 Capehart was also an advocate of clean air legislation, and briefly served on the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management with Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, and Karl Mundt.In the 1962 election, Capehart was narrowly defeated by 34-year-old Birch Bayh.He retired to his farming and business interests in Indiana, occasionally returning to Washington to provide both foreign policy and domestic-issue advice; jaded by the Watergate scandal, he became increasingly critical of President Richard Nixon.