David Keene, maestro of the conservative movement, dead at 80

David Keene, a towering figure in the growth of the modern conservative movement who was equally comfortable in the weeds of grassroots politics and in the corridors of power in Washington, died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80.

Mr. Keene spent years at the pinnacle, forging the Conservative Political Action Conference into the must-attend event for GOP White House hopefuls and shepherding the National Rifle Association at the peak of its influence.

He then helmed The Washington Times’ opinion pages before becoming editor at large, a role he held at his passing.

He was part of the second generation of conservative leaders, who took the movement from its intellectual infancy to maturity, giving the country a viable alternative to New Deal liberalism.

Associates said Mr. Keene stood out in that generation with his ability to straddle worlds, holding the ear of presidents without losing credibility with the conservative movement.

“He was a true believer, all the conservatives knew he was a true believer, and then people he advised and counseled in the political arena knew he was really, really good at what he did,” said Richard Viguerie, another giant figure in the growth of the political right. “They had consultants but the consultants didn’t have a foot in the conservative camp. They valued David’s advice far more because they knew he was not only an expert in the political arena but they trusted his advice.”

Born in Rockford, Illinois, he grew up in Wisconsin. Mr. Keene underwent the kind of conversion of many young conservatives at that time, going from volunteering for the Kennedy campaign in 1960 to backing Barry Goldwater in 1964.

In an interview last summer with Mitch Daniels, he explained the reason for his conversion: His high school librarian had given him a copy of Friedrich Hayek’s book “The Constitution of Liberty.”

After law school, serving as national chair of Young Americans for Freedom and a run for state Senate in Wisconsin, he came to Washington for a job with Vice President Spiro Agnew in the Nixon White House.

Mr. Keene, in his interview with Mr. Daniels, said the conservative movement was so muted at that point that the White House had a Committee of Six, who were supposed to be the liaisons to conservative activists, but “they never had six members because we never had six people in the White House.”

He would go on to be an influential lobbyist and advise members of Congress, multiple presidents and GOP nominees. In one story famous in Washington lore, he arranged for Secretary of Labor Bill Brock to run Bob Dole’s 1988 presidential campaign — and one of Brock’s first decisions was to boot Mr. Keene and Donald Devine off the campaign plane.

Mr. Keene was the volunteer chairman of the American Conservative Union from 1984 to 2011, growing CPAC from a few hundred participants to a gathering of 11,000, and making it the indispensable stop on the annual calendar for movement activists.

He relinquished the chairmanship to become president of the NRA, another full-time volunteer job, serving the customary two-year terms. In 2013 he took the role of opinion editor at The Times and later served as editor at large.

At The Times, Mr. Keene’s interests ran broad.

Columns last year ranged from theories of presidential power to criminal justice reform to Romanian politics. He also penned a delightful Independence Day ode to President Coolidge, mentioning that Reagan saw him as a model and installed his portrait in the White House Cabinet Room.

“He had great stories about politics, kind of like legendary actors like Charlton Heston had great stories about Hollywood. Within those stories were very keen observations on politics,” said Wayne LaPierre, who spent decades as executive vice president of the NRA.

“I never met anyone like him. He was an incredible guy,” said Mr. Devine, who said Mr. Keene was a master of firming up friendships throughout Washington, particularly while on hunting or fishing excursions.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recalled getting his first job in Washington and Mr. Keene took time off to go apartment hunting with his wife, Marsha Barbour. After visiting eight or ten places, Mrs. Barbour settled on one out near Dulles International Airport because it would do a three-month rental.

“Candidly, one of the things I liked about Dave the most was he was transparent. What you see is what you get. And he treated everybody that way,” Mr. Barbour said. “We need more people like him today in both parties and in the news.”

His friendships included New York Times reporters and figures from the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way, all grandees of 20th-century liberalism.

“He believed different views deserved a place at the table and should be heard,” Mr. LaPierre said. “It’s kind of the end of an era with David. He was someone who truly stood for principles but that included civility and friendship. He never left the arena of public debate, but through it he was always principled and a good guy.”

He made waves later in his tenure at the ACU with an at-the-time bold move to open up CPAC to GOProud, a group of gay conservatives.

He worked with Mr. Viguerie on criminal justice reform from the political right, decrying over-incarceration and mandatory minimums, the elimination of parole and three-strikes laws that he said created it.

Mr. Keene also found common ground with the ACLU on First Amendment issues, including working to try to blunt the excesses of the Patriot Act.

“He believed and understood that, yeah, you do your party politics, but there are these opportunities where the left and right come together, and those are righteous causes,” said Ian Walters, who worked for Mr. Keene at the ACU.

He called Mr. Keene “a fantastic thinker and one hell of an operator.”

Mr. Keene is survived by his wife Donna Wiesner Keene, brothers James Keene of Wisconsin and Charles Keene of Indiana and their wives, and children Tracy Wilson, Kerry Bankhert, David M. Keene, Taylor Keene and Lisa Keeton and their families.