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Budd Dwyer
R. Budd Dwyer seconds before committing suicide. Photo credit: Gary Miller/The Associated Press
Born	November 21, 1939(1939-11-21) Saint Charles, Missouri, U.S.
Died	January 22, 1987 (aged 47) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Treasurer of Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Joanne Dwyer
Children	Robert (Rob), Dyan (Deedee)

Robert "Budd" Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician who, on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference.^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Controversy and guilty verdict 3 Public suicide 4 Aftermath 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Career

Budd Dwyer graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He went on to get his master's degree in fine arts and taught social studies and coached football at Cambridge Springs High School. A Republican, Dwyer served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 6) from 1965 to 1970 and the Pennsylvania Senate (Pennsylvania Senate, District 50) from 1970 to 1980. After his tenure as a state senator, Dwyer moved on to the treasurer's office, a position he held up to his death.

[edit] Controversy and guilty verdict

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During the early 1980s, state employees overpaid millions of dollars in Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes. As a result, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began accepting bids from companies to calculate the amount of the refund each employee was due.

One firm, the California-based Computer Technology Associates, was owned by a Harrisburg native named John Torquato, Jr., who used his area connections and a series of bribes to obtain the contract, worth a reputed $4.6 million. An anonymous memo reached the office of Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh informing him of what had happened.

In late 1986, Budd Dwyer was charged with agreeing to receive a kickback of $300,000. A plea bargain was made for Torquato, Dauphin County Republican Party Chairman William Smith (Torquato's attorney), and Smith's wife. The plea bargain required them to testify against Dwyer. This, coupled with the government's refusal to name unindicted co-conspirators in the case, made it difficult for Dwyer to defend himself. The unindicted co-conspirators are believed to have been staff members of the Dauphin County Republican Party. During this time, the district's United States Attorney offered Dwyer a plea bargain that carried a maximum of five years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea on one count of accepting a bribe, resignation, and cooperation in the investigation.^[2] Dwyer refused the offer, and was later found guilty but continued to profess his innocence vehemently, as did others who were close to him.^[3] Under state law, Dwyer could continue to serve as state treasurer until his sentencing. The maximum sentence Dwyer was facing was 55 years imprisonment and a $300,000 fine. However, his co-defendant, former state Republican Party chairman Robert Asher, was given a year in jail. Asher later returned to politics, and served as a Republican National Committeeman for Pennsylvania.

[edit] Public suicide

On January 22, 1987, the day before his sentencing, Dwyer called a press conference to "provide an update on the situation". Many expected Dwyer to announce his resignation from office.

At the conference, an agitated and nervous Dwyer once again professed his innocence, and declared that he would not resign as state treasurer. Those attending would hear his final words:^[4]

I thank the good Lord for giving me 49 years of invigorating challenges, stimulating experiences, many happy occasions, and, most of all, the finest wife and child any man could ever desire. Now my life has changed, for no apparent reason. People who call and write are exasperated and feel helpless. They know I'm innocent and want to help. But in this nation, the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. Some who have called have said that I am a modern day Job. Judge [Malcolm] Muir is also noted for his medieval sentences. I face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison and a $300,000 fine for being innocent. Judge Muir has already told the press that he, quote, "felt invigorated" when we were found guilty, and that he plans to imprison me as a deterrent to other public officials. But it wouldn't be a deterrent because every public official who knows me knows that I am innocent; it wouldn't be a legitimate punishment because I've done nothing wrong. Since I'm a victim of political persecution, my prison would simply be an American gulag. I ask those that believe in me to continue to extend friendship and prayer to my family, to work untiringly for the creation of a true justice system here in the United States, and to press on with the efforts to vindicate me, so that my family and their future families are not tainted by this injustice that has been perpetrated on me.

At this point, Dwyer stopped with his prepared text and called to three of his staffers, giving each an envelope. One of the envelopes contained a suicide note to his wife. The second contained an organ donor card and other related materials. The third contained a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey, who had taken office only two days before.

After handing out all three envelopes, Dwyer opened a manila envelope and withdrew a .357 Magnum revolver, advising those in the crowd, "Please leave the room if you think this will affect you." Those in attendance cried out to Dwyer, pleading with him to put the gun down ("Budd, don't do this!", "Budd, this is not right!" and "Budd, listen to me!" can be heard off-screen). Some tried to approach him. "Don't, don't, don't, this will hurt someone," he warned.^[5] Amid the cry of "Budd, Budd, Budd!" Dwyer put the gun barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He collapsed against a wall in a sitting position, blood pouring from his nose and an exit wound at the top of his head, all in front of five television news cameras while the people were screaming and using profanity in shock. Dwyer was declared dead at the scene at 11:31 a.m. EST.^[5]

Evidence of Dwyer's death remains in the Treasurer's office. The wall in front of which Dwyer was standing when he pulled the trigger has an obvious bullet hole. The hole was puttied and stained, but is still very visible. Catherine Baker Knoll, who held the Treasurer's office from 1989 to 1997, remarked about it in 1996, "I look at that bullet hole every day...."^[6][7]

Dwyer is buried in Blooming Valley Cemetery in Blooming Valley, Pennsylvania.^[8]

[edit] Aftermath

A number of television stations throughout Pennsylvania aired taped footage of Dwyer's suicide before a midday audience. At least one, WITF-TV-33, the Harrisburg PBS affiliate, carried the entire press conference live. Due to a major snowstorm throughout Pennsylvania that day, many schools were closed and many school-aged children witnessed the suicide. Over the next several hours, however, news editors had to decide whether to air the graphic images or to change the footage for evening news telecasts.

