Stafford '35 leaves behind legacy of service

Author: Sonja Pedersen-Green

Senator Robert T. Stafford '35, died in Montpelier on Dec. 23, 2006. The 93-year-old Vermonter was known as a champion for education and the environment during his four-decade-long career in politics, and will be fondly remembered by friends, family and colleagues.

Despite having graduated over a half-century ago, Stafford maintained a rich relationship with the College throughout his life and was honored with a named professorship for his public service. Stafford, who majored in political science, met his wife Helen at Middlebury during the 1934-35 school years, when she was a first-year and he was a senior. Two of Stafford's children also attended the College, Madelyn Stafford Glase '63 and Susan Stafford Mohr '67.

According to Professor of Political Science and Secretary of the College Emeritus Eric Davis, Stafford said, "The courses he took [at Middlebury] opened him to a wider world, led him to pursue a law degree and to then get involved in public life after returning from naval service during World War II."

Davis, who attended Stafford's funeral Saturday, said, "Just about every present or former Vermont officeholder, regardless of party or of age, was present at the ceremony, [which] shows the respect and affection which Bob Stafford had throughout the Vermont political community."

Stafford was a staunch supporter of the federal financial aid program, and after he retired, the Senate named the low-interest Stafford Loan after him to honor his dedication to federal financial aid program. Stafford also provided additional federal resources for cultural programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He used his prominence in the Senate to fight against educational cutbacks and defend strong education policies.

Stafford's impact on his second specialization, the environment, was no less significant. According to Stafford Professor of Public Policy, Political Science and Environmental Studies Christopher Klyza, "Senator Stafford played a major role in guiding the legislative process to its conclusion for the Superfund law in 1980." Although President Ronald Reagan was elected while the House and Senate were attempting to reconcile differences in their bills, and was "skeptical of further regulation such as the Superfund law," according to Klyza, "Stafford helped forge the compromise that led to the law."

Stafford helped strengthen the Superfund law by adding such important amendments as the Toxic Release Inventory program and the Safe Drinking Water Act, both in 1986. Stafford was also involved in strengthening the Clean Air Act, including action against acid rain and stringent federal action to curtail water pollution. Stafford was chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, and in this position, he helped to defend the rollback of environmental policies that many anti-regulation conservatives wished to get rid of during the Reagan Administration. Stafford's strong stance on the environment was just as strong at the Vermont level. He joined Senators Patrick Leahy and then Representative Jim Jeffords in sponsoring the Vermont Wilderness Act, which protected over 40,000 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest as wilderness, including the Breadloaf Wilderness adjacent to the Breadloaf campus.

Throughout his career, Stafford held positions at every level of government.

"Stafford steadily moved up the political ladder," said Davis of Stafford's his four decades in politics. "Moving slowly up the ladder of office is out of fashion today. But careers like Stafford's produced members of Congress who could work together in productive ways, across party lines, and who were also very knowledgeable in the policy areas in which they specialized."

In his entire time in politics, Stafford never lost an election, holding positions "ranging from Rutland County State's Attorney to Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Governor, U.S. House member and U.S. Senator member," according to Davis.