R. Budd Dwyer

Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician. He served from 1971 to 1981 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. He served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981 to January 22, 1987. He was best known for his public suicide during a live press conference in 1987, the day before he was to be sentenced for bribery charges.

Early life
Robert Budd Dwyer was born on November 21, 1939, in St. Charles, Missouri. He graduated in 1961 with an A.B. in Political Science and Accounting from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. After earning a master's degree in 1963, he taught social studies and coached football at a high school in Pennsylvania.

Bribery conviction
In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding. Many accounting firms competed for a multimillion-dollar contract to determine compensation to each employee. 

In 1986, Dwyer was convicted of receiving a bribe from a California firm trying to gain the contract. Throughout his trial and after his conviction, he maintained that he was innocent of the charge and that he had been framed. Dwyer was scheduled to be sentenced on those charges on January 23, 1987, the day after his suicide.

Suicide
On January 22, 1987, Dwyer called a news conference in the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg where he killed himself in front of the gathered reporters with a .357 caliber revolver. Dwyer's suicide was also broadcast to a wide television audience across the state of Pennsylvania.

References

Other websites



Category:1939 births
Category:1987 deaths
Category:Suicides by firearm in the United States
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:Politicians from Missouri
Category:Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Category:Politicians who committed suicide
Category:Educators from Missouri
Category:Educators from Pennsylvania