Senator Jon Kyl, one of Arizona’s greatest political leaders

By Sean Beienburg

SCETL mourns the loss of Senator Jon Kyl, one of Arizona’s greatest political leaders,  who reflected the virtues of statesmanship our Founders expected of Senators in a republic. He believed politics was not about performance or fame, but about crafting policy for the public good and faithful to the US Constitution. From his work on national security, where he was one of the Senate’s leading thinkers, to constitutionalism, where his longtime role on the Judiciary Committee saw him ask judicial nominees thoughtful, sophisticated questions to ensure fidelity to our Founding charter, he took his oath of office seriously. He recognized the importance of place and his duty as an Arizonan, and thus, first as a lawyer helping shape the state’s foundational 1980 water law, then a member of Congress and Senator, committed himself to the unsung but now critically important field of water policy in the West. He famously shied away from the limelight to instead focus on the difficult work of lawmaking and policy compromise, civilly engaging with those he disagreed with while never compromising his fundamental principles in serving his God, his country, and his state. 

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Senator Kyl was an early friend of SCETL and remained so until his departure from public life late last year. When SCETL was new and still something of an experiment, Senator Kyl staked his reputation in endorsing and supporting us, both publicly—in bringing his former Democratic colleague Tom Daschle to campus for a dialogue and eventually co-chairing a national advisory board of civic leaders – and privately, such as bringing Arizona notables to learn more about our department and quietly encouraging us in hard times.

As part of this, Senator Kyl offered to co-teach a class in SCETL, focused on constitutionalism and American civic principles.  As was always the case, he was, despite his legendary accomplishments, extremely humble and genuinely interested in what the students had to say; he would often comment after class on how exciting it was to see students learn about our constitutional order and would repeat something one had said that impressed him.

SCETL Associate Professor Sean Beienburg, who grew up in Arizona and had long regarded Senator Kyl as his political hero, never imagined he would be able to teach a class with the Senator—or come to consider him a friend and mentor. 

“Senator Kyl was one of the most important political figures of our lifetime, but you would never know it from talking to him. That took me a little while to truly appreciate. When I was first honoured with the privilege of co-teaching that class with him, I kept nervously emailing him logistical questions, and he eventually just said “look, just call my house, here’s my number”. I did so with terror, and when his wife picked up, I introduced myself and explained why I was calling. I heard her shout, “Jon, there’s a young man from Arizona State on the phone for you,” and he came bounding to the phone and was just so excited to talk to me and so excited to work on the class. 

We stayed on the phone for a long time, with him advising on what he wanted in the syllabus- he was particularly adamant we include Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative, which he regarded as a foundational book about how he thought of government, and in particular because of its emphasis on constitutionalism, especially the Founding and federalism, and the civic and religious principles of the early republic, all of which were very important to Senator Kyl. I came to really look forward to those conversations and how genuinely excited he was about them; there was never, in his interactions with me, or his students, any sense of haughtiness or ego about how important he’d been, or talking down to students because he used to be a Senator. He would only ever bring it up in the context of saying something like, “Well, one thing that you don’t appreciate until you’re in the Senate is [x],”  before he would then explain some practice or function that was opaque to outsiders but that was so helpful to the students to know; they absolutely loved it, and he was so generous with them.  

I told students afterward that they had been able to see a true statesman, one who brought thoughtfulness and seriousness in a frivolous age, mixed with an earnest spirit of service, good-natured humor, kindness, and humility, despite the many accomplishments that would make a lesser man self-important.

Even as his health declined and it became harder for him to attend our department’s public lectures, he still made a point of coming with an almost infectious enthusiasm as we’d update him on what we at SCETL were doing to advance the constitutional education he cared so much about. I hope we will always honor him by remaining faithful to that calling.”