Abbott, Charles oral history interview, 1999

Item

Identifier: MOH 124

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Interview includes discussions of: Lucille Hicks Abbott; 1954 Maine gubernatorial campaign; 1969-1972 Presidential campaign (present at Manchester Union Leader incident); 1976 Senate campaign; the years 1973 to 1974 when Muskie and Abbott campaigned together in Auburn for Abbott’s bid for State Senate; Muskie anecdotes; budget; environmental protection; Bates College honoring ceremony; Rumford, Maine: river mill town, did not exist until 1895 when Hugh J. Chisholm sees opportunity to harness water power; Rumford Center, Rumford Corner, East Rumford, Rumford Falls; Oxford Paper Company dominant industry; unions; Lyndon B. Johnson: majority leader and anecdote; the Senate as a Gentleman’s Club; George Mitchell; anecdote of case with Abdullah Gashgai; John F. Kennedy’s assassination; Governor Longley; and the Executive Council.

Dates

1999

Access Restrictions

Some interviews may be restricted pending approval of the interviewee. See the Archives staff for additional information.

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Biographical / Historical

Charles Abbott was born in Rumford, Maine on October 26, 1935. His mother, Lucille (Hicks) Abbott, taught high school and had Ed Muskie as a student. His grandfather and Muskie’s father were known to discuss New Deal politics. Charles grew up on a farm, attended Rumford High School and Bowdoin College (on a Maine state scholarship). He participated in ROTC and Young Republicans, and was a Political Science major. His father was a staunch Republican, county commissioner and town assessor. Charles served with the Army counter-intelligence corps in Washington, DC from 1958 to 1960 and was in charge of interviewing leading politicians and other VIPs. He worked for nine months as a financial analyst for Dunn & Bradstreet in Baltimore, then attended Yale Law School, graduating in the class of 1963 and has been practicing law in Auburn ever since. He became a Democrat the day after Kennedy was shot. Charles served as an Assistant D. A. (then known as county attorney), 1965-1970, and has served on the Democratic city (Auburn) and county (Androscoggin) committees. In 1972 he lost the Democratic state Senate primary and in 1974 lost the state Senate race by 3 votes. Over the years he has served on Governor Longley’s Executive Council, the Auburn Charter Revision Committee, Red Cross, and as a Trustee for the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Monmouth Theater. He gave significant financial support to the renovation of the Muskie Archives in the 1980s.