Jim Cooper ’72, P’08, ’14

U.S. Representative Jim Cooper ’72—a six-term Tennessee Democrat—has been called "the House's conscience, a lonely voice for civility in this ugly era" by a New York Times columnist.

“He remembers when compromise was not a dirty word and politicians put country ahead of party,” wrote Joe Nocera for the Times, “and he’s not afraid to talk about it.”

Among the things he’s not afraid to talk about are the struggle for bipartisanship on fiscal matters, health care, and government reform. Which can be downright lonely when you are a moderate in the disappearing political middle.

Rep. Cooper has earned a national name for himself among political pundits as an outspoken watchdog on government dysfunction, and a reformer who is willing to work sensibly with both parties to seek solutions. He co-founded the bipartisan Fix Congress Now Caucus in 2012, and he sponsored bipartisan legislation during the 2009-10 term that led President Obama to establish a commission on fiscal responsibility—known as Simpson-Bowles—which recommended long-term changes to federal budget policy.

One of the congressman’s more unusual inspirations led to the Golden Goose Award, which recognizes seemingly obscure studies that lead to major breakthroughs in science and society. The award’s name is a play on the “Golden Fleece” awards of the 1970s and ’80s—awards that exposed federally funded research grants as examples of government waste—and alludes to the fable of the goose that lays the golden eggs.

“We've all seen reports that ridicule odd-sounding research projects as examples of government waste. The Golden Goose Award does the opposite,” he wrote. “It recognizes that a valuable, federally funded research project may sound funny, but its purpose is no laughing matter.” One of last year’s winners was a scientist who discovered a diabetes medication using venom of the Gila Monster; another was a team who developed bone grafting material from coral.

Rep. Cooper urges Grotonians to get involved in politics: “There are places all over Capitol Hill and in every state for dedicated Grotonians to serve the legislative branch of federal and state governments. I include several in my intern program every summer,” he wrote in the Fall 2012 Groton School Quarterly.

“America’s most fortunate must not shirk their duty. I grew up thinking that’s what the Groton motto, Cui Servire Est Regnare, is all about.”

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