WASHINGTON -- MPAA president and CEO Jack Valenti announced his retirement Thursday, marking the end of a nearly four-decade-long epoch in which the silver-maned, stentorian-voiced uber-lobbyist was the face of the U.S. motion picture industry for this city and much of the world.

Valenti, 82, will be succeeded by Dan Glickman, a former Democratic congressman from Kansas who was secretary of the Department of Agriculture under President Clinton (HR 5/18). Glickman was chosen by the seven major studio heads after an exhaustive search in which the organization first tried to hire a Republican, Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin, and then tried to entice Sen. John Breaux, D-La., to take the job.

In the end, the board agreed on Glickman, a moderate who was once known as one of the funniest men in Congress. Sources said the choice came down to former Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke and Glickman. Both Clarke and PBS chief Pat Mitchell were rumored to be among the finalists for the post.

Succeeding Valenti won't be easy, Glickman said during the news conference announcing his new job.

"I hope to be half the man Jack Valenti is," Glickman said. "It's going to be a hard act to follow."

In announcing his retirement, the irrepressible Valenti said: "I know you've all been wondering when that son of a bitch is going to leave, well, this is it. ... It's been a long ride and a great ride, but it's time this great adventure comes to an end."

Valenti and Glickman brushed aside questions about the wisdom of hiring a Democrat for one of the most high-profile jobs in Washington at a time when the White House and Congress are dominated by Republicans.

"This is not a partisan job," Valenti said. "It's a nonpolitical job. It's an American job."

Glickman said his 18 years in Congress and six as Agriculture Department secretary give him the type of experience needed to work with both parties. "You'd be a fool if you think this is a partisan job," he said.

Valenti said the timing of the selection demonstrates the need to have good relations with both sides of the aisle.

"If we had wanted to, we could have waited until after the elections," he said, adding that if the party in power is the main criterion, then the MPAA would have to "change CEOs every time the party in the White House or Congress changed."

While Valenti will step down Sept. 1 as MPAA president and CEO, he will still oversee the movie ratings board for some time along with National Association of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian.

"(The ratings board) stands alone. It's financially independent and self-supporting, but it stands on a fragile bottom," he said. "At some point, I'll pass it along for (Glickman) to preserve."

Valenti said Glickman's salary will be "in that alluring range of seven figures." Glickman declined comment on his salary except to say he will earn "more than I make now, a very comfortable wage."

Glickman said he supports the recording industry's lawsuits against Internet users who download and illegally distribute music online. The MPAA-member companies have not yet resorted to such suits but have not ruled it out.

Glickman noted that consumers should learn more about copyright laws, but enforcement of such laws through litigation and other methods also is important.

"This has got to be a multifaceted campaign," he said. "There's not a linear way to deal with the problem," he said. "You've got to pursue them all."

That statement dovetails with the message Valenti has been sending since his successful bid to get the Digital Millennium Copyright Act approved, the 1998 legislation that makes it illegal to circumvent copyright-protection regimes. It has been one of the underlying laws that has supported the copyright industry's fight against piracy.

It's also a law that Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, thinks went too far.

Despite those challenges Valenti said he turns over the job at a time when the industry is still strong.

"I'd say right now the state of the industry is very good. Boxoffice is at an all-time high," he said, adding that the digitization of film from digital cinema to nascent offerings on the Internet should only make things better. "Use of the Internet is something we welcome. We want to use it."

While Valenti's 38-year career spanned the creation of the movie and TV ratings system, the invention of the VCR and the rise of the Internet, one of the most important events was his marriage to the former Mary Margaret Wiley 42 years ago.

In an emotional moment in the news conference, Valenti said: "I want to thank you, Mary Margaret. It wouldn't be anywhere near this successful, exhilarating and enticing a job if you hadn't been there raising those children, and I should have been."

His nearly tearful acknowledgment was the only time the news conference was interrupted for applause.

Mary Margaret Valenti said in an interview that she never second-guessed her decision to accept Valenti's proposal, but she did make him work for it.

"I was totally unprepared for that," she said. "I didn't know he was going to say that, and I don't know he knew he was going to say that."

While her life with Valenti has been exciting and rewarding, at the same time she admitted that she wished he'd been home a bit more.

"There were times when I wished he wasn't so busy," she said. "I was lonely sometimes. When your husband works a lot and travels so much, raising children is hard. It wasn't a big sacrifice for me, and they all turned out to be good people, so I guess we did something right."

She said she and her husband had talked to all three of their children Thursday.

"They're all concerned about him," she said. "They all wanted to know if he would be fine without so much to do. We're a close family. There are no regrets."