Latest news with #BuffaloBillCenteroftheWest
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Garst Museum in Greenville showcases new Annie Oakley artifacts
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – New artifacts from Annie Oakley, the legendary sharpshooter, are now on permanent display in Greenville. These artifacts, locked away in a bank vault for decades, were gifted to the Garst Museum by the great-grandchildren of William Longfelder, the executor of both Oakley's and her husband Frank Butler's estates. The Longfelders were historic friends of the Butlers, living in the same neighborhood of Nutley, New Jersey, from 1893 until 1904. Deeply personal letters from Oakley to Jennie Longfelder are among the artifacts. Oakley wrote about her own declining health and her husband's dementia. The decline in Oakley's health can be seen through her handwriting deteriorating. The museum was in competition with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, for the items. The Longfelder heirs visited Garst the day after the May 2024 tornado and were given a flashlight tour of the museum. The National Annie Oakley Center collection convinced the heirs that the Garst Museum should receive the artifacts. The gun Oakley would place under her pillow before sleeping while traveling – a small .32-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver with a pearl handle – is also on display. The museum is located at 205 N. Broadway St., Greenville. The museum staff members will continue working to display more of the Longfelder donation in a temporary case in the coming months. To learn more about the museum, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: We lost a giant when we lost Al Simpson
News out of Cody, Wyoming, that retired Republican Sen. Al Simpson had died at age 93 left me feeling more than merely wistful. In Simpson, we lost a giant — a model of how our democracy is supposed to work. He was a senator's senator, a consummate legislator who defied the aisle, building bridges out of friendship and forging legislation in the crucible of compromise. I grew up in Wyoming and came of age during Simpson's early years in the Senate. This was the era when Michael Jordan was dominating the NBA, and all of my friends wanted to 'Be like Mike.' They even had T-shirts to that effect. I was not like other late adolescents at that time in that I didn't care to be like Mike. I wanted to be like Al. A brief meeting during my senior year in high school only confirmed my choice of role model. He was gracious, kind, intellectually present and downright hilarious. Years later, when my career took me back to Wyoming to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, where Simpson was chairman of the board, he went from role model to mentor to friend. His loss brings back a flood of personal memories, most of which still make me laugh. But the senator was much more than a funnyman. He achieved in life what most politicians only gain by dying — the status of statesman. And yet his death represents more than the passing of an individual leader; it is the passing of an era. The halcyon days of the modern Senate included the likes of Danforth, Hatch, Garn, Bumpers, Kassenbaum, Inouye, Kennedy, Bradley and Baker. But to me, Simpson stood out among them and towered above even these titans. In the gentleman from Wyoming, we had humor, grace, warmth and a serious effort to legislate. He did not see the Senate as a springboard to the executive office. He didn't want to be president, or even vice president. And he certainly didn't want to be a cable TV host. He was a legislator; he knew how to make law — an activity that requires a specific skill set. In retirement, when he wasn't teaching at the Harvard Kennedy School, he was working with his friend, Democrat Erskine Bowles, trying to get a bipartisan group to endorse deficit reduction measures through what he called 'shared sacrifice.' Simpson's worldview was still informed by friendship, compromise and a genuine sense of the greater public good — elements that today seem almost quaint. His life in politics is a stark reminder of what we have lost. It is more than his good-natured approach, more than his compassion or his skill set. What made him special was his authenticity. Whatever else Al Simpson was, or was not, he was real. And because of that, sadly, we may never have another like him again. For as we survey our political landscape in search of statesmen of his stature, we seek, but in vain, for his equal. Kurt Graham is the president of the Adams Presidential Center in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is the former director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The views expressed here are his own.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson dies at 93
