American politician (1913?2006)
Robert Stafford
|
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|
|
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In office
September 16, 1971 ? January 3, 1989
|
Preceded by
| Winston L. Prouty
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Succeeded by
| Jim Jeffords
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In office
January 3, 1961 ? September 16, 1971
|
Preceded by
| William H. Meyer
|
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Succeeded by
| Richard W. Mallary
|
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|
In office
January 8, 1959 ? January 5, 1961
|
Lieutenant
| Robert S. Babcock
|
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Preceded by
| Joseph B. Johnson
|
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Succeeded by
| F. Ray Keyser Jr.
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|
In office
January 10, 1957 ? January 8, 1959
|
Governor
| Joseph B. Johnson
|
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Preceded by
| Consuelo N. Bailey
|
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Succeeded by
| Robert S. Babcock
|
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|
In office
January 6, 1955 ? January 10, 1957
|
Governor
| Joseph B. Johnson
|
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Preceded by
| F. Elliott Barber Jr.
|
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Succeeded by
| Frederick M. Reed
|
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|
|
Born
| Robert Theodore Stafford
(
1913-08-08
)
August 8, 1913
Rutland, Vermont
, U.S.
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Died
| December 23, 2006
(2006-12-23)
(aged 93)
Rutland, Vermont, U.S.
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Political party
| Republican
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Spouse
|
Helen Kelley
(
m.
1938)
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Children
| 4
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Alma mater
| |
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Occupation
| |
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Allegiance
|
United States
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Branch/service
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Years of service
| 1942?1971
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Rank
| Captain
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Battles/wars
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Robert Theodore Stafford
(August 8, 1913 ? December 23, 2006) was an American
politician
from
Vermont
. In his lengthy political career, he served as the
71st
governor of Vermont
, a
United States representative
, and a
U.S. Senator
. A
Republican
, Stafford was generally considered a liberal, or "
Rockefeller Republican
".
Stafford is best remembered for his staunch environmentalism, his work on higher education, and his support, as an elder statesman, for the 2000
Vermont law legalizing civil unions
for gay couples.
Early life
[
edit
]
Stafford was born in
Rutland, Vermont
, to
Bert Linus Stafford
and Mabel R. (Stratton) Stafford.
[1]
Bert Stafford was a 1901 graduate of
Middlebury College
who practiced law in Rutland, and was President of the Rutland County National Bank. He served as
Rutland County
's
State's Attorney
, and was mayor from 1915 to 1917, President of the
Vermont Bar Association
in 1930, and Chairman of the Vermont Board of Education.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Stafford attended the schools of Rutland and was a 1931 graduate of
Rutland High School
.
[7]
He received his
Bachelor of Science
degree from Middlebury College in 1935.
[7]
While there, he joined the
Delta Upsilon
fraternity. He briefly attended the
University of Michigan Law School
before earning his
LL.B.
from the
Boston University School of Law
in 1938.
[8]
Start of career
[
edit
]
Upon completing law school, Stafford was admitted to the bar and practiced law with the Rutland firm of Stafford, Abatiell, and Stafford.
[9]
He became active in politics as a
Republican
and served as Rutland's grand juror (prosecutor in the municipal court) from 1938 to 1942.
[9]
World War II and Navy Reserve service
[
edit
]
In 1942, Stafford joined the
United States Navy Reserve
for
World War II
and was commissioned as an
ensign
.
[9]
Assigned to the Intelligence branch, he completed his initial training at
Dartmouth College
and at
Fort Dix
,
New Jersey
.
[9]
He then carried out intelligence officer postings at the
Navy Department
in
Washington, D.C.
, and at Navy bases on
Cape Cod
,
Massachusetts
.
[9]
Stafford later requested sea duty and served as senior
watch officer
aboard USS
West Point
, the Navy's largest troop transport ship.
[9]
During his service aboard
West Point
, the ship made numerous voyages across the Atlantic to Europe and Africa. Stafford advanced to
lieutenant commander
during the war, and at its end in 1945 he was the ship's chief transportation officer.
[9]
He returned to Rutland in February 1946 while continuing to serve in the Navy Reserve.
[9]
In October 1951, Stafford returned to active duty during the
Korean War
era.
[10]
He was assigned as gunnery officer aboard USS
Mission Bay
, a Reserve training ship berthed in
Bayonne, New Jersey
, and served until February 1953.
[11]
[12]
He remained in the Navy Reserve after his second deployment and retired at the rank of
captain
in March 1971.
[13]
Continued career
[
edit
]
Stafford served as
Rutland County
's
State's Attorney
from 1947 to 1951.
[1]
In addition, he practiced law in a new firm, Stafford and LaBrake.
[10]
Following his Korean War-era deployment, he entered Vermont statewide politics, serving as deputy state attorney general for the state from 1953 to 1955. In 1954, he was elected
Vermont Attorney General
, and he served from 1955 to 1957.
