announcement caught many of his supporters by surprise. In eight election campaigns for the 13th Congressional District, Oberlin’s Pease had only one difficult reelection fight. In 1986, Pease faced Valley City Republican and business executive William D. Nielson, Jr., who sought to discredit Pease as a big-spending liberal. Nielson claimed that Pease was guilty of ignoring the area’s troubled manufacturing interests. Even in the face of such criticisms, Pease easily won re-election in 1988 and 1990. With Pease’s retirement, constituents lamented the loss of a dedicated and hardworking Congressman. His colleagues in Washington, D.C. also mourned the loss of a model Congressman. A few years before, during the “Great Ethics Frenzy” that gripped the House of Representatives, Pease’s integrity had earned him the distinction of being named by his peers as a clean politician and one of the “straightest arrows” in Congress (U.S. News and World Report, 106:23 [June 12, 1989], page 16).

After thirty years in public office, Pease returned to Oberlin. In his retirement statement he listed several leisure activities which he expected to be involved with, including “reading, writing, teaching, newspapering, travel, bicycling, mountain hiking, getting friendly with computers, cultivating friendships and enjoying the cultural offerings of Oberlin.” In retirement he taught government (politics) classes at Oberlin College as a Visiting Distinguished Professor of Politics, often in collaboration with Professor Paul A. Dawson, Department of Politics. In 1988, Professor Dawson had presented Pease as a candidate for a Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Oberlin College, citing Pease’s “record of contributions to the social welfare” and his “special relationship with Oberlin College.” In 1993, Pease was named to the Amtrak Board of Directors. The latter activity combined his interest in railroads and trains with his political experience.

Don J. Pease married Jeanne Camille Wendt on August 29, 1953. They had one daughter, Jennifer (b. August 30, 1964).

Don J. Pease died of a heart attack on July 28, 2002 at his home in Oberlin, Ohio. He was 70 years old. In October 2002, three months later, the Federal Building, located at 143 West Liberty Street in Medina, Ohio, became the Donald J. Pease Federal Building.

>>DONALD JAMES PEASE CHRONOLOGY

Almanac of American Politics, 1992 (Washington: National Journal, 1992), Michael Barone, Grant Ujifusa, editors.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774-1989 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).

Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to United States Elections (second edition) (Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1985).

Congressional Quarterly’s Politics in America (Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992).

Leadership in a Small Town (Totowa, NJ: Bedminster Press, 1964), Aaron Wildavsky.

Who’s Who in America (45th Edition 1988-89) (Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who’s Who, 1988).

Who’s Who in American Politics, 1991-92 (13th Edition) (New Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker, 1991).

Who’s Who in the Midwest (22nd Edition 1990-91) (Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who’s Who, 1989).

“Fact Sheet on Don J. Pease U.S. Congressman, 13th Ohio District.”

“Statement of Congressman Don J. Pease Regarding His Non-Candidacy in 1992.”