March 14 (UPI) -- Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson died Friday, following complications from a broken hip. He was 93 years old. Simpson's death was announced by the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a complex of museums and research library in Cody, Wyo. where he spent over five decades on the Board of Trustees, including a stint as Chairman. Former U.S. President Joe Biden awarded Simpson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July of 2022. "He was an uncommonly generous man," Pete Simpson, Alan's 94-year-old brother said in a statement on the Buffalo Bill Center of the West's website. "And I mean generous in an absolutely unconditional way. Giving of his time, giving of his energy-and he did it in politics and he did it in the family, forever." Simpson sustained a broken hip last December, compounded by injuries from frostbite five years earlier that required an eventually partial amputation of one of his left leg. "It's impossible to overstate the contributions Al Simpson made to the Center of the West, to the community of Cody and to Wyoming and the country," the center's current CEO and Executive Director, Rebecca West said in the statement. Born in Colorado, Simpson was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1965 and remained there until 1977. The moderate Republican then served as a U.S. Senator from Wyoming from 1979 until 1997 where was known for his bipartisan support and efforts to build bridges across the aisle. In 2010, he was appointed Co-Chairman of President Barack Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Simpson was a longtime champion for campaign finance reform. "He was gifted in crossing party lines and building bipartisan consensus," Simpson's son Colin Simpson said in the center's statement. "He would relate to legislative colleagues in a manner that allowed them to feel valued and listened to without being taken advantage of." Colin is one of three adult children Alan Simpson had with his wife Ann. The couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in Cody last summer. Throughout his career, Simpson never forgot his roots and was always an advocate for Wyoming. He spent 56 years on the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, serving as Chairman between 1992 and 2011. The center calls itself the "Smithsonian of the West," a title it could not have achieved without Simpson's contributions. "Few people have ever done as much for the Center of the West. He ranks alongside William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody as someone who has embodied the spirit of the American West and the essence of the town of Cody," West, the center's CEO, said in its statement Friday. "Al Simpson's immeasurable devotion, loyalty, generosity and dedication have been the bedrock foundation we have all collaborated to build on for more than half a century, both here at the museum and in the wider Cody community. We owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, and we will forever celebrate and benefit from the amazing and unparalleled legacy he leaves behind."
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Towering Wyoming statesman Alan Simpson dies at 93
Alan Simpson holds his Presidential Medal of Honor in his Cody home, August 2023. (Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile) Alan Simpson, the towering second son of one of Wyoming's most prominent political families known for his across-the-aisle work as a Republican U.S. Senator, spunky humor and larger-than-life personality, died Friday in hospice care in Cody, a family spokesperson confirmed. Simpson was 93. The nationally recognized figure had roots in Cody, where he grew up, got his start in politics, raised a family and lived much of his life with his wife, Ann. Together they were major supporters of Wyoming institutions such as the University of Wyoming and Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Simpson never missed an opportunity to praise his wife of 70 years. Simpson was at turns athlete, hooligan, lawyer, father and husband, though he is best known as a storied politician who served three terms as a U.S. Senator, including as the Republican whip from 1985 to 1995. In D.C., he proved himself a canny legislator who wasn't afraid to take potshots at sacred cows like immigration policy and Social Security. Simpson laced his language with curse words, but usually with a twinkle in his eye. His attitude was shaped in large part by his mother's adage, which he repeated often: 'Humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life.' He gained a reputation for non-partisan cooperation and was famously friends with left-leaning individuals such as Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Mo Udall. Though a staunch and lifelong Republican, he held a unique set of ideals. He was pro-choice but strident about limiting government spending. He seemed to have a folksy bon mot for every situation and though he garnered positive press attention for his shenanigans, he also battled with reporters and got into trouble. Through it all, he had an endless fascination for the job of legislating. At 6 foot, 7 inches tall, he was a towering figure — both physically and metaphorically. He and Ann had an enormous network of friends that included everyone from bosom buddies George and Barbara Bush to Sandra Day and John Jay O'Connor. He toiled with indefatigable energy to represent Wyoming, won a Presidential Medal of Freedom and was known to answer every correspondence that came to him. And on a personal level, Simpson was an invaluable companion, his older brother Pete Simpson said. 