Biography
Wilson was born on April 5, 1916 in Calexico, California. He attended San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) and Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design). He served in World War II stateside in the Army commissary, 1940 – 1945. After the war, he was in the Marine Corps Reserve and was a partner in two advertising agencies.
Wilson first became involved in politics campaigning for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He was recruited to run in the newly-created 30th District, based in San Diego, California. When Wilson phoned his wife, Jean Bryant Wilson, with the news he was selected by the Republicans to run, she laughed saying "You a Congressman?" He was elected amid Eisenhower's gigantic landslide that year.
Wilson was reelected 13 times, rarely facing serious opposition as San Diego was a Republican stronghold. His campaigns featured anti-communism themes, stressing the importance of a strong military. He also opposed high taxes, championing rugged individualism instead. While in Congress he became a major spokesman for the defense industry and played a large role in the development of a military presence in San Diego. From 1959 until his retirement he was a member of the House Armed Services Committee. From 1968 to his retirement he served as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was well-known and popular in San Diego, and would blanket his district with pot holders and other gifts with his name on it during election time. Several households still have the 40-page Bob Wilson Barbecue Cook Book he sent out. While in office, he patented a "Smack-Its", a table-top tetherball game.
In 1980, Wilson decided not to run for a 15th term. He served as co-chairman of American Freedom Coalition with Congressman Richard Ichord.
Wilson died on August 12, 1999 in Chula Vista, California, at the age of 83. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
Bob Wilson Drive at the San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park is named for Wilson. He once said "the hospital is the most important thing in my entire career in Congress as far as I'm concerned."
On May 8, 2008, Naval Medical Center San Diego was rededicated as Bob Wilson Naval Hospital. Bob Wilson Naval Hospital serves a population of 250,000 active-duty personnel along those retired from military service. The facility treats 4,000 patients, performs 50 surgical procedures and delivers 10 babies daily with a staff of 6,200, according to Adm. Christine Hunter, the hospital's commander.
Read more about this topic: Bob Wilson (US Politician)
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West [Cicily Isabel Fairfield] (1892–1983)