Robert W. Straub

Robert William Straub ( born May 6, 1920 in San Francisco, California, † 27 November 2002 in Springfield, Oregon ) was an American politician from 1975 to 1979, the 31st Governor of the State of Oregon.

Early years and political rise

Robert Straub attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. During the Second World War he was a soldier in the U.S. Army. In 1946 he moved to Eugene in Oregon. There, he worked for a timber company, he founded his own construction company.

Straub was a member of the Democratic Party since 1954 and politically active. In that year he became a member of a management committee in Lane County. Between 1959 and 1963 he sat in the Senate of Oregon. There he fought for environmental protection; while he was doing, especially against air and water pollution. Between 1964 and 1972, Straub was Finance Minister ( State Treasurer ) of Oregon. In the years 1966 and 1970 he applied unsuccessfully for the office of each Governor. In the elections of 1974, but he finally managed to get elected to Republican Victor G. Atiyeh to the Governor.

Governor of Oregon

Robert Straub took up his new post on 13 January 1975. In his four-year tenure, he managed to reduce the unemployment rate from 12% to 5%. The laws of Oregon's energy consumption and land use have been improved for the benefit of the environment. Senior citizens received some perks. Straub put more women, the disabled and minorities in the civil service one than any governor before him. Governor Straub also promoted the formation. This mainly concerned the elementary schools, but also schools for the disabled have been improved. The administration itself has been streamlined and unnecessary departments either abolished or incorporated into other departments. It succeeded Straub also to move companies from outside of Oregon to invest in Oregon. This was one reason for the decline in the unemployment rate. In 1978, the governor lost in the elections against Victor Atiyeh, whom he had four years previously beaten.

Further CV

After being voted out, he resigned from his post on January 8, 1979. He then managed a few farms in the area of Salem, Curtin and Willamina. In Wheeler County, he owned a ranch. In 1999, Straub announced that he was suffering from Alzheimer 's disease. Three years later, the former governor died in a nursing home in Springfield. He was married to Patricia S. Stroud, with whom he had five children.

1987 was renamed in his honor the Nestucca Spit State Park in Pacific City in Bob Straub State Park.