Bob Barr

Bob Barr - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Bob Barr

Robert Laurence Barr Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is an American attorney and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative from 1995 to 2003, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican. He later became the Libertarian Party's nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election and served as president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) from 2024 to 2025.

This profile of Bob Barr covers Early Life and Family Background, Early Career and Breakthrough, Career and Rise to Fame, Political Views and Public Life and Waco hearings.

Barr was born in Iowa and raised in a military family, spending much of his childhood overseas. He holds degrees from the University of Southern California, George Washington University and Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to entering politics he worked as a CIA analyst and attorney, before serving as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1986 to 1990. Barr won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. During his time in the House of Representatives, he authored the Defense of Marriage Act, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013 and repealed by the 117th Congress through a bill supported by Barr. He also attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

After his congressional defeat in 2002, Barr joined the Libertarian Party in 2006. And served on its National Committee. He was the party's presidential nominee in 2008, running alongside Wayne Allyn Root. Barr announced his return to the Republican Party in 2011 and was defeated in a Republican primary for Georgia's 11th congressional district in 2014. He was named president of the NRA in 2024, serving for one year, and had previously served on the organisation's board from 2001 to 2007.

Early Life and Family Background of Bob Barr

Barr was born in Iowa City, Iowa, to Robert Laurence Barr and Beatrice Barr. His father, a career military officer who had graduated from West Point, was stationed in various locations around the world while pursuing his career in civil engineering.

The second of six children, Bob Jr. Lived as a boy in Malaysia, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Baghdad, and finally Tehran, Iran, where he graduated from Community High School in 1966.

He returned to the United States for college, attending the University of Southern California. There he joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity in 1967. He was elected to the position of Grand Prytanis on the fraternity's Grand Council, serving from 2013 to 2015.

During college, Barr's mother introduced him to the work of writer Ayn Rand. This fostered a newfound appreciation for conservatism and prompted Barr to join the Young Trojan Republican Club. He completed his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1970. He married his first wife while still in college. They divorced in 1976.

Early Career and Breakthrough of Bob Barr

Barr continued in graduate school, earning a master's degree in International Affairs from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in 1972. He next earned his J.D. From Georgetown University Law Center (attending at night) in 1977. From 1971 to 1978, Barr worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an analyst of Latin American issues.

Barr married his second wife, Gail, in 1976. They have two children. Gail and Bob Barr divorced in 1986.

After leaving the CIA, Barr moved to northern Georgia. He practiced law and became active in the Republican Party, serving as county chair. Barr made an unsuccessful bid for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1984.

In 1986, Barr married his third wife, Jerilyn Dobbins, who was later known as Jeri Barr. Barr's website stated in 2008 that he and Jeri have four children and six grandchildren.

In 1986, Barr was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia – a post Barr held until 1990. His office prosecuted state and local officials, members of the Medellin drug cartel, and got a perjury indictment on then-sitting Republican Congressman Pat Swindall, who ultimately served a year in prison on the charges. From 1990 to 1991, Barr was president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation., an Atlanta-based law firm and policy center that litigates in support of "limited government, individual economic freedom, and the free enterprise system".

Career and Rise to Fame

Barr sought the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, but lost the primary election to Paul Coverdell. The primary was close, with Barr losing by fewer than 1,600 votes in a runoff election. Subsequently, Coverdell came in behind incumbent Senator Wyche Fowler in the general election, but the 3% showing by a Libertarian candidate (Jim Hudson) forced a runoff, which Coverdell won.

Barr was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as a Republican, upsetting six-term Democrat Buddy Darden, to represent Georgia's 7th congressional district in the 104th United States Congress. Barr was one of 73 Republican freshmen ushered into Congress in that election. The election became known as the "Republican Revolution" because it resulted in the first Republican House majority in 40 years – since the 1955 adjournment of the 83rd Congress.

After a Federal Election Commission audit of his 1994 and 1996 campaigns, Barr paid a $28,000 fine for illegal campaign payments.

Barr was later re-elected three times, serving from 1995 to 2003. While in Congress, Barr served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as vice-chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Veteran's Affairs.

In Congress, Barr became famous for his "dour" image and told constituents, "You don't send me to Washington to smile." He also said in a radio interview, "If it's not in the Constitution, I won't smile." He later explained "I don't consider politicians who smile to be worth a heck of a lot... All things considered, it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference if the politicians in Washington smile or not, what matters is how much of your hard-earned dollars they take to spend in pure pork." Barr said in 2010, "I can see a situation where the federal government is going to bring an entire suitcase of San Francisco values to the American family, and while I would love to explain all the things that are wrong with that, the fact is that this is a corrupting, left-leaning, influence on a section of society that so many liberal elites want to see taken out of the 'red state' column. The only solution to this kind of behavior is dour and austere social conservatism, like my own." Adding to his image, Barr has frequently protested about "cult hairstyles", saying "I cannot abide by people who adopt a cult hairstyle, or persistently dress inappropriately for meetings with me."

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.