Robert Ray served as Iowa’s 38th Governor from 1969-1983. From Drake University he received both his B.A. in 1952 and his Law Degree in 1955. It was during Ray’s time in office that the Iowa Constitution was changed, giving governors four-year terms instead of two. From 1975-1976 Ray served as the chair of the National Governors Association. Other associations he was the chairman of included: Republican Governors Association, Midwestern Governors Association, and the Education Commission of the State and was the president of the Council of State Governments. The executive orders he promoted ranged from civil rights, energy conservation, paperwork reduction as well as several other important issues. Ray also had the pleasure of being Iowa’s first Governor to call the Terrace Hill Mansion, home.
He also put a lot of time and effort into the United Nations Conference starting in 1979. He received the Iowa Award in 2005, which is the highest civilian honor that can be attained. In 1975, Ray set up ways for fleeing Vietnamese to take refuge in the United States and eventually obtain citizenship. Ray enacted the first laws in the nation protecting Native American burial grounds in 1976. Later, in 1982, Ray was the first recipient of the Cristine Wilson Medal for Equality and Justice. Robert Ray was an extremely popular Governor who still to this day has an active role in public affairs for Iowa.
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