'He was an uncommonly generous man,' Pete Simpson said. 'And I mean generous in an absolutely unconditional way. Giving of his time, giving of his energy — and he did it in politics and he did it in the family, forever.' Simpson is survived by his wife Ann; brother Peter (Lynne); children William Simpson, Colin Simpson and Susan Simpson; grandchildren and many friends. He had been struggling with his health since breaking a hip in December, but spent his final days with family, according to a family spokesperson. Wyoming, politics and law are enmeshed in the Simpson family roots, and colorful characters populate the family tree. Simpson's maternal great-grandfather, the frontiersman Finn Burnett, came to the Wyoming Territory with a trading outfit and later worked as an agricultural manager on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Finn's daughter, Maggie Burnett, taught Latin at St. Stephens Indian School on the reservation. There, she met Simpson's grandfather, Billy, a free spirit who was called 'Broken Ass Bill' because of his limp (he suffered from polio as a child). Shortly after passing the Wyoming bar, he and Maggie married. Billy proved a handful; he was a drinker and gambler who shot the ear off a banker after the man allegedly bounced his check on purpose. Maggie and Billy had three children, including Simpson's father, Milward, who was a lawyer and politician. Milward went on to serve as a U.S. Senator and Wyoming governor. Simpson would say he inherited his 'lyrical profanity' from his dad, along with his political courage. Milward married Lorna Kooi, who grew up in the coal-mining town bearing her last name. Lorna's father was immensely successful in the energy trade, affording the family the opportunity for extensive international travel, a rare luxury. He also served in the Wyoming Senate. Though Cody residents, Milward and Lorna Kooi Simpson gave birth to Alan Kooi Simpson on Sept. 2, 1931 in Denver, a precaution because his older brother, Pete, was such a large baby. Life in Cody was heavily shaped by World War II, Simpson told WyoFile, as Cody lost many young men to fighting, spurring residents to involve themselves in the war effort. As a boy, Simpson met a young Japanese American boy named Norman Mineta, a fellow boy scout who was one of nearly 14,000 Japanese Americans interned at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center outside of town, when Simpson's troop went to the camp for a jamboree. It would prove to be an auspicious friendship. Simpson was a hellraiser in his teenage years; he and a gang of friends burned down structures and totaled cars. One of these outings landed him on federal probation for shooting a mailbox. Despite his black marks, he made it to the University of Wyoming in 1950, where he played football. At UW, he ran for student senate and met a girl named Ann Schroll from Greybull. He and Ann married in 1954 — but not before Simpson found himself in hot water after drunkenly punching a police officer in Laramie. Ann influenced him to cut down on his beer drinking, which was prodigious, and wed him despite his inability to dance. (She later taught him how.) Simpson joined the U.S. Army after college and served in Germany. After that, he and Ann returned to Wyoming, where he re-enrolled at the University of Wyoming and received a law degree in 1958. Simpson joined the Cody-based law firm owned by his father and Charles G. Kepler; he practiced law in Cody until 1976. His political career began in 1964 when he was elected to the Wyoming State Legislature as a representative of Park County. Simpson spent 13 years as a representative, serving as majority whip, majority floor leader and speaker pro tempore. In 1978, Simpson won a U.S. Senate seat. He was re-elected twice, serving for 18 years. His role as whip — combined with powerful positions held by cohorts like Dick Cheney and Malcolm Wallop — represented an unprecedented level of prominence for Wyoming that has since waned. In his leadership role, he often met with President Ronald Reagan and enjoyed a close friendship with George H.W. Bush. Simpson was a tireless pol who worked late into the night and traveled on a mad-dash schedule as he split time between Washington, D.C., Wyoming and many speaking engagements. Among notable highlights of his time in federal office: Crafting the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1985 with Rep. Romano Mazzoli, D-Kentucky, which is considered a model for bipartisan problem solving. Simpson toiled for years on the controversial legislation, which required both tenacity and skilled political maneuvering to pass. After it passed, Simpson joked that it was like 'giving dry birth to a porcupine,' according to 'Shooting from the Lip,' a biography written by Donald Loren Hardy. Co-sponsoring, with the state's other Republican U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, the Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984. Becoming a much-speculated-over vice presidential pick when Bush ran in 1988. (Simpson claimed he did not want the job, which went to Dan Quayle.) Meeting with foreign leaders including former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, then-Prince Charles of Wales and Saddam Hussein. Though a charismatic jokester, Simpson was a canny political gamesman who honed his skills as a lawyer. 