In the end, many stations, including WCAU, aired the footage up to a point just prior to the shooting. Others, including Pennsylvania's Group W stations KYW and KDKA, froze the action just prior to the trigger's being pulled. KDKA-TV and KYW-TV both chose this approach, and allowed the audio of the shooting to continue under the frozen image. Group W's news cameraman William L. "Bill" Martin and reporter David Sollenberger—based out of the Harrisburg state capitol's Correspondents Room—had a camera set up at the news conference and chose not to air the actual footage, choosing instead to air the audio with a freeze frame of the gun in Dwyer's mouth. Only a handful aired the entire press conference unedited. WPVI in Philadelphia was one station that chose to re-broadcast the suicide footage in full on their 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Action News broadcasts without a warning to viewers. That station's broadcast is a source for copies circulating on the Internet. WPXI in Pittsburgh is reported by the Associated Press to have broadcast the footage uncensored on an early newscast and did in fact broadcast the footage. In explaining the decision to air, WPXI news operations manager By Williams said, "It's an important event" about an "important man." Williams opted not to air the footage in the evening newscasts, explaining, "Everyone knows by then that he did it. There are children out of school."^[9]

The broadcast of the shooting became a topic for educators in Pennsylvania classrooms and led to questioning the wisdom of airing live news broadcasts in public school settings. This issue was also faced during the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was shown live in many classrooms since Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in outer space.

Children, however, responded to the event by creating a cycle of black comedy jokes similar to those that circulated after the Challenger disaster. A study of the incidence of these jokes showed that they were told only in areas of Pennsylvania where uncensored footage of the press conference had been shown by networks.^[10]

In contrast, at least one reporter present at Dwyer's suicide suffered ill effects from being a firsthand witness. Tony Romeo was a radio reporter standing a few feet away from Dwyer when he pulled the trigger, and the event led to Romeo developing depression and taking a break from journalism.^[11]

Since Dwyer died in office before being removed upon sentencing, his widow, Joanne, was able to collect full survivor benefits totaling over $1.28 million. A spokesman for Dwyer, immediately after the suicide, suggested Dwyer may have killed himself to retain the state-provided pension for his household, which had been ruined by legal defense costs.^[12]

Dwyer's legal struggles may have ended with his death, yet a fascination with his suicide goes on to this day. Copies of the footage continue to circulate via the Internet and have appeared in various films, including Loren Cass, the Traces of Death series and Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Rock musicians have also incorporated Dwyer's suicide into their work, such as seminal American noise rock band Rapeman which released an EP entitled Budd;^[13] alternative rock band Filter, whose 1995 single "Hey Man, Nice Shot" similarly refers to Dwyer;^[14] and mathcore band Ion Dissonance, whose 2003 album Breathing Is Irrelevant includes the song The Bud Dwyer Effect. Also, in the video for Ice Cube's "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" a clip of Dwyer holding the gun in his mouth can be seen, although the clip is cut right before the gunshot.

In 2003, work started on "Honest Man", a feature length documentary about Budd and the CTA scandal. The film includes interviews with William Smith, the Dwyer family (Robert Dwyer, Joanne Dwyer and Dyan Dwyer), Barry O'Connell, as well as former colleagues and friends. Also authors Lorraine Yuhasz and William Keisling have contributed their expert knowledge of the CTA scandal to the project.

[edit] See also

• Christine Chubbuck, a news anchor who committed suicide live on-air in 1974
• Bob Asher, Dwyer's co-defendant in 1987 trial, current Pennsylvania GOP national committeeman
• List of unusual deaths

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Teaser Trailer for "Honest Man: The Life of R.Budd Dwyer", a documentary about Budd Dwyer's life
• Video of Budd Dwyer's Suicide (Contains graphic violence)
• "Sins of Our Fathers" by William Keisling and Richard Kearns
• Modern Television Budd Dwyer
• R. Budd Dwyer at Find A Grave
• R. Budd Dwyer Uncensored Suicide in "Loren Cass" Film

Preceded by Robert E. Casey

Treasurer of Pennsylvania 1981–1987

Succeeded by G. Davis Greene, Jr.

Persondata
NAME	Dwyer, Robert Budd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 21, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH	St. Charles, Missouri
DATE OF DEATH	January 22, 1987
PLACE OF DEATH	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania