Lee S. Dreyfus

American politician

Lee Sherman Dreyfus ('/d//r//eɪ//f//ə//s/ DRAYfəs; June 20, 1926 – January 2, 2008) was an American educator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 40th governor of Wisconsin from January 4, 1979, to January 3, 1983. Dreyfus was a 33rd degree Mason in the Scottish Rite. Prior to his election, he was the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point.

Dreyfus was born and raised in Milwaukee, the son of Clare (Bluett) and Woods Orlow Dreyfus. He attended Washington High School. His parents were active in the community and his father was an on air personality for WISN radio (Young Lee was featured several times as a young actor and singer on the station). Dreyfus' mother was a longtime member of the Milwaukee School Board, serving for 25 years. Dreyfus enlisted in the United States Navy after high school, where he learned to be an electronics technician and worked on radar repair. He was sent to the Pacific during World War II and stayed there until the war was over. After the war, he enrolled at what is now the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the GI Bill. During this time, he met Joyce Unke, whom he married in 1947. That same year, he became a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. Dreyfus earned a bachelor's degree in 1949, a master's degree in 1952 and a doctorate in communication in 1957.

Dreyfus went on to Wayne State University in Detroit, where he became general manager of the radio station and helped develop Wayne State's mass communications department. In 1962, he returned to Madison as manager of WHA TV, and a professor of speech and broadcasting. In 1967, Dreyfus became the president of what was known as Wisconsin State University Stevens Point. In 1972, he became chancellor of the university, which was merged into the University of Wisconsin System and renamed University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Since Dreyfus was not a member of either major party until December 1977, he joined the Republican Party as a first step in what would become his candidacy for the governorship in 1978. He regarded this as a rescue mission, because he felt the Republicans were on the verge of becoming a permanent minority party in what had once been a predominantly Republican state. The following year, he launched an unconventional, populist campaign for governor, and traveled the state in a painted school bus (affectionately dubbed "The Red Vest Whistle Stop Special"). Dreyfus caught the attention of the Wisconsin media and began connecting with voters throughout the state. The state GOP didn't want Dreyfus to win the nomination, and it endorsed then U. S. Rep. Bob Kasten in the primary. Party backing came with financial support that usually sealed the nomination, but Dreyfus was undeterred. An effective public speaker during the campaign, Dreyfus's most memorable quip was that states should be sovereign in most areas of law making and that the federal government's role should be limited to only three things: "defending our shores, delivering our mail and staying the hell out of our lives." Another memorable line was: "Madison, Wisconsin is 30 square miles surrounded by reality."

Dreyfus' style was often referred to as "Republicrat". Fiscally, Dreyfus was conservative and focused on the benefits of tax cuts and reduced size of government (echoing the Reagan conservative movement at the time). He capitalized on voters' dissatisfaction with the state's higher than average income tax rates, as well as general unhappiness with high inflation, high interest rates, and increasing unemployment during the Carter administration. However, Dreyfus was a social moderate who, in 1982, signed the nation's first civil rights legislation barring discrimination against gays and lesbians in jobs and housing. Dreyfus signed the gay rights bill, saying "there are some questions the government has no business asking." From 1983–84, Dreyfus served as Chief Operating Officer of Sentry Insurance, Stevens Point. In 1986, he moved to Waukesha, where his son, Lee S. Dreyfus, Jr., was a state circuit court judge. He later served as Interim State Superintendent of Public Instruction and on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. In 1985, he started a consulting firm, making speeches and advising the state on higher education policy; Dreyfus became a popular fixture on the lecture circuit. Dreyfus spoke out against an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution that would have banned gay marriage and civil unions, which passed in 2006. He wrote a weekly newspaper column between 1990 and 2007 for the Waukesha Freeman on issues of general interest. The column was carried by other newspapers in Wisconsin.

In February 2005, Dreyfus experienced complications from knee replacement surgery and began to show signs of heart distress. Doctors performed a quintuple bypass surgery. Dreyfus' health declined after this surgery, and his death in January 2008 was due to respiratory failure.

The Lee Sherman Dreyfus University Center on the campus of UW–Stevens Point was named after Dreyfus in 2007. He was also elected to the Wisconsin Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.