'Just because he was affable did not mean he wasn't also ruthlessly strategic,' said Nadia White, who covered Simpson as a Casper Star-Tribune reporter and editor. 'He knew exactly what he was doing in politics, especially when it came to kind of sustaining the Republican hegemony in Wyoming.' As a legislator, Simpson understood that things get done through a process of concessions and negotiations, former press secretary Cannon said. While some lawmakers want the entire loaf of bread, or nothing at all, 'Al saw value in half of a loaf,' Cannon said. He also proved unafraid to skewer sacred cows — he advocated for Social Security limits, fought against the establishment of a Veterans Affairs cabinet position and waded deep into immigration debates. 'It was clearly a time when I think Alan Simpson could carry the water for the nation on a variety of issues that were too hot to touch for lawmakers from other states,' White said. Simpson would also go to battle with anyone — be it fellow senator or press corps member — but could do so in a way that wasn't personal, White said. 'He had a remarkable ability to leave the fighting words in the chamber. 'What I appreciated about Sen. Simpson was that you could go stand toe to toe with him and really disagree,' White said. 'But he would still answer the phone, he would still engage in the kind of relationship between the press, the people and the politicians.' His approach to tough discussions, he told WyoFile, was never my-way-or-the-highway. 'You gotta talk to each other,' Simpson said. 'You got to hear each other. You can't just be a rockbound Republican, a rockbound Democrat, you should put aside that and decide that you're an American citizen for Christ's sake.' That ability to hear the other side was one of Simpson's great assets, Cannon said. 'Al was maybe one of the greatest listeners I've ever known.' It went beyond listening, said Andrew Melnykovych, who had regular interactions with Simpson as a reporter for the Star-Tribune from 1982-1990. Simpson showed 'a lot of empathy for a whole variety of different people,' he said. 'He was just a decent human being, which is more than you can say about a lot of characters in D.C. these days.' In the four years Melnykovych led the newspaper's Washington bureau, he and Simpson rarely agreed, he said, and Simpson rowed often and passionately with the newspaper. But the senator, who was frank, candid and accessible, earned the reporter's respect. 'He was one of my favorite politicians I've ever dealt with,' Melnykovych said. 'He was pretty unvarnished in his opinions. If he had something to say, he didn't mind being quoted on it.' Decades after they kindled a friendship as boy scouts in a pup tent at the internment camp jamboree outside Cody, Simpson and Mineta reunited in Washington, D.C. Mineta, a Democrat, had won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. By that time, Simpson had reflected on what happened in Cody's backyard during World War II. As a child, he said, the internment camp was a scary place. But he remembered meeting Mineta and his family and realizing they were just normal, American people. He remembered thinking: 'What are they here for?' He told WyoFile the answer decades later: 'They are here because of a failed government, a government filled with war hysteria and racism.' In Congress, Simpson and Mineta cooperated as they worked on controversial legislation. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 served as the federal government's formal apology to those imprisoned during the war, paying them financial reparations. Mineta died in 2022 at age 90. The story of his friendship with Simpson will live on at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center; the facility recently constructed a new wing called the Mineta-Simpson Institute — meant to engender hard conversations. Simpson retired from the Senate in 1997. He kept busy with posts such as directing the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He wrote a book, 'Right in the Old Gazoo: A Lifetime of Scrapping with the Press.' He returned to Cody to continue practicing law, where he sat on the Buffalo Bill Center of the West board, worked to promote the Heart Mountain Institute and enjoyed hobnobbing around town with Ann. He often spoke on television news programs and lectured at the University of Wyoming. President Barack Obama in 2010 named Simpson