25 Facts About Bob Packwood

Robert William Packwood was born on September 11,1932 and is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to 1995.

Since the death of Fred R Harris in November 2024, Packwood is the earliest-serving living US senator, and is the last living former US senator who assumed office in the 1960s.

Bob Packwood was born to Frederick William and Gladys Dorothy Bob Packwood in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Grant High School in 1950, and in 1954 graduated from Willamette University in Salem.

Bob Packwood is the great-grandson of William Bob Packwood, the youngest member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention of 1857.

Bob Packwood had his great-grandfather's political bent from his early years.

Bob Packwood received the Root-Tilden Scholarship to New York University's Law School, where he earned national awards in moot court competition and was elected student body president.

Bob Packwood was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1963 to 1968.

In 1968, Bob Packwood was nominated to run for the US Senate in Oregon as the Republican candidate against Democratic incumbent Wayne Morse.

Bob Packwood replaced US Senate member Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts as the youngest senator.

Bob Packwood supported restrictions on gun owners and liberal civil rights legislation.

Bob Packwood voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bob Packwood differed with President Richard Nixon on some significant issues.

Bob Packwood voted against Nixon's Supreme Court of the United States nominees Clement Haynsworth and G Harrold Carswell, as well as Nixon's proposals for the Rockwell B-1 Lancer, submarines capable of carrying the Trident and the Supersonic transport.

Bob Packwood became the first US Senate Republican to support the Impeachment process against Richard Nixon, which was unsuccessful.

Two years before the Roe v Wade decision by the Supreme Court, Packwood introduced the Senate's first abortion legalization bill, but he was unable to attract a co-sponsor for it.

In 1987, Bob Packwood crossed party lines to vote against the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, and he was one of only two Republicans to vote against the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1991.

Bob Packwood played a major role in the enactment of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Act, sponsoring a bill which protected scenic Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America, by making it into a 652,488-acre National Recreation Area on the borders of northeastern Oregon and western Idaho.

Bob Packwood has been described as an "ardent" pro-Israel supporter.

Bob Packwood opposed a sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia under President Reagan.

Bob Packwood was most noted for his role in the 1986 tax reform, while he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Bob Packwood's debating skills were rated A+ by USA Today in the issue of July 18,1986.

Publication of the story was delayed until after the 1992 election, as Bob Packwood had denied the allegations and the Post had not gathered enough information about the story at the time.

Bob Packwood did divulge 5,000 pages to the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics but balked when a further 3,200 pages were demanded by the committee.

Bob Packwood then made what some of his colleagues interpreted as a threat to expose wrongdoing by other members of Congress.

In 2015, Bob Packwood returned to the Senate as a witness for the United States Senate Committee on Finance, which was again considering tax reform.