Charles T. Manatt, former chairman of Democratic National Committee, dies at 75

Charles T. Manatt, 75, a California lawyer and banker who energetically guided the debt-laden Democratic National Committee to financial prosperity in the early 1980s but wasn’t able to translate that growth into a presidential victory , died July 22 at Kindred Hospital in Richmond.

His daughter, Michele Manatt, said he had complications from a stroke suffered in Novemeber 2010.

Mr. Manatt, a Washington resident, climbed through the ranks of the Democratic National Committee and forged relationships with several generations of the party’s most influential leaders. While still in law school, he served as executive secretary of the Young Democrats, corralling votes for presidential nominee John F. Kennedy.

A versatile businessman, Mr. Manatt founded First Los Angeles Bank, started an international consulting firm and invested in agricultural enterprises. He spent much of his career in law, forming what became Manatt, Phelps and Phillips in Los Angeles.

As a lawyer, Mr. Manatt’s specialty was banking and finance, but the firm grew to include a flourishing entertainment practice with clients including the Rolling Stones, the media company Time Warner, the film company DreamWorks and the estates of Truman Capote, Groucho Marx and Andy Warhol.

In political circles, Mr. Manatt was best remembered for his stewardship of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985.

In the aftermath of the 1980 elections, when Ronald Reagan was overwhelmingly elected to the White House and Republicans swept control of the Senate, few Democrats sought the party chairmanship.

Mr. Manatt, who had been DNC finance chairman, openly campaigned for the position — regarded as an inglorious command that few candidates would seek.

Claiming he was motivated by the 1980 presidential defeat, Mr. Manatt seized the opportunity to rouse his dispirited party from the ashes. In the elections, Mr. Manatt said, the Democrats had been “outconceptualized, out-organized, out-televised, out-coordinated, out-financed and out-worked.”

At that point, the Democrats faced $2 million in debt, the party’s headquarters was a rented space, and 12 of the 15 electric typewriters in their offices were broken.

“The party was knocked to its knees, knocked to its back after the 1980 elections,” said Terry McAuliffe, who served as DNC chairman from 2001 to 2005. “Chuck stepped up to the plate and helped bring financial stability to the party.”

Under Mr. Manatt’s guidance, the party’s direct-mail contributor list grew from 25,000 to more than 400,000. He helped raise more than $6 million to build a permanent Capitol Hill Democratic headquarters, complete with state-of-the-art computers, and cleared the party’s debt.

As chairman, Mr. Manatt helped shape the Democrats’ strategy to retake the White House in 1984. He called on Democrats to portray themselves as “ordinary working people” in contrast with Reagan supporters “who dress their wives in minks and $10,000 dresses [while] cutting programs for the aged and the children.”