- In full:
- Robert Laurence Barr, Jr.
- Born:
- November 5, 1948, Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. (age 78)
- Title / Office:
- House of Representatives (1995-2003), United States
- Political Affiliation:
- Libertarian Party
- Republican Party
Bob Barr
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Who is Bob Barr?
Bob Barr, born on November 5, 1948, is an American politician and attorney. He served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 2008.
Before his time in Congress, Barr worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and later became the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. As a Congressman, he sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and played a significant role in the impeachment efforts against President Bill Clinton. Barr rejoined the Republican Party after his presidential run. In 2004, he published The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton.
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What jobs has Bob Barr had during his career?
Bob Barr, born in Iowa City, Iowa, on November 5, 1948, is an American politician and attorney. Between 1971 and 1978, Barr worked for the [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.cia.gov/. He then practiced as a criminal defense lawyer in Georgia until 1986, after which President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
After leaving this position in 1990, Barr became president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm, from 1990 to 1991. In 1994, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served as a Republican member from 1995 to 2003. In 2004, Barr founded Liberty Strategies LLC, a consulting firm based in Atlanta. He also served as the Libertarian National Committee’s regional representative for southeastern states.
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Which state did Bob Barr represent in the U.S. Congress?
Bob Barr, an American politician and attorney, served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He represented the state of Georgia in the U.S. Congress. Defeating the incumbent, six-term Democrat George Darden, Barr quickly became known as one of the most conservative members of the House. He was reelected to the House three times but lost the Republican primary in 2002 to John Linder.
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What are some important issues Bob Barr worked on as a congressman?
As a U.S. Representative from 1995 to 2003, Bob Barr worked on several key issues. He sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Barr was a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and helped lead the impeachment efforts against President Bill Clinton in 1998–99. Barr was a gun rights advocate who opposed laws restricting the ownership, manufacture, or sale of firearms or ammunition to law-abiding citizens. He also collaborated with the ACLU on informational and data privacy issues, opposing a national ID and the Justice Department’s Carnivore Internet snooping system.
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How did Bob Barr participate in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton?
Bob Barr, as a Republican member of the House of Representatives, played a significant role in the impeachment efforts against President Bill Clinton in 1998–99. Serving as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Barr helped lead the impeachment proceedings. The impeachment stemmed from allegations of sexual misconduct and perjury related to Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. In December 1998, the House voted to impeach Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in February 1999. Barr later published a book in 2004 titled The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton.
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What changes in political parties has Bob Barr made, and why is this significant?
Bob Barr's significant political changes include his shift from the Republican Party to the Libertarian Party in 2006, motivated by concerns over government size and civil liberties under President George W. Bush. As the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 2008, Barr's campaign highlighted Libertarian principles of limited government and individual freedom. Subsequently, Barr rejoined the Republican Party and unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in 2014. His movement between parties reflects evolving political views and engagement with different ideologies within the American political landscape.
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Bob Barr (born November 5, 1948, Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.) is an American politician and attorney who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995–2003). He was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 2008.
Barr, whose father was a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lived in various cities throughout the world, including Lima and Baghdad. In 1966 he graduated from the Community High School in Tehrān. He then studied at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (B.A., 1970), and George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (M.A., 1972), before receiving his J.D. from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (1977). Between 1971 and 1978 he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Barr then moved to Georgia, where he practiced as a criminal defense lawyer until 1986, when he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia by Pres. Ronald Reagan. He left the position in 1990 to become president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm (1990–91), and in 1992 he was unsuccessful in his bid for the U.S. Senate, losing narrowly in the primary.
In 1994 Barr ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and defeated the incumbent, six-term Democrat George Darden. As a freshman representative, he sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act (1996), which defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, and he quickly became recognized as one of the most conservative members of the House. Barr later became a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, and he helped lead the impeachment efforts against Pres. Bill Clinton in 1998–99. Barr was reelected to the House three times—in 1996, 1998, and 2000—but he lost the Republican primary in 2002 to John Linder.
In 2004 Barr founded Liberty Strategies LLC, a consulting firm based in Atlanta. Two years later he announced that he had joined the Libertarian Party, citing disillusionment with the Republican Party over the increasing size of government and the erosion of civil liberties under the administration of Pres. George W. Bush. He served as the Libertarian National Committee’s regional representative for southeastern states, and in May 2008 Barr announced his bid for the Libertarian nomination for that year’s presidential election. During the Libertarian National Convention on May 26, 2008, Barr endured six rounds of voting before finally being nominated as the party’s candidate, with Wayne Allyn Root selected as his vice-presidential candidate. Barr and Root received about 0.4 percent of the popular vote in the presidential election.
Barr subsequently rejoined the Republican Party, and in 2014 he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. However, he was easily defeated in the party’s primary runoff.
In 2004 Barr published The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton.