Bob Packwood

Bob Packwood
Chair of the Senate Finance Committee
In office
January 3, 1995 – October 1, 1995
Preceded byDaniel Patrick Moynihan
Succeeded byWilliam Roth
In office
January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987
Preceded byBob Dole
Succeeded byLloyd Bentsen
Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1985
Preceded byHoward Cannon
Succeeded byJohn Danforth
United States Senator
from Oregon
In office
January 3, 1969 – October 1, 1995
Preceded byWayne Morse
Succeeded byRon Wyden
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives
from the 6th district
In office
January 14, 1963 – January 3, 1969
Preceded byMulti-member district
Succeeded byMulti-member district
Personal details
Born
Robert William Packwood

(1932-09-11)September 11, 1932
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
DiedJune 6, 2026(2026-06-06) (aged 93)
Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Georgie Oberteuffer
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1992)​

Elaine Franklin
​
(m. 1998)​
Children2
EducationWillamette University (BA)
New York University (JD)
Packwood's voice
Packwood introducing an amendment to the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994.
Recorded March 16, 1994

Robert William "Bob" Packwood (September 11, 1932 – June 6, 2026) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a United States Senator from the state of Oregon from 1969 to 1995.

Although a member of the conservative Republican Party, Packwood was a moderate. He voted differently from other members of his party many times. Packwood resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1995 after it was discovered he sexually abused several female staffers and lobbyists.

Early life

Packwood was born in Portland, Oregon. He studied at Willamette University and later studied law at New York University. He was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1963. He left the state house in 1969 after being elected U.S. Senator.

U.S. Senate

In 1968, Packwood was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon as the Republican candidate against Democratic Party incumbent Wayne Morse. Since little was known about Packwood, he was given little chance to win. However, he would go on to win the election by 3,500 votes. Packwood replaced U.S. Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate.

Packwood's voting record was moderate. He supported restrictions on gun owners and liberal civil rights legislation. Packwood voted in favor of making Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Ronald Reagan's veto).

Packwood was the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee twice from 1985 to 1987 and again for a few months in 1995.

In 1995, Packwood resigned from the Senate after a sex scandal. Shortly before his resignation, a U.S. Senate ethics committee led by Senators Barbara Boxer and Mitch McConnell recommended that Packwood be removed from the senate. After his resignation, Packwood went to rehab for his alcoholism, which he blamed for sexually abusing several women.

He was the last living former U.S. senator who took office in the 1960s and the last living former U.S. senator who served during the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Later life and death

Packwood stayed involved in politics as a lobbyist and a political consultant. He lived in a suburb of Portland, with his second wife Elaine. She used to be his chief of staff.

Packwood died under hospice care in Rancho Mirage, California on June 6, 2026, at the age of 93.

References

  1. 1 2 "PACKWOOD, Robert William, (1932 - )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Seelye, Katharine Q. (2026-06-06). "Bob Packwood, Senator Forced to Quit in Sex Scandal, Dies at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
  3. ↑ Portland Oregonian, October 26, 1968.
  4. ↑ Myers, Clay. Oregon Blue Book. Salem, Oregon: Office of the Secretary of State, 1970.
  5. ↑ Kirschmeier, p. 105.
  6. ↑ "TO PASS H.R. 3706. (MOTION PASSED) SEE NOTE(S) 19".
  7. ↑ "TO PASS S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE THE BROAD COVERAGE AND CLARIFY FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY PROVIDING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION IS FEDERALLY FUNDED, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE".
  8. ↑ "TO ADOPT, OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE BROAD COVERAGE OF FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY DECLARING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION RECEIVES FEDERAL FUNDS, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE. TWO-THIRDS OF THE SENATE, HAVING VOTED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE, OVERRODE THE PRESIDENTIAL VETO".
  9. ↑ New York Times News Service (1998-04-09). "Packwood May Return To Politics". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Seelye, Katharine Q. (September 8, 1995). "The Packwood Case: The Overview; Packwood Says he is Quitting as Ethics Panel Gives Evidence". The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Gabriel, Trip (August 29, 1993). "The Trials Of Bob Packwood". New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  12. 1 2 VanderHart, Dirk; Foden-Vencil, Kristian (June 6, 2026). "Bob Packwood, longtime Oregon Senator marred by scandal, dies at 93". OPB. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Jeff Mapes (January 10, 2014). "Bob Packwood, still lobbying at 81, says Sen. Ron Wyden faces tough odds as Finance chairman". Oregon Live. Retrieved 2 January 2015.

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