Robert R. Butler
Robert Reyburn Butler (September 24, 1881 – January 7, 1933), also known as R. R. Butler,[1] was a lawyer and Republican originally from Tennessee who represented Oregon's 2nd congressional district from 1928 to 1933. He was previously a circuit court judge and a state senator.
Background
Butler was born in eastern Tennessee to William R. Butler, a physician,[2] and the former Rebecca Caroline Grayson. His paternal grandfather was Roderick R. Butler, a colonel for the Union Army during the American Civil War who later became a U.S. representative from Tennessee's 1st congressional district during and after Reconstruction. The town he was born in had been renamed in Roderick R. Butler's honor.
Rebecca C. Grayson, Butler's mother, also came from a distinguished family, as his maternal grandfather J. W. Grayson had been colonel in the Union Army who held a command during the war.[2]
Political career
U.S. House of Representatives
In the 1928 U.S. House elections, Butler sought the U.S. House seat from Oregon's 2nd congressional district, located the majority of the state on the eastern side. He won the Republican nomination in a slate of seven candidates, polling a plurality of 35% of the vote.[3] In the general election, he faced former progressive Democrat governor and Ku Klux Klan ally Walter M. Pierce, and won the race by a margin of thirteen percentage points.[4]
Due to the resignation of congressman Nicholas J. Sinnott to serve in the Coolidge Administration, there was meant to be a simultaneous special election held on the same date as the 1928 general election to fill the remainder of Sinnott's term prior to the new congressional session. However, there was no separate "special election," as the two races were essentially merged.[5]
Butler easily won re-election to a second House term in the 1930 midterms, defeating Democrat Robert E. Bradford by a landslide.[6] However, he faced defeat in 1932 amidst backlash against Republicans over the Great Depression, and lost to former opponent Pierce by eight points.[7]
Death
After reportedly suffering an ailment in both lungs and being in a coma state,[8] Butler died of heart disease and pneumonia on January 7, 1933.[9]
References
- ↑ January 8, 1933. R.R. BUTLER DEAD; CONGRESS MEMBER; Representative From Oregon, a Democrat, Had Served in Washington Since 1928. WAS BAR LEADER IN WEST Circuit Judge in Oregon for Two Years -- First Elected to State Senate in 1912. The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Biography of Judge Robert R. Butler. Online Biographies. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ OR District 2 - R Primary Race - May 18, 1928. Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ OR - District 02 Race - Nov 06, 1928. Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ OR - District 02 Special Election Race - Nov 06, 1928. Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ OR - District 02 Race - Nov 04, 1930. Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ OR - District 02 Race - Nov 08, 1932. Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ December 22, 1932. ROBERT R. BUTLER WORSE.; Oregon Representative's Both Lungs Now Affected -- He Is in Coma. The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ↑ Butler, O to R. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.