Shafer, Raymond P.

Raymond P. Shafer (1917-2006) was an American lawyer and governor of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Yale Law and served in the United States Navy during World War II, participating in more than 80 combat missions. He was a national leader of the moderate wing of the Republican Party in the late 1960s, and during his tenure as governor of Pennsylvania (1967-1971) he oversaw a revamping of the state constitution. He served as special counsel to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller from 1974 to 1977, and led a drug commission for President Richard M. Nixon that recommended decriminalizing marijuana. In 1977 he returned to private practice, and was a partner at Coopers & Lybrand for more than ten years.

From the guide to the Raymond P. Shafer Papers, 1967, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)