Robert Kastenmeier

Robert Kastenmeier
Member of the United States House of Representatives		In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Donald Edgar Tewes
Succeeded by	Scott Klug
Personal details
Born	Robert William Kastenmeier (1924-01-24)January 24, 1924 Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Died	March 20, 2015(2015-03-20) (aged 91) Arlington, Virginia
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Dorothy Chambers
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1943–1946
Rank	First Lieutenant
Battles/wars	World War II

Robert William Kastenmeier (January 24, 1924 – March 20, 2015) was a United States politician. He represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1991, and was a member of the Democratic Party.

Biography

Education

Kastenmeier was born in Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin, where he attended public school. He continued his education at Carleton College and at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he received his LL.B. in 1952. After being admitted to the bar, he began the practice of law in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Military service

He entered the Army as a private in February 1943 and served in the Philippines. He was discharged on August 15, 1946 as a first lieutenant. Afterwards, he served in the War Department as a branch office director in the claims service in the Philippines from 1946 to 1948.

Political career

In 1955, Kastenmeier was elected justice of the peace for Jefferson and Dodge Counties, and he served until 1959.

Kastenmeier made an unsuccessful bid for Wisconsin02 !Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in 1956, losing to Republican Donald Tewes by 11 points. In a rematch in 1958 he defeated Tewes by 6,200 votes, being elected to Congress for the first time. He won a third race with Tewes in 1960, and faced another close contest in 1962. However, he romped to a fourth term in 1964. Kastenmeier overall served from the 86th Congress to the 101st Congress.

As a congressman, Kastenmeier was one of the managers appointed by the House in 1986 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Harry E. Claiborne, a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Kastenmeier helped to frame the impeachment resolution against Claiborne.

Kastenmeier was a sponsor of the Copyright Act of 1976.

In 1990, Kastenmeier unexpectedly lost his re-election bid to Republican Scott Klug, a former television anchor who was nearly 30 years his junior.

The Robert W. Kastenmeier United States Courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin was named in his honor.

Kastenmeier lived in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and then Arlington, Virginia where he died on March 20, 2015.

Further reading

• Borders, Rebecca and C. C. Dockery. "You Can't Go Home Again: Bob Kastenmeier". In Beyond the Hill. New York: University Press of America, 1995, pp. 41–44.
• Kidwell, John A. "Congressman Robert Kastenmeier and Professor John Stedman: A Thirty-five Year Relationship". Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 55, no. 2: 129-137.
• Patterson, L. Ray and David Lange. Copyright and Legislation: The Kastenmeier Years. Durham, N.C.: Duke University School of Law, 1992.
• Remington, Michael J. "Robert W. Kastenmeier: Copyright Legislator par Excellence". Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 55, no. 2: 297-310.

External links

• Robert Kastenmeier at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN