Robert B. Duncan | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOregon | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Edith Green |
| Succeeded by | Ron Wyden |
| Constituency | 3rd district |
| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | Edwin R. Durno |
| Succeeded by | John R. Dellenback |
| Constituency | 4th district |
| 49thSpeaker of theOregon House of Representatives | |
| In office 1959–1962 | |
| Preceded by | Pat Dooley |
| Succeeded by | Clarence Barton |
| Constituency | Jackson County |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-12-04)December 4, 1920 Normal, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 29, 2011(2011-04-29) (aged 90) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Alma mater | Illinois Wesleyan University,University of Michigan Law School |
Robert Blackford Duncan (December 4, 1920 – April 29, 2011) was an American politician from the state ofOregon. ADemocrat, he served multiple terms in theOregon Legislative Assembly and as aU.S. congressman from Oregon. In theOregon House of Representatives he served as speaker for four years, and in the U.S. House he represented two different districts. TheIllinois native and World War II veteran ran three unsuccessful campaigns to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Robert B. Duncan was born inNormal, Illinois, on December 4, 1920. His father, Eugene Duncan, came to Illinois from a family in Missouri whose ascendants were originally from Scotland. His mother, Catherine Blackford, was of Welsh origin—her parents had immigrated from Wales to the United States in the late 19th century.
Robert Duncan was the second of four boys: Carter, Bob, Clark and John Bruce. He attended public schools inBloomington.[1] In 1939, at the age of 18, he went with a friend to Alaska and he began college at theUniversity of Alaska, staying through 1940 when he transferred toIllinois Wesleyan University where he graduated in 1942 with a bachelor's degree.[1] In college he met fellow student Marijane Beverly Dill (born June 30, 1920) and the two were married on December 19, 1942.[2] The couple would have seven children together.[2] While in Alaska he had worked in the gold fields, and while in Illinois he had worked for a bank and seed company.[1]
During World War II, he served in theUnited States Merchant Marine and in theUnited States Naval Air Force as a pilot from 1942 to 1945.[1] In 1948, Duncan received hisLL.B from theUniversity of Michigan Law School and passed the bar in October of that year.[1] After graduation Duncan and his family moved fromMichigan to Portland and then to Medford inSouthern Oregon, where he moved to join the law practice ofWilliam M. McAllister.[2]
In 1954, Duncan was nominated as awrite-in candidate for theOregon House of Representatives.[1] Although he declined for economic reasons, in 1956, he was elected to the Oregon House,[1] serving three terms and was elected Speaker of the Oregon House by his colleagues. In1962, he was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives representingOregon's 4th congressional district based inMedford.[1]
In the1966 U.S. Senate election, Duncan was the Democratic candidate for the seat vacated by retiring SenatorMaurine B. Neuberger.[1] While Duncan strongly supportedPresident Johnson'sVietnam War policies, hisRepublican opponent,GovernorMark Hatfield, was an outspoken critic.[3] The differences between Duncan and Hatfield on the war would produce one of the great splits in the modern Oregon Democratic Party.[4] The state's senior U.S. Senator,Wayne Morse—a staunch Democratic opponent of the Vietnam War—endorsed Hatfield over fellow Democrat Duncan,[5] an act that infuriated Democratic Party regulars.[6] This factor, along with Hatfield's statewide popularity, gave Hatfield a narrow victory.[7] In 1967, Duncan moved toPortland where he lived until 1974,[2] returning to the practice of law.[1]
In1968, Duncan came back to challenge Senator Morse in the Democratic Senate primary. Again, Duncan's war views played a role. Though Duncan was initially far ahead of the anti-war maverick Morse, Morse closed the gap at the end and won a narrow victory, aided by the beginning of theParis Peace Accords, which brought the possibility of the end of the war.[8] Morse went on to narrowly lose in the general election to Republican state RepresentativeBob Packwood, who favored continued funding of the war.
Duncan returned to his Portland law practice. He ran once more for the Senate in 1972, again losing the Democratic nomination to Morse, this time by a wider margin. Morse then lost to Senator Hatfield. AfterEdith Green retired from Congress, Duncan ran for her Portland-based seat fromOregon's 3rd congressional district in1974 and returned to the House. He served another three terms from 1975 to 1981. He lost in an upset in the 1980 Democratic primary to eventual winnerRon Wyden.[9]
In 1985, he returned to live in Oregon, settling in the coastal community ofYachats.[2] He served on the Northwest Power Planning Council from 1984 to 1988, and as its chairperson in 1987.[1] Following his work on the Council (he left the Council in 1988), Duncan spent his time working on his house in Yachats and on his collection of old cars, and spending time with his seven grandchildren.
Duncan's first wife, Marijane, died November 9, 1990.[2] The couple had seven children. In 1995, Duncan married Kathryn Boe, widow of Jason Boe who had served in the Oregon Senate from 1970 to 1980, four terms as Senate president.[10] Duncan lived in Portland until his death at the age of 90 at the Mirabella retirement home on April 29, 2011.[11]
His papers are housed in the Robert Blackford Duncan collection at the University of Oregon. A four-volume book of his writings is in that collection and also is in the archival collections of Illinois Wesleyan University, Normal, Illinois; the University of Alaska in Fairbanks; and the Oregon Historical Society, Portland.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromOregon (Class 2) 1966 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromOregon's 4th congressional district 1963–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromOregon's 3rd congressional district 1975–1981 | Succeeded by |
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