Роберт Орр: Американ саяхатшысы және саяси қайраткері

American politician

Robert Dunkerson Orr (November 17, 1917 – March 10, 2004) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 45th governor of Indiana from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he served as United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1989 to 1992 under President George H. W. Bush.

Robert D. Orr was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his family was vacationing, on November 17, 1917, the last of the three children of Samuel Lowery and Louise Dunkerson Orr. His father was an industrialist with interests in many companies whose holdings were centralized in the Orr Iron Company. Orr grew up in Evansville, Indiana, where his father's company was headquartered. His family have lived in the area for three generations. He attended local public schools for most of his early education, but transferred to the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut before his final year of high school beginning in 1934. Upon graduation he was accepted to Yale University, enrolling in 1936. At Yale, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter). He earned a bachelor's degree in 1940 and then enrolled in Harvard Business School. After the outbreak of World War II, he left Harvard without graduating to join the Army. He was admitted to Officer's Candidate School and after completing his course served on the staff of the quartermaster's general staff in the Pacific Theater, eventually rising to the rank of major. For his service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He met Joanne "Josie" Wallace who served in the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, while he was serving. They were married in 1944, settled in Evansville, and eventually had three children. After returning home, Orr entered into the family business and became active in Republican politics of Vanderburgh County. Many Evansville factories had been creating war implements, and the end of the conflict led many of them to close. Orr began purchasing vacated factories, refurbishing them to produce goods, and selling them. Through his activity, he became involved in a local economic development committee.

Orr first became involved in politics in 1950 as a member of a local Republican Party advisory board. In 1951 he became chairman of the local party; he served until 1954. He was a precinct committeeman for eight years, and in 1958 became treasurer for the Eight District Republican Committee, a position he held until 1960. In 1965 he was elected chairman of the Vanderburg County Republican Central Committee; he held that position for six years. Orr was popular statewide because of his economic plans and for being associated with the tax reorganization plan. With Bowen's backing, he ran unopposed for the Republican nomination to run for governor in 1980. In the general election, he was opposed by Democrat John Hillenbrand. Orr focused on connecting himself with the popular Governor Bowen; his slogan was "Let's Keep a Good Thing Going." In 1986, Orr served as president of the Council of State Governments and as the chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association. After his terms as governor, Orr was named by U. S. President George H. W. Bush as the U. S. Ambassador to Singapore, a position that he held until 1992. After he left his ambassadorship, Orr established a consulting firm called the Alliance for Global Commerce, which focused on international trade and export issues. In 2000, his wife, Joanne "Josie" Wallace, requested that he divorce her because she was suffering from dementia. She wanted her husband to be happy in his last years instead of watching his wife slowly die. In 2001, at the age of eighty three, he married Mary Kay Davis. On March 10, 2004, Orr died at the age of eighty six at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis from complications following kidney surgery. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. The portion of Interstate 69 south of its interchange with Interstate 64, at one time labeled Interstate 164, is named the "Robert D. Orr Highway" in his honor.