Former Sen. Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican whose career was defined by both significant legislative achievements and a dramatic downfall due to allegations of sexual harassment, has died at 93.
His family announced his death on Saturday in an obituary sent to media outlets, though no additional details were provided.
Packwood, a self-described “political scrapper,” initially resisted calls to resign from the chamber where he had served for 27 years, expressing a desire not to be solely remembered for controversy.
Long before the #MeToo movement, his case became a prominent example of how private conduct could severely undermine a public image, despite earlier praise from organizations like Planned Parenthood.
A great-grandson of an 1857 Oregon Constitutional Convention member, Packwood cultivated a reputation as a social moderate and fiscal conservative, frequently voting across party lines.
Elected to the Senate in 1968 at age 36, narrowly defeating Oregon legend Wayne L. Morse, he quickly rose as a Republican star.
By 1980, he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee and even considered a presidential run.
However, he lost that leadership position after publicly accusing President Ronald Reagan of alienating women, African Americans, and Jews, leading the White House to back a competitor.
He was particularly known as a leading Republican advocate for abortion rights, earning widespread admiration from women’s groups nationwide.
As chairman and later ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Packwood was instrumental in crafting legislative compromises.
He was most proud of his pivotal role in the sweeping 1986 tax reform that lowered the top income tax bracket and eliminated numerous itemized deductions.
However, his distinguished public record began to unravel in 1993 when the Senate Ethics Committee launched an investigation into allegations of sexual and official misconduct.
Just two weeks after his 1992 reelection, The Washington Post printed allegations from former female employees and acquaintances, with more than two dozen women ultimately accusing him of making unwanted or uninvited sexual advances.
The ethics probe expanded to include other alleged acts of misconduct, such as soliciting jobs from lobbyists for his ex-wife, using staff to threaten accusers into silence, and obstructing the investigation by altering his personal diaries.
The Senate held two days of extraordinary debate in 1993 over a subpoena for his diaries, ultimately voting 94-6 to enforce it. Packwood lost subsequent appeals in federal courts, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist refusing his request for the U.S. Supreme Court to intercede. He resigned in September 1995.
Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, who succeeded Packwood in 1996, acknowledged his predecessor’s contributions to abortion rights and tax reform but emphasized the overshadowing impact of his treatment of women. “His horrible history as documented in his own diaries will forever overshadow that public record. Simply put, historians’ first line about Bob Packwood must include those women who he abused and assaulted for years and years,” Wyden stated.
Described throughout his career as a blunt, independent, and outspoken politician—a “maverick,” “boat-rocker,” and “political survivor”—Packwood once told The Associated Press in 1992, “I would like to think that I am nobody’s lackey. I try to reach conclusions independently and then I’m willing to fight for those conclusions; if necessary, having to fight against my party or my party’s president.” Following his resignation, he established a lucrative lobbying business, Sunrise Research Corp., in Washington, grossing $1.5 million a year by 1999, though he later admitted it was “not as much fun as being in the Senate.”
As Congress grew more partisan after his departure, Packwood continued to advocate for a centrist approach, calling for nonpartisan elections in Oregon during a 2010 speech. In a November 2002 interview with the Salem Statesman Journal, Packwood reflected on the scandal that ended his Senate career. “People have told me it must have been tough on me, or it seems unfair,” he said. “But you cannot go through the rest of life and say look what happened. Pretty soon you become a bore to your friends. I told myself I was not old enough to retire, so I have got to get at life and not complain about it.”
Packwood’s legacy remains complex, defined by both his significant legislative influence as a centrist Republican and the indelible stain of the sexual misconduct allegations that forced his departure from public office.
