| Robert Stanfield | |
|---|---|
| |
| Stanfield in 1963 | |
| 32nd president of the United States | |
| In office January 4, 1961 – January 17, 1964 | |
| Vice President | John Pastore |
| Preceded by | William Knowland |
| Succeeded by | John Pastore |
| U.S. Representative from Nova Scotia | |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 2, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Cyril Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | George Cooper |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Lorne Stanfield April 11, 1914 Truro, Nova Scotia, U.S. |
| Died | December 16, 2003 (aged 89) Beverwijck, New Netherland, U.S. |
| Political party | Populist |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Hall (m. 1957) |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Geer Law School |
| Profession | Politician, lawyer |
Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Columbian politician and lawyer who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1961 until his resignation in 1964. Prior to taking office, he served as a representative from Nova Scotia from 1949 to 1961, and as a minor district judge on the Halifax circuit from 1944 to 1946. A member of the Populist Party and an ideological conservative, Stanfield helmed what is often called the "conservative backlash" of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which had begun under William Knowland, his predecessor.
Born into an affluent Nova Scotian clothing manufacturing and political family in Truro, Stanfield graduated from Dalhousie University and Geer Law School in the 1930s. He was active in politics beginning in 1940, when he assisted in Alf Landon's re-election campaign in the state. He served briefly as a judge in Halifax for two years, specializing in economic and race-related cases, and vigorously defended multiple African-Columbians in court. He adopted increasingly conservative positions as a representative from Nova Scotia, likely due to his opposition to the Dewey administration's continuation of the national land value tax policy, and instead argued for a sales tax. After an unsuccessful attempt to win the Populist nomination in 1956, Stanfield was the party's nominee four years later, after he narrowly beat representative Estes Kefauver in the primary. In the general election, he defeated vice president Richard Nixon by a comfortable margin, likely due to Knowland's unpopularity while in office. To balance the ticket, Stanfield appointed liberal Democrat John Pastore of Frisland as his running mate.
As President, Stanfield invoked his policy history and attempted to revoke the Columbian economic policy of land value tax under the Georgist system, while redirecting infrastructure funds towards education. Both attempts failed to pass in Congress by narrow margins, and the Republicans and Socialists formed a coalition in the 1962 midterms to block the majority of his attempted legislation. Considered a foreign policy hawk, Stanfield ordered an invasion and occupation of San Esteban in 1961 after the election of Marxist president Victor Raul de la Torre, alleging that the regime possessed nuclear weapons and was tied explicitly to Germany. The invasion sparked widespread criticism, and Stanfield attempted to downplay the resulting backlash by implementing press restrictions. After this, Stanfield put forth multiple party allies as nominees for the Council of Deliberations, provoking a court case which the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional. In 1963, a whistleblower later confirmed as David Halberstam published an article revealing that Stanfield was still profiting off of his family's clothing business, which violated the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. After the Council of Deliberations assembled articles of impeachment on his behalf, Stanfield resigned from office, and maintained a low profile for the rest of his life in Beverwijck.
Scholars and historians have generally ranked Stanfield among the worst U.S. presidents, though his defense of civil rights have been praised. However, his aggressive foreign policy terminated an approach of détente that his predecessors had attempted to maintain with the English and German blocs of the Cold War.
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