Robert Nance Haskell (August 24, 1903 – December 3, 1987) was a

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

state senator and the 65th Governor of Maine for five days in 1959. Haskell graduated from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

with an engineering degree in 1925. He became a design engineer with the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company and rose to president of the company in 1958. He was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

in 1945. After serving one term, he was elected to the

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, though the Maine Constitution ...

in 1947 and served five terms, including two as majority leader and two as president of the Senate. He was nicknamed "Slide Rule Bob" for his mathematical abilities. On January 2, 1959, outgoing Governor

Edmund Muskie Edmund Sixtus Muskie (March 28, 1914March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, a United States Senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 6 ...

resigned before the end of his term to take his seat in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. Haskell was sworn in as Governor to fill the five-day period until the inauguration of

Clinton Clauson Clinton Amos Clauson (March 28, 1895 – December 30, 1959) was a Democratic Party politician and the 66th Governor of Maine. Clauson died while in office, having served as governor for just under a year. Life and career Clauson grew up in Iow ...

. With Clauson's death later in the year, Haskell was the second of four governors Maine had in 1959. Haskell then left politics, but continued to lead the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, as well as serving as a bank board chairman and a trustee of the University of Maine. He died in 1987. He was not closely related to Nathaniel M. Haskell, who had served a brief term six years before as Maine's Governor due to being Senate President.

References

External links

Maine Senate profile National Governors Association profile

Portland Press Herald The ''Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram'' is a morning daily newspaper with a website that serves southern Maine and is focused on the greater metropolitan area around Portland, Maine, in the United States. Founded in 1862, its roots e ...

, October 22, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Haskell, Robert 1903 births 1987 deaths Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Majority leaders of the Maine Senate Presidents of the Maine Senate Republican Party Maine state senators Republican Party governors of Maine Politicians from Bangor, Maine University of Maine alumni 20th-century American politicians