[1]
In 1956, he was elected
lieutenant governor
.
[1]
Governor of Vermont
[
edit
]
In 1958
, Stafford was elected
governor
.
[1]
His ascent to the lieutenant governorship and governorship was unusual in that he did not follow the path of most Vermont Republicans. From the founding of the party in the 1850s, Republicans in Vermont had made use of the
Mountain Rule
, which called for candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to alternate between the east and west sides of the
Green Mountains
, and for governors to serve only two years in office. U.S. Senators were also allocated according to the Mountain Rule, with one from the east and one from the west. Under this system, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor were chosen by the party years in advance, and served in leadership roles in the
Vermont General Assembly
, including
Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
and
President
of the
Vermont Senate
. Stafford is one of Vermont's few governors who did not serve in the legislature. By the late 1950s, the
Democratic Party
was becoming increasingly competitive in Vermont, and in the 1958 election, Stafford won the governorship over
Bernard J. Leddy
with only 50.3% of the vote.
Stafford's governorship was notable for initiatives to streamline state government, including creation of the Agency of Administration.
[8]
In addition, the state invested in infrastructure including roads and bridges to spur economic growth, and enacted scholarships for Vermont students who attended state colleges.
[8]
U.S. Representative
[
edit
]
In 1960
, Stafford was the Republican nominee for Vermont's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, supported by all factions of his party because he was regarded as the strongest challenger to Democrat
William H. Meyer
, who had broken the Republican Party's 100 year hold on statewide offices by winning election to Congress
in 1958
. Stafford won, and was reelected four times, serving in the House from January 3, 1961, to September 16, 1971.
[14]
Stafford voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of
1964
,
[15]
and
1968
,
[16]
as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
.
[17]
[18]
U.S. Senator
[
edit
]
In September 1971, Stafford resigned his seat in the House to accept appointment to the Senate, temporarily filling the vacancy caused by the death of
Winston L. Prouty
.
[1]
Stafford won the January 1972 special election to serve out the rest of Prouty's term and won reelection twice including the
1976 election
against outgoing Governor
Thomas P. Salmon
. He served for slightly over 17 years, until his retirement in 1989. He chaired the
Committee on Environment and Public Works
from 1981 to 1987.
While in Congress, he helped pass a law, now known as the
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
, or Stafford Act, to coordinate federal
natural disaster
assistance. Stafford's support of weapons sales to
Nicaraguan
contras
led to the
Winooski 44
protest.
As he neared retirement from the Senate, New York Times writer Philip Shabecoff wrote in a profile of Stafford that his tendency to keep his own counsel meant he "may give the worst interview of any public official in the capital." Stafford commented on his own reputation for maintaining a low profile by saying "I talked more when I was younger."
[19]
Later life
[
edit
]
In his later years, Stafford was regarded as the elder statesman of Vermont Republicans.
[20]
In 1998,
Jack McMullen
, a recent arrival to Vermont, declared his candidacy for the
Republican
nomination for U.S. Senator.
[21]
As related by Chris Graff, longtime Vermont bureau chief for the
Associated Press
, McMullen's candidacy sustained an immediate blow when Graff interviewed Stafford about the
January 1998 ice storm
and other current events.
During the discussion, Stafford persistently got McMullen's name wrong, calling him "Mulholland".
Graff wrote that he tried to politely correct Stafford, but finally realized that Stafford's intent was to convey his opinion that McMullen was too unknown and too new to Vermont to be a viable candidate.
The
lede
in the resulting story was that Vermont's senior Republican was of the view that McMullen had not lived in the state long enough to represent it in the senate, and Stafford's dismissal of McMullen as "Mulholland or whatever his name is" became a
running joke
among reporters and political operatives.
In the Republican primary, McMullen faced
Fred Tuttle
, a retired dairy farmer who had starred in a mock documentary film called
Man with a Plan
, a comedy about a retired farmer who decides to run for Vermont's seat in the
United States House of Representatives
.
[23]
Tuttle's candidacy was partly an attempt to generate publicity for the film, and partly an attempt to mock McMullen as a
carpetbagger
and flatlander (Vermont slang for an out-of-stater) who had moved to Vermont only because he thought it would be easier to run for the Senate there than in more populous
Massachusetts
, where McMullen had previously resided.
On primary day, Tuttle beat McMullen 55 percent to 45.
[25]
Tuttle immediately announced his intention to vote for incumbent
Democratic
Senator
Patrick Leahy
, after which the two made several joint appearances.
On election day, Leahy defeated Tuttle and several minor candidates to win reelection.
In 2000, Stafford lent credibility to Vermont's movement to allow
civil unions
for gay and lesbian couples.
[27]
Before the 2000 presidential elections, Stafford explained his decision to support civil unions: "I consider that love is one of the great forces in our society and especially in our state of Vermont. It occurs to me that even if a same-sex couple unites in love, what harm does that do anybody or any society? So I felt compelled to come here and say that."
