By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily. Photo: Courtesy, Rob Wallace
Rob Wallace spent many years working with the late U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop.
As Wallace would say, he had a front-row view of Wallop’s career as a national figure, working with the late senator during his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, from 1977 to 1995. Wallop was an influential figure, both in Wyoming and the rest of the nation.
But it was his home in Sheridan County where Wallop was truly happiest, so it made sense for the city of Sheridan to rename a park in his honor.
Last week, the city held a dedication ceremony for the park, with Wallace, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi and former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson speaking at the event.
Wallace was the keynote speaker and focused on highlights of Wallop’s career, particularly the Wallop-Breaux Act, the Strategic Defense Initiative and other moments from Wallop’s political tenure.
“If you look at Malcolm’s career, he wasn’t the type of guy to go out and naturally promote himself, even after he left office,” Wallace told Cowboy State Daily. “But he had so many consequential initiatives he was responsible for. We wanted to go back to Sheridan County and remind them what a figure he was.”
Wallop died in 2011 at the age of 78.
Wallace said that while working on Wallop’s staff, he was awed by the late senator’s ability to empower people.
“The former president of the Boston Celtics, a chief justice on the Wyoming Supreme Court, a kid who ended up on the cover of Time magazine are just a few of the people that Malcolm helped empower,” Wallace said. “There’s a Thomas Edison quote, ‘Vision without execution is just hallucination.’ Malcolm was the type of execute his ideas.”