26 Facts About Bob Krueger

Robert Charles Krueger was an American diplomat, politician, and US Representative and US Senator from Texas, a US Ambassador, and a member of the Democratic Party.

Bob Krueger taught English literature as a professor and was later vice provost and Dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University.

Bob Krueger held business positions as chairman of the board of Comal Hosiery Mills and managing partner of the Bob Krueger Brangus Ranch before entering elective office.

Bob Krueger was elected to the 94th and 95th United States Congresses, serving from January 3,1975, to January 3,1979.

Bob Krueger was initially elected to the US House of Representatives to represent, then the largest congressional district in Texas, stretching from northern San Antonio to Big Bend National Park in far west Texas.

Bob Krueger won by an even closer margin despite setting a record for spending in a congressional race at the time.

Coincidentally, Harlan like Bob Krueger had obtained a master's degree from Duke University.

Bob Krueger then received a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and became heavily involved in Republican Party consulting work.

Bob Krueger was part of the large "Watergate Class" of 1974, many of whom were Democrats who owed their election to the scandal that brought the resignation of President Richard Nixon three months before the election.

Bob Krueger was reelected for a second House term in 1976 along with the election of Jimmy Carter as president.

Tower decided to retire but Bob Krueger lost in the Democratic primary, caught in the middle between the more liberal State Senator Lloyd Doggett and the more conservative US Representative Kent Hance.

Bob Krueger ended up finishing third, out of the runoff and out of luck.

In 1990, Bob Krueger returned to elective office in Texas, serving on the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulated oil and gas as well as the rail system in the state.

Bob Krueger was appointed by Governor Ann Richards in 1993 to the US Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of four-term incumbent and 1988 Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen, who became Secretary of the Treasury in President Clinton's cabinet.

Bob Krueger served from January 21,1993, until June 14,1993.

Bob Krueger lost the June 1993 special election runoff for the remainder of the term ending January 3,1995 by a 2-to-1 margin to the popular Texas State Treasurer, Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

In 2010, Bob Krueger's campaign was named by the same Houston Chronicle article as the single worst in Texas' modern political history.

Reasons cited for the defeat included Bob Krueger's flip-flopping over don't ask, don't tell and Bill Clinton's proposed BTU tax, which was unpopular in Texas.

On October 23,1979, Bob Krueger was appointed by President Carter as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Mexican Affairs at the US Department of State and served the remainder of the Carter presidency until February 1,1981.

Bob Krueger's family was initially not allowed to join him in Burundi due to the threat of violence.

Bob Krueger served in Burundi until 1995, when his convoy was ambushed in Cibitoke province.

Bob Krueger was traveling on a bare highway in Cibitoke, when gunmen with AK-47s attacked the motorcade, before being diverted by Diplomatic Security Service agents Chris Reilly and Larry Salmon.

Bob Krueger held those posts until 2000, when he became a visiting fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and began to write a memoir of his time in central Africa.

Bob Krueger served in several academic lectureship positions at the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University, and Texas Tech University, following his service in federal government.

Bob Krueger delivered the Inaugural Distinguished Lecture of the Rutgers Council on Public and International Affairs on December 9,2014.

Bob Krueger died on April 30,2022, at the age of 86, from congestive heart failure.