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Bob Packwood
Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon who served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives representing the 6th district from 1963 to 1969 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to 1995. He resigned from the U.S. Senate under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and assault of women emerged. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Since the death of Fred R. Harris in November 2024, Packwood is the earliest-serving living U.S. senator, and is the last living former U.S. senator who assumed office in the 1960s. He is also the last living former U.S. senator who served during the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Packwood was born to Frederick William and Gladys Dorothy (Taft) Packwood in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Grant High School in 1950, and in 1954 graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
Packwood is the great-grandson of William Packwood, the youngest member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention of 1857. Packwood had his great-grandfather's political bent from his early years. During his undergraduate years, he participated in Young Republican activities and worked on political campaigns, including later Governor of Oregon and U.S. Senate member Mark Hatfield's first run for the Oregon House of Representatives. He received the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship to New York University School of Law, where he earned national awards in moot court competition and was elected student body president. After graduating from the NYU Law School in 1957, he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Portland.
In 1960, he was elected Chairman of the Multnomah County, Oregon, Republican Central Committee, thus becoming the youngest party chairman of a major metropolitan area in the country. In 1962, he became the youngest member of the Oregon Legislature when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives after a campaign waged by what The Oregonian called "one of the most effective working organizations in many an election moon in Oregon". Hundreds of volunteers went door-to-door, distributing leaflets throughout the district, and put up lawn signs that became "literally a geographical feature" of the district. Because of the effectiveness of his own campaigns, Packwood was selected to organize a political action committee that recruited attractive Republican candidates for the Oregon House throughout the state, and trained them in "Packwood-style" campaigning methods. The success of his candidates was credited with the Republican takeover of the Oregon House, thus making Oregon the only state in the Union in which the Republicans were able to score a significant victory in 1964.
Packwood was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1963 to 1968. In 1965, he founded the Dorchester Conference in Seaside, Oregon, an annual political conclave on the Oregon coast that "pointedly ignored state leadership in the Grand Old Party" to bring Republican officeholders and citizens together, to discuss current issues and pass resolutions taking stands on those issues. Initially a forum for liberal politics, it has become an annual networking event for Oregon Republicans.
In 1968, Packwood was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon as the Republican candidate against Democratic Party incumbent Wayne Morse. Morse had been elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1944 and 1950, then switched parties due to his liberal views, and was easily re-elected as a Democrat in 1956 and 1962. The relatively unknown Packwood was given little chance, but after an 11th-hour debate with the incumbent before the City Club of Portland, which Packwood was generally considered to have won, and a statewide recount in which over 100,000 ballots were challenged by both parties, Packwood was declared the winner by 3,500 votes. Packwood replaced U.S. Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. Packwood was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992.
Packwood's voting record was moderate. He supported restrictions on gun owners and liberal civil rights legislation. Packwood voted in favor of the Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President of the United States Ronald Reagan's veto).
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Bob Packwood
Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon who served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives representing the 6th district from 1963 to 1969 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to 1995. He resigned from the U.S. Senate under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and assault of women emerged. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Since the death of Fred R. Harris in November 2024, Packwood is the earliest-serving living U.S. senator, and is the last living former U.S. senator who assumed office in the 1960s. He is also the last living former U.S. senator who served during the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Packwood was born to Frederick William and Gladys Dorothy (Taft) Packwood in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Grant High School in 1950, and in 1954 graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
Packwood is the great-grandson of William Packwood, the youngest member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention of 1857. Packwood had his great-grandfather's political bent from his early years. During his undergraduate years, he participated in Young Republican activities and worked on political campaigns, including later Governor of Oregon and U.S. Senate member Mark Hatfield's first run for the Oregon House of Representatives. He received the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship to New York University School of Law, where he earned national awards in moot court competition and was elected student body president. After graduating from the NYU Law School in 1957, he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Portland.
In 1960, he was elected Chairman of the Multnomah County, Oregon, Republican Central Committee, thus becoming the youngest party chairman of a major metropolitan area in the country. In 1962, he became the youngest member of the Oregon Legislature when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives after a campaign waged by what The Oregonian called "one of the most effective working organizations in many an election moon in Oregon". Hundreds of volunteers went door-to-door, distributing leaflets throughout the district, and put up lawn signs that became "literally a geographical feature" of the district. Because of the effectiveness of his own campaigns, Packwood was selected to organize a political action committee that recruited attractive Republican candidates for the Oregon House throughout the state, and trained them in "Packwood-style" campaigning methods. The success of his candidates was credited with the Republican takeover of the Oregon House, thus making Oregon the only state in the Union in which the Republicans were able to score a significant victory in 1964.
Packwood was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1963 to 1968. In 1965, he founded the Dorchester Conference in Seaside, Oregon, an annual political conclave on the Oregon coast that "pointedly ignored state leadership in the Grand Old Party" to bring Republican officeholders and citizens together, to discuss current issues and pass resolutions taking stands on those issues. Initially a forum for liberal politics, it has become an annual networking event for Oregon Republicans.
In 1968, Packwood was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon as the Republican candidate against Democratic Party incumbent Wayne Morse. Morse had been elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1944 and 1950, then switched parties due to his liberal views, and was easily re-elected as a Democrat in 1956 and 1962. The relatively unknown Packwood was given little chance, but after an 11th-hour debate with the incumbent before the City Club of Portland, which Packwood was generally considered to have won, and a statewide recount in which over 100,000 ballots were challenged by both parties, Packwood was declared the winner by 3,500 votes. Packwood replaced U.S. Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. Packwood was re-elected in 1974, 1980, 1986, and 1992.
Packwood's voting record was moderate. He supported restrictions on gun owners and liberal civil rights legislation. Packwood voted in favor of the Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President of the United States Ronald Reagan's veto).