imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives to :Category:20th-century United States representatives per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

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Moving Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives to Category:20th-century United States representatives per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy

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{{short description|American politician}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Robin Jerald Beard Jr.
| smallimage = Robin Beard.jpg
| state = [[Tennessee]]
| district = [[Tennessee's 6th congressional district|6th]]
| term_start = January 3, 1973
| term_end = January 3, 1983
| preceded = [[William Anderson (naval officer)|William R. Anderson]]
| succeeded = [[Don Sundquist]] (Redistricting)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|8|21}}
| birth_place = [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2007|6|16|1939|8|21}}
| death_place = [[Isle of Palms, South Carolina]], U.S.
| death_cause = [[Brain cancer]]
| resting_place =
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse = Catherine Beard
| alma_mater = [[Vanderbilt University]]
|allegiance={{flag|United States}}
|branch={{flag|United States Marine Corps}}
|serviceyears=
|battles=
|rank=Colonel
}}

'''Robin Jerald Beard Jr.''' (August 21, 1939 – June 16, 2007) was an American politician who served as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from [[Tennessee's 6th congressional district]], who served from 1973 to 1983.

==Early life==
Beard was born in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]].<ref name="legacypost">{{cite news|title=Robin Beard Jr.|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charleston/obituary.aspx?n=robin-beard&pid=89243506&fhid=6307|accessdate=March 12, 2018|work=The Post and Courer|date=June 19, 2007|via=Legacy.com}}</ref> He was educated at [[Montgomery Bell Academy]] and graduated from [[Vanderbilt University]],<ref name="nashpostobit">{{cite news|last1=Wood|first1=E. Thomas|last2=Whitehouse|first2=Ken|title=Remembering Robin Beard|url=https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/education/vanderbilt-university/article/20401044/remembering-robin-beard|accessdate=March 12, 2018|work=The Nashville Post|date=June 20, 2007}}</ref> where he was a member of the [[Sigma Chi]] fraternity.<ref name="legacypost"/> He was a former colonel in the [[United States Marine Corps Reserve]].<ref name="nashpostobit"/>

==Political career==
In 1970, Beard was appointed Tennessee personnel commissioner by newly elected Republican [[Governors of Tennessee|Governor]] [[Winfield Dunn]].{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} In 1972, he entered the [[United States Republican Party|GOP]] [[Partisan primary|primary]] for the newly reconfigured 6th Congressional District.<ref name="nashpostobit"/> The district had been significantly redrawn by the [[Tennessee General Assembly|state legislature]], which shifted several Republican-trending portions near Memphis into the Sixth and removed several solidly Democratic areas.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In November, Beard defeated Anderson by twelve percentage points. Beard's victory was not considered an upset, given the considerably more Republican bent of the redrawn district. Beard worked this district well over the next decade, building up a large following in a district where most of the living residents had never been represented by a Republican before. However, conservative Democrats continued to hold most of the district's seats in the state legislature well into the 1980s.

Proving just how Republican this district had become at the national level, Beard was easily reelected in 1974 with 56.6 percent of the vote even as Republicans across the country were turned out of office due to anger over [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]]. In 1976, Beard faced former Senator [[Ross Bass]], who had represented the 6th from 1955 to 1964. However, Beard turned back this challenge fairly easily, winning by almost 29 points. Despite his name recognition, Bass was unable to overcome the challenge of running in territory that he did not know and that did not know him. Beard took over 74 percent of the vote in 1978, and was unopposed in 1980.

Beard did not run for a sixth term in the 1982 elections, opting instead to run for the Republican nomination to oppose freshman Democratic [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Jim Sasser]]. While Beard won the [[Partisan primary|primary]], [[1982 United States Senate election in Tennessee|he lost in a massive 20-point landslide]]. The Republicans would not win another statewide race until 1994, when they captured the governorship and both Senate seats.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Beard was appointed as a [[NATO]] deputy secretary-general in [[Belgium]] from 1984 to 1987, and from 1992 to 1995.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Beard later ran a [[Washington, D.C.]]–based import-export business and was at one time a resident of [[Alexandria, Virginia]].{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} Beard retired to [[Charleston County, South Carolina]], where he later ran for a seat on the county [[school board]] in 2006 ([[Arthur Ravenel Jr.]], also a former U.S. Representative, ran successfully in the race.){{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

==Death==
Beard died from a brain tumor in [[Isle of Palms, South Carolina]].<ref name="tennesseanobit">{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Allison|title=Former U.S. Rep. Robin Leo Beard Jr. dies at 67|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/278272347/?terms=%22Robin%2Bleo%2BBeard%22|accessdate=March 12, 2018|work=The Tennessean|date=June 19, 2007|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="postandcourierobit">{{cite news|last1=Waldo|first1=Tenisha|title=Former Congressman Beard dies at age 67|url=http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/jun/17/former_congressman_beard_dies_at_age/|accessdate=March 12, 2018|work=The Post and Courier|date=June 17, 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203021135/http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/jun/17/former_congressman_beard_dies_at_age/|archivedate=December 3, 2007}}</ref> His funeral was held at the [[Huguenot Church]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]].<ref name="tennesseanobit"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|United States|Virginia}}
*{{C-SPAN|1001626}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Tennessee
| district=6
| before= [[William Anderson (naval officer)|William R. Anderson]]
| after= [[Al Gore|Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.]]
| years=1973–1983}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[List of United States Senators from Tennessee|United States Senator from Tennessee]]<br />(Class 1)
| before=[[Bill Brock]]
| after=[[Bill Andersen (politician)|Bill Andersen]]
| years=[[1982 United States Senate election in Tennessee|1982]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 93rd–97th [[United States Congress]]es |state=[[Tennessee]]}}
{{USCongRep/TN/93}}
{{USCongRep/TN/94}}
{{USCongRep/TN/95}}
{{USCongRep/TN/96}}
{{USCongRep/TN/97}}
{{USCongRep-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Robin}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:State cabinet secretaries of Tennessee]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps colonels]]
[[Category:Vanderbilt University alumni]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Alexandria, Virginia]]
[[Category:Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:Politicians from Alexandria, Virginia]]
[[Category:South Carolina Republicans]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]

Robin Beard - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives to :Category:20th-century United States representatives per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Speedy