co-chairman of a commission to shrink the federal deficit — but the commission's final report failed to gain Congressional support. In July 2022, Simpson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his years of public service and statesmanship from President Joe Biden, who praised Simpson for being 'one of the most decent, stand-up, genuine guys I've ever served with.' Simpson liked to mention that while a Democratic president bestowed the medal on him, a Republican president gave it to his old friend Mineta. The sharp tongue that earned Simpson's popularity also landed him in hot water. His aggressive badgering of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings is one such instance. He later said he was 'a monster' in those interrogations. 'I've made mistakes, a lot of mistakes,' Simpson told WyoFile. He always strove to own up to those mistakes, he said. 'When I ran for public office … I knew that they'd find out that I was on federal probation for shooting mailboxes. And then I slugged a cop down in Laramie.' So, he fessed up to the public. 'In my day, (Wyoming) was a place of second chances,' he said. 'Nowadays, you make a mistake, and you're crucified.' In his later years, he often lamented the erosion of civility and the deepening chasms between parties. Trust had vanished, he said, and political priorities had shifted. Republicans, Simpson told WyoFile, 'used to believe in less government, the right to be left alone, and the right of privacy.' As time went on, he said, far-right politicians grew more focused on social issues like abortion and the idea of talking to the other side became more taboo. 'I'm the original RINO,' he said, chuckling. In Park County, Simpson even got heckled at a county party meeting in 2023 'from three guys in MAGA hats.' He snapped at them to shut them up, he said. Then after the meeting, he went to talk to the men; one refused to shake his hand. 'I told him: 'I've been in politics for a long time, and I've never had anyone fail to shake my hand,'' said Simpson, who experienced the confrontation at 92, when he'd grown quite skinny. The man, he said, responded ''Well, stick it up your ass.'' ''And I said, 'well that'd be difficult to do, because I have no butt,' He paused for effect — as he had done so many times in his life — as his joke landed. Reporter Katie Klingsporn interviewed Al and Ann Simpson at their home in August of 2023 and in follow-up phone interviews in 2024. This story also relied on 'Shooting from the Lip,' a biography written by Donald Loren Hardy, for details on Simpson's years in D.C.
CNN
14-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Alan Simpson, an outspoken Wyoming Republican who carved a moderate path in the US Senate, dies
Alan Simpson, a longtime Republican senator from Wyoming who championed bipartisan solutions and steadfastly advocated for a moderate blend of conservatism, has died. He was 93. Simpson died early Friday after struggling to recover from a broken hip in December, according to a statement from his family and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West provided to The Associated Press. Simpson, a man of blunt rhetoric whose towering 6-foot-7 stature made him an instantly recognizable figure on Capitol Hill, made a career of taking on difficult congressional assignments, bringing his signature candor to epic legislative battles. During the 1980s, Simpson was at the heart of seminal debates over environmental protection, nuclear regulation, and care for veterans – always injecting a healthy dose of humor to his work. 'In your country club, your church and business, about 15% of the people are screwballs, lightweights and boobs, and you would not want those people unrepresented in Congress,' he once said. Simpson largely aligned with his party on key votes and championed GOP prescriptions for social welfare rollbacks, immigration and foreign policy. But he wasn't afraid to cross party lines on pressing issues, as he supported abortion rights and was an early GOP advocate for same-sex marriage. 'I've worked very closely with the gay-lesbian community; we're all human beings, for God's sake,' he said in 2008. Simpson's support for same-sex marriage was especially apparent in a contentious interview with comedian Bill Maher in 2004 after Maher quipped that he'd apologize to 'the two gay people in Wyoming' for a joke about gay Republican lawmakers. 'Oh come on, pal. That's just bullsh*t,' Simpson said. 'And I don't have to come on this program – I don't have to come on this program when Matthew Shepard was killed in this state and the people of this state were offended. So put that one in your pipe.' Simpson was also a fierce supporter of federal support of the arts. 'If you're just interested in politics alone, it's barbaric. That won't keep you alive,' he once said. 