Idaho flags are at half staff this week in remembrance of James A. McClure, a former chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and one of the most powerful Idahoans ever to serve in Congress, who died Saturday, February 26, at his home in Garden City, Idaho. He was 86.

Born December 27, 1924 in Payette, Idaho, McClure attended schools in Payette and on turning 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving during the war years from 1942 to 1946. He graduated from the Navy program at the University of Illinois, Southern Branch (now Idaho State University) in 1943. After leaving the Navy, he attended the University of Idaho's College of Law, graduating in 1950.

McClure suffered a stroke Dec. 12, 2008, and died of complications related to that and subsequent strokes, said his son, Ken.

"He got to die the way you or I would want to," Ken said. "It was just very peaceful, very natural, no intervention, no IVs, no machines, no hospitals. And his family was there."

From 1950-1956, he served as prosecuting attorney for Payette County; he also served as city attorney for Payette from 1953-1966. During this span, he was also a member of the Idaho State Senate, serving from 1961-1966.

In the 1966 election, McClure ran for the U.S. House from Idaho's first Congressional district. He won the race, defeating incumbent Compton I. White, Jr., and was reelected in 1968 and 1970.

In 1972, McClure ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Len Jordan. In the general election he defeated the Democratic nominee, Idaho State University President William E. Davis. McClure was reelected by wide margins in 1978 and 1984.

McClure's last public appearance was April 3, 2009, in Boise, where he accepted the inaugural Legacy of Leading Award from his beloved University of Idaho, where the James A. and Louise McClure Center of Public Policy research carries on his work and that of his public-spirited wife.

At the awards dinner, McClure showed his signature humility, which made him so popular he won all 44 Idaho counties in his last two elections.

"I feel a little awkward accepting an award sitting down, but that's kind of the way it is for me right now," he said.

Known for his grasp of detail and common touch in a 24-year congressional career, the Republican was mourned by former colleagues after the news broke Sunday afternoon.

Howard Baker, a former Senate majority leader and chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan, said: "He was steady, and when I got to positions where I could, I always depended on him for advice. He was special, and he certainly was my friend."

Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., who recently co-chaired President Obama's deficit reduction panel, remembered McClure's humor, intellect and tenacity.

"I was in awe of him," Simpson said. "He was a superb legislator. He didn't care about anything but the amendments, the hearings, the work, the slaving.

Legislation, if you do it right, is deadly, deadly boring. And he did it with great skill."

"There was nothing phony about the guy," said former Gov. Phil Batt, who considers his 1966 speech to the GOP convention nominating McClure for the U.S. House one of the highlights of a long public life. "He was just a personification of what an honored politician ought to be. He was a real gentleman, and never disparaged anybody unnecessarily."

Stories of McClure's common touch abound. He changed a flat tire in suit and tie, refusing to let staff do the job; showed up at the Teton Dam disaster in jeans and asked to be put to work; and insisted on making a campaign stop at a rural Boundary County post office when his aides said miserable weather justified cancellation.

“As a high school senior, I asked and Congressman McClure agreed to be the BFHS Class of 1969 graduation speaker,” said former Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby. “He invited myself, Willa Kay (Pace) McLaughlin and Tom Hill to a private dinner prior to graduation. We were thrilled as the three of us had been involved with his election campaign and looked to him as one of our heroes. He never forgot us. Never became too ‘big.’ Tom Hill would later become his Chief of Staff and I later testified before several of his Congressional hearings on energy and natural resources on behalf of the Bonners Ferry community, where to my surprise he would address me by my first name every time. His reputation as a politician who remained one of the people is one of his greatest accomplishments, and belies the power and expertise to which he rose. He was at home with both Presidents and loggers, and Idaho and the United States of America became better because of his service. May this Idaho giant rest in peace and know that this common Idahoan will forever remain grateful for his service.”

McClure spent six years in the U.S. House and 18 years in the Senate. Only Sens. William Borah and Larry Craig represented Idaho longer.

McClure championed gun rights, natural-resource industries and energy independence. In Idaho, he helped establish the Frank Church Wilderness and the Sawtooth and Hells Canyon national recreation areas. He won Idaho an equal say in regional energy policy under the Northwest Power Act, with Oregon, Washington and Montana.

On a larger stage, he helped secure the Reagan tax cuts, co-authored the law establishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and was a director of both the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1989, he was a member of the commission that rewrote the Helsinki human rights accords, which spurred dissident groups and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1984, he ran for Senate majority leader, losing to Bob Dole of Kansas.

After retiring in 1991, he formed a lobbying firm with former staffers and joined the law firm where his son is a partner.