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Former U.S. senator and Missouri governor, Christopher S. “Kit” Bond, died May 13. He was 86.
He and Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky., founded the Senate National Guard Caucus in 1988.
The two were co-recipients of the NGAUS Harry S. Truman Award, the highest recognition conferred upon an individual by the association.
It was in the governor’s office that Bond said “nature conspired to make me a close partner with the National Guard.”
Elected governor of Missouri in 1973 at the age of 33 — the state’s youngest-ever — Bond often relied on the Guard to respond to floods, tornadoes and even prison unrest.
After losing his bid for re-election in 1976, he returned to the governor’s mansion in 1980 before seeking federal office.
First elected to the Senate in 1986, Bond served three more terms before retiring in 2010. He served as vice-chairman on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Show-Me State senator was an important voice on national security and a strong advocate on behalf of the Guard.
“Smart power recognizes that before a person can choose his politics and live a good life, he has to have enough to eat and a stable community in which to live,” Bond told the audience in Nashville at the 131st General Conference & Exhibition in 2009.
He added that “there is no entity in a better position to execute our nation’s smart power than the National Guard.”
He recognized that for the Guard to be well-represented in Washington, D.C. means having a seat at the table.
“We simply had to give the Guard more muscle inside the Pentagon so they would not continually be receiving second fiddle in policy and budget debates,” contended Bond in 2009. “To be part of the big plays, you need to be in the huddle.”
He was an original co-sponsor of legislation in 2006 to add the National Guard Bureau chief to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The effort fell short of its ultimate goal but did result in language in the fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act that did elevate the NGB chief to a four-star general.
Bond also was a champion of the Guard Agriculture Development Teams, a program born of an idea by then-director of the Army National Guard and Missourian Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn.
The Missouri National Guard pioneered the use of ADTs, which were first deployed to Afghanistan in 2008. Bond traveled to Afghanistan in 2008 to see the ADTs impact.
“Whether it’s fighting militants in Afghanistan or continuing our counterinsurgency role in Iraq, there are great opportunities for the Guard to bring their civilian backgrounds as well as military training to bear,” argued Bond at the 2009 NGAUS conference.
“This, friends, is something that you can do that nobody else can do,” he added.
When Bond retired from the Senate, he handed the co-chairmanship to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
─ By Jennifer Hickey