'You have to have the marvelous softening agents of books and letters and art and culture and theater, and I love that, and that's what Ann and I have always thoroughly supported and loved and independently and also politically.' His unapologetic nature attracted friendships as much as it challenged them. Simpson's decades-long alliance with former Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, survived a tense dispute with Cheney's wife, Lynne, who reportedly told Simpson to 'shut up' at a reception in 2013. According to Simpson, the exchange took place after Cheney's granddaughter asked him to sign a football for charity but couldn't confirm if it would be used to raise money for Liz Cheney's Senate campaign. 'I'm not out to hurt anyone,' Simpson said at the time. 'That's not who I am.' Simpson is survived by his wife of 70 years, Ann, and their three children; Colin, Susan and William. Born in Denver on September 2, 1931, Simpson grew up in Cody, Wyoming, a town of fewer than 10,000 people. His father, Milward Simpson, served in the Senate and as governor of Wyoming, while his mother, Lorna Kooi Simpson, served as president of the Cody Red Cross. A self-proclaimed 'monster' in his youth, Simpson was on federal probation for two years after shooting mailboxes with his friends. His behavior reached an inflection point after he says he 'belted' a police officer trying to arrest him after Simpson had shoved another man outside a pool hall. Simpson ended up in jail for a night in a 'sea of puke and urine.' Simpson, spurned from the experience, described a 'creeping maturity' that shifted the trajectory of his life. 'The older you get, the more you realize … your own attitude is stupefying, and arrogant, and cocky, and a miserable way to live.' 'Anybody in our society − unless they are totally out to lunch − can understand that a guy of 25 or 35 is not the same guy of 17. You can't just throw a kid in the clink forever.' After completing high school in Cody, he graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1954 and earned his law degree from the school four years later. Two years in the US Army and work as a private attorney would precede a winding political journey that began in earnest in 1965 when Simpson was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives, a post he would hold for more than a decade. Simpson would leverage those years, and his reputation for bringing life experiences to the job, into a successful Senate bid in 1978. The tallest senator in US history until 2017, Simpson served as Republican whip from 1985 to 1995 and was even considered a potential candidate for vice president in 1988. 'I'm a legislator. I love to legislate,' he told the University of Virginia's Miller Center in 2008. 'Plotting, strategizing, philosophizing, those things mean nothing to me. I'm a trigger guy. Give me an issue; let me wrench the emotion, fear, guilt, and racism out of it and get some facts into it and see if we can pass the son-of-a-bitch.' Simpson declined to run for reelection in 1996 and went on to teach at Harvard University. But his years away from Capitol Hill didn't dull his disdain for partisanship. In 2010, he co-chaired a bipartisan Presidential Commission on deficit reduction alongside Democrat Erskine Bowles. The panel, created by then-President Barack Obama, was tasked with identifying policies to 'improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run.' While the group's plan failed to gain traction, Simpson's role in the effort vaulted him back into the political spotlight as a commanding voice on national debt, an issue he tried to impress upon young people. 'Stop Instagramming your breakfast and tweeting your first world problems and getting on YouTube so you can see 'Gangnam Style,'' he said in a 2012 video in which the octogenarian hopped to the song in an effort to raise awareness about the national debt. In a statement released after Simpson's death, former President George W. Bush described Simpson as 'one of the finest public servants ever to have graced our nation's capital' and noted how the former senator delivered a eulogy at the funeral for his father, former President George H. W. Bush, in 2018. 'My family will remember him best not for his many accomplishments, but for his loyal friendship – and sharp sense of humor,' Bush said. Then-President Joe Biden cited Simpson's 'spirit' when he presented his former Senate colleague with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022. 'He allowed his conscience to be his guide. And he believed in forging real relationships even with people on the other side of the aisle, proving we can do anything when we work together as the United States of America,' Biden said from the White House. 'It matters, it matters, it matters. We need more of your spirit back in the United States Senate on both sides of the aisle.' Indeed, by the end of life, Simpson had also identified the growing political divide in Congress as a key threat to the nation's well-being, lamenting to CNN in 2018, 'You can see the bitterness that goes on.' 'You see the fact that if they're a Democrat, you just ignore them, or if they're a Republican, you ignore them.' CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Michael Williams contributed to this report.