[28]
Stafford died in Rutland on December 23, 2006.
[27]
He was buried at
Evergreen Cemetery
in Rutland.
[29]
His wife Helen Stafford died February 27, 2011, at the age of 93.
[30]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In 1988, Congress renamed the Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program the
Robert T. Stafford Student Loan
program, in honor of his work on higher education.
[31]
In 2007, Congress renamed the White Rocks National Recreation Area in the State of Vermont as the
Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area
.
[32]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Obituary, Robert T. Stafford"
.
Rutland Herald
. Rutland, VT. October 17, 2018 [December 24, 2006].
- ^
Wiley, Edgar J. (1917).
Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College
. Middlebury, VT: Middlebury College. p. 338.
- ^
Vermont Legislative Directory
. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Secretary of State. 1929. pp. 516, 568.
- ^
Manning's Directory: Rutland City and Township, West Rutland and Proctor
. Springfield, MA: H. A. Manning Company. 1936. p. 5.
- ^
The Vermont Bar Journal & Law Digest, Volume 18
. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Bar Association. 1992. p. 26.
- ^
Journal of the Senate of the State of Vermont
. Montpelier, VT: Capital City Press. 1913. p. 1035.
- ^
a
b
Armstrong, Howard E.
(1955).
Vermont Legislative Directory and State Manual
. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Secretary of State. p. 611 – via
Google Books
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Biography, Robert T. Stafford"
.
NGA.org
. Washington, DC: National Governors Association
. Retrieved
October 10,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"R. T. Stafford Will Take Office Today as Prosecutor in County"
.
Rutland Daily Herald
. Rutland, VT. February 1, 1947. p. 7 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
"R. T. Stafford is Recalled"
.
Rutland Daily Herald
. Rutland, VT. October 19, 1951. p. 6 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Stafford of Rutland May be Deputy Atty. Gen"
.
Burlington Free Press
. Burlington, VT. Morning Press Bureau. December 12, 1952. p. 2 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"R. T. Stafford is Appointed"
.
Rutland Daily Herald
. Rutland, VT. February 5, 1953. p. 7 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Rep. Stafford retires as Captain in Navy Reserve"
.
Bennington Banner
. Bennington, VT. March 19, 1971. p. 12 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Sen. Robert Stafford"
. govtrack.us
. Retrieved
October 10,
2012
.
- ^
"H.R. 7152. Passage"
.
- ^
"To Pass H.R. 2516, A Bill to Establish Penalties for Interference With Civil Rights"
.
- ^
"S.J. RES. 29. Constitutional Amendment to Ban the Use of Poll Tax as a Requirement for Voting in federal Elections"
.
GovTrack.us
.
- ^
"To Pass H.R. 6400, The 1965 Voting Rights Act"
.
- ^
Shabecoff, Philip (28 December 1988).
"Washington Talk: The Senate; Quiet Vermonter Who Makes His Words Count"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
7 October
2014
.
- ^
Hatch, Orrin
(May 8, 2007).
"Honoring Former Senator Robert Stafford"
(PDF)
.
Congressional Record
?Senate
. Vol. 153, Part 8. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 11604.
- ^
Graff, Christopher (December 24, 2006).
"He was in right place, at right time in history"
.
Rutland Herald
. Rutland, VT. Archived from
the original
on September 5, 2018.
- ^
Lindholm, Jane; Smith, Matthew F. (June 18, 2018).
"Cow Teats & How To Say 'Calais': Reflecting On The 1998 Tuttle-McMullen Debate"
.
Vermont Public Radio
. Colchester, VT.
- ^
"Baruth: The Political Art Behind Fred Tuttle, The Man With A Plan"
.
VT Digger
. Montpelier, VT. November 27, 2016.
- ^
a
b
Sneyd, Ross (December 23, 2006).
"Former Vermont Senator Robert Stafford dies at 93"
.
Vermont Seven Days
. Burlington, VT. Associated Press.
- ^
Sneyd, Ross (October 27, 2018) [December 23, 2006].
"Former Vermont Senator Robert Stafford dies at 93"
.
Rutland Herald
. Rutland, VT.
Associated Press
.
- ^
"Prominent Burials"
.
Evergreen Cemetery, Rutland
. Burlington, VT: Vermont Old Cemetery Association. 2015.
- ^
"Helen Stafford; was widow of Vermont politician; at 93"
.
Boston Globe
. Boston, MA. Associated Press. March 1, 2011.
- ^
"Student Loan 101: All About Stafford Loans"
. The Street Network. Archived from
the original
on December 24, 2010
. Retrieved
October 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Congressional Record 109th Congress (2005?2006)"
. The Library of Congress. March 16, 2006. Archived from
the original
on February 18, 2009
. Retrieved
October 10,
2012
.
External links
[
edit
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