Robert Dolph Ray (September 26, 1928 – July 8, 2018) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. He served as the 38th governor of Iowa from January 16, 1969 to January 14, 1983.
During his tenure as governor, Ray served as chair of the National Governors Association from 1975 to 1976; led to the passage of the Iowa Burials Protection Act of 1976, which was the first legislative act in the United States that specifically protected American Indian remains;[1] and accepted thousands of refugees into Iowa.[2]
In his later years, Ray served as acting mayor of Des Moines from May 1997 to November 1997 and was interim president of Drake University in 1998.[3]
Ray received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Drake University, using the GI Bill, in 1952 and a law degree in 1954.[5]
Career
Ray began his career as a trial lawyer. Following several years practicing law, Ray became chair of the Iowa Republican Party in 1963.[5] Ray supported Pennsylvania governor William Scranton in the 1964 Republican presidential primaries.
Governor of Iowa
Ray as governor.
In 1969, Ray became the governor of Iowa. During Ray's time in office, the Iowa Constitution was modified, increasing the governor's term of office from two years to four years. Ray served as chair of the National Governors Association from 1975 to 1976. He also served as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, the Midwestern Governors Association, the Education Commission of the States and was the president of the Council of State Governments.[6] As governor, Ray issued executive orders promoting civil rights, energy conservation, and paperwork reduction as well as establishing the Governor's Economy Committee, the Iowa Council for Children, the Task Force on Government Ethics, the Science Advisory Council, the Iowa Department of Transportation, and the Iowa High Technology Commission.[7] Ray signed legislation establishing the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women in 1974.[8] In 1982, that commission named him the first recipient of the Cristine Wilson Medal for Equality and Justice.[9] In 1976, Ray, along with his wife Billie Ray and three daughters, became the first governor of Iowa to occupy Terrace Hill, the official governor's mansion.[10]
Ray reduced property taxes and increased the income tax in order to fund the public schools of Iowa. The school foundation plan, which was passed by the legislature and signed by Ray in 1971, was crafted with the intention to lessen inequities among school districts. Arthur Neu, who served as State Senator and as Ray's lieutenant governor from 1973 to 1979, noted in an interview: "School funding was one of the most important pieces of legislation we worked on. It set Iowa schools on the path to being the best in the nation. It’s a plan a lot of other states copied." Ray also signed into law bipartisan legislation that supported collective bargaining for public employees and removed sales taxes from groceries and prescription drugs. He opposed the death penalty and supported abortion for women in cases that risked women's health, and in cases of rape and incest.[11][12]
One of the defining moments in Ray's governorship was in April 1972, when as Commander in Chief of the Iowa National Guard, he ordered the grounding of more than a thousand vehicles and ninety planes, until the federal government paid for the damages to the McCarville and Tjernagel families, whose houses had been destroyed by crashing Air Force planes in 1968.[13][14]
One of Ray's proudest achievements was signing a bottle bill into law. The bottle bill, which received opposition from labor unions and aluminium manufacturers but support from the Sierra Club, the Farm Bureau and the Boy Scouts of America, required Iowans to pay a 5-cent deposit on containers in order to encourage the practice of recycling and the reduction of litter on the roads of the state. Ray noted that "Americans are part of a throw-away society".[15]
Ray served as a delegate to the United Nations Conference on Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland in 1979.[16] Ray was an advocate of the nickel deposit on aluminum cans.[17]
Ray's tenure in office was notable for his humanitarianism on behalf of Southeast Asian Tai Dam refugees.[18] Ray agreed to bring the group to the United States by creating his own refugee resettlement program.[2] Ray announced that the state of Iowa would accept 1,500 additional refugees in January 1979. Ray wrote letters to President Jimmy Carter and other governors asking them to support greater admissions of boat people.[19] Opinion polls from the period demonstrated Ray's refugee resettlement and relief efforts were very controversial.[2] Many feared competition for jobs, diversion of funds from needy native Iowans, and racial mixing.[18]
Ray in 1976
Ray also enacted the first laws in the U.S. that protected American Indian graves.[20] In the early 1970s, Maria Pearson was appalled that the skeletal remains of Native Americans were treated differently from those of caucasians.[20] Pearson protested to Ray, finally gaining an audience with him after sitting outside his office in traditional attire.[20] Ray cooperated with Pearson, and their work led to the passage of the Iowa Burials Protection Act of 1976, the first legislative act in the U.S. that specifically protected American Indian remains.[1] This act was the predecessor of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.[1][21]
Ray (right) poses for a photograph in 2007 with fellow former Iowa governor Terry Branstad (left) and then-presidential candidate Fred Thompson (center)Ray, accompanied by his wife Billie, speaks in 2008 with National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel (left)Ray (center left) presents an award to Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson (center right) in 2009Ray (left) at the Republican primary election night party for Terry Branstad's 2010 gubernatorial campaignRay (right) poses with retired Olympic wrestler Dan Gable in 2014
After leaving the governor's office in 1983, Ray became CEO of Life Investors Inc, an insurance company.[5] Ray served as interim mayor of Des Moines from May to November 1997.[5]
Ray was the interim president of Drake University in 1998.[5] In 1997, he helped form the Institute for Character Development at Drake University.[23]
In 2005, Ray became the only governor or former governor to have received Iowa's highest civilian honor, the Iowa Award, by the Iowa Centennial Memorial Commission.[25]
Personal life
In 1951, Ray married Billie Lee Hornberger, his high school sweet heart. Ray had three daughters.[5] In Ray's later years, he suffered from Parkinson's disease.
On July 8, 2018, Ray died at a nursing home in Des Moines, Iowa. He was 89.[5][8]
References
^ abcGradwohl, D. M.; J.B. Thomson; M.J. Perry (2005). Still Running: A Tribute to Maria Pearson, Yankton Sioux. Special issue of the Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society. Vol. 52. Iowa City: Iowa Archeological Society.
^Pearson, Maria D. (2000). "Give Me Back My People's Bones: Repatriation and Reburial of American Indian Skeletal Remains in Iowa". In G. Bataille; D.M. Gradwohl; C.L.P. Silet (eds.). Perspectives on American Indians in Iowa- An Expanded Edition. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. pp. 131–141.
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