Hartmann, Robert Trowbridge, 1917-2008

Robert Trowbridge Hartmann was born in 1917 in Rapid City, South Dakota, and moved with his family to Beverly Hills, California when he was young. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1934, and received a B.A. from Stanford University in 1928. He worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, 1939 to 1941, and then entered active duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1941. During World War II, he served in Pacific operations as command press officer and naval censor, 1941 to 1945. He returned to the Times after World War II and worked as a reporter and editorial and special feature writer from 1945 to 1954. He became the Washington bureau chief of the Times in 1954, and served in that position until 1963. From 1963 to 1964, he was Middle East and Mediterranean bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. After leaving the Times, he spent a brief stint as a public affairs officer for the United National Food and Agriculture Organization, 1964 to 1965. During Hartmann's newspaper career, he developed friendships with Richard Nixon and other California Republican leaders. His media expertise and these political connections assisted him in obtaining a position as an editor and public relations consultant for the Republican Conference of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966. In this position, he advised the House Republican leaders on media strategies, coordinated research projects on the Johnson administration, edited publications, and drafted some speeches. He served in this position from 1966 to 1969. In 1969, Hartmann joined the personal staff of House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford. From 1969 to 1973, Hartmann served as Minority Sergeant-at-Arms and Legislative Assistant to Gerald Ford, and from 1973 to 1974 he served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Gerald Ford. When Ford succeeded to the presidency on August 9, 1974, he quickly named Hartmann as Counsellor to the President, with Cabinet status. In this position, one of Hartmann's main responsibilities was supervision of the Editorial Staff in the preparation of presidential speeches, statements, messages, and correspondence. He also handled White House liaison with Republican Party organizations and advised President Ford on a wide variety of matters that went beyond his formal duties. After the end of the Ford administration in 1977, Hartmann devoted himself to the drafting of his memoir, Palace Politics: An Inside Account of the Ford Years, which was published in 1980. Additionally, he was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation.