Bob Packwood, the longtime Oregon senator whose career collapsed under a major sexual misconduct scandal, died Saturday in hospice care at age 93. After allegations surfaced in 1992 and a Senate Ethics Committee investigation expanded to include claims he alte
Bob Packwood died Saturday in hospice care at 93, ending the life of a longtime Oregon senator whose public rise was matched only by the speed of his fall.
Packwood spent more than 25 years in the U.S. Senate, after first winning election in 1968. Over decades, he became one of Oregon’s most influential politicians, known as a moderate Republican who frequently broke with his party on issues such as abortion rights and environmental policy.
For years, that positioning shaped his reputation. Then the scandal arrived and swallowed the rest.
In 1992, multiple women came forward accusing Packwood of sexual harassment and unwanted advances dating back years. Their accounts triggered a lengthy Senate Ethics Committee investigation. As the inquiry progressed, it expanded to include claims that he had altered diary entries sought by investigators.
By 1995, the committee’s stance hardened. It unanimously recommended Packwood’s expulsion—an extraordinary step, one that would have made him among the very few senators ever kicked out of the chamber.
Packwood did not wait for the vote. That September, he resigned from office, abruptly ending a political career that had once seemed headed toward a place in Oregon history books.
After his resignation, he largely stayed out of the public spotlight. He resurfaced only occasionally to comment on politics, but he never returned to elected office.
A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Bob Packwood Oregon senator U.S. Senate sex scandal Senate Ethics Committee expulsion recommendation resignation hospice care
93 is still crazy old.
I remember hearing about this guy back in the day. Wild how they just kept letting it go forever. Also the “diary entries” part sounds like he was trying to rewrite history or something.
Wait so did he die because of the scandal? Like that’s what it sounds like to me, that it finally caught up. But then they say cause not disclosed so idk. Senate Ethics does all this and he just resigns and that’s it? Kinda feels pointless.
Honestly I can’t even remember if he was the abortion moderate guy or if that was someone else. Either way, it’s always the same pattern, politician acts one way then the gross stuff comes out. The part about altering diary entries… that’s like, the least surprising thing ever, like of course he would. Tragic he’s gone at 93 but also, good riddance to that behavior.