Former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson loves to dance.

But the director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) wasn't always light on his feet--his future wife Ann taught him his dance floor moves after they met in the early 1950s.

"I saw her in Grayville, Wyoming, cheerleading at a basketball game. When I saw her again at the University of Wyoming...I asked her out," Simpson says. "But she wanted someone who could dance, so she taught me, and now I can't quit. I love to dance."

After 45 years of marriage, three children and a 19-year stint in the U.S. Senate, Simpson maintains his zest--for life and for politics.

"We've had a hell of a lot of fun," he says.

Towering in stature and lanky in build, he is fond of such pointed proclamations as "democracy isn't a spectator sport" and "people who try to avoid controversy are among the dead un-killed."

Simpson learned his politics in the Cowboy State of Wyoming and after a distinguished Senate career, he continues to vocalize his opinions on the issues of the day--from the Republican Party line to the recent Clinton impeachment proceedings.

He took the reigns as director of the IOP in January of 1998 at the urging of Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.) and has since welcomed the likes of former President Gerald R. Ford and New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman to the Arco Forum.

A Political Institution

Simpson's father Milward was Wyoming's Governor from 1954 to 1958 and also served as a U.S. Senator for the Cowboy State in the mid 1960s.

Simpson says life with his parents and brother Pete was "wonderful," and credits his dad's personal stamina within political storms as his own motivation for breaking into the political game.

"They didn't loose their identity or get consumed...my father was a gutsy guy," Simpson says of his parents' political life.

In keeping with the family traditions of law and politics, Simpson entered the Wyoming State Legislature in 1964--he would go on to serve as majority whip, majority floor leader and speaker pro-tempore in the Wyoming House.

In 1978, Simpson was elected to the United States Senate and served for the next 18 years, holding the position of Assistant Majority Leader from 1984 and 1987.

And he was a Senator with a powerful presence.