INDIANAPOLIS (AP) —
3:00PM:
Vice President Mike Pence says Indiana and America "will never forget the leadership and service" of former longtime Sen. Richard Lugar.
Lugar died Sunday at age 87. He was a foreign policy expert known for leading efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle and secure much of their nuclear arsenal.
Pence issued a statement saying, "Lugar was a leader not only in the Senate but also on the world stage, where he worked tirelessly to bring pressure to end apartheid in South Africa and enforce treaties that destroyed Soviet weapons of mass destruction."
Pence says that "as the longest serving member of Congress from Indiana, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Lugar leaves behind a legacy of public service that will inspire Hoosiers for generations."
2:10PM:
Indiana Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has directed flags across the state to be flown at half-staff to honor former longtime Sen. Richard Lugar.
Lugar, a foreign policy expert, died Sunday at age 87. Holcomb says flags will be at half-staff until Lugar's funeral, which hasn't yet been announced.
Lugar was a generally loyal conservative but lost his bid for a seventh Senate term in the 2012 GOP primary after attacks over his reputation for cooperation with Democrats and friendliness with President Barack Obama. Lugar gained little traction with a 1996 run for president, but he focused on the threat of terrorism years ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Purdue University President Mitch Daniels spent more than a decade as chief of staff to Lugar. He says, "The world is safer from nuclear danger because of him."
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11:50 a.m.
Former longtime U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a foreign policy expert, has died. He was 87.
Lugar was a Rhodes Scholar who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, after eight years as Indianapolis mayor.
He was a generally loyal conservative but lost his bid for a seventh Senate term in the 2012 GOP primary after attacks over his reputation for cooperation with Democrats and friendliness with President Barack Obama.
Lugar gained little traction with a 1996 run for president, but he focused on the threat of terrorism years ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks.
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