William Bart Saxbe ( ; June 24, 1916 – August 24, 2010) was an American lawyer and politician.
A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. senator for Ohio from 1969 to 1974 after a career in state politics that included terms as Ohio Attorney General and as a legislator. Saxbe then served as the 70th United States attorney general from 1974 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and as the U.S. ambassador to India from 1975 to 1976.
Early life and career
thumb|Saxbe's law offices in [[Mechanicsburg, Ohio]]
Saxbe was born 1916 in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, the son of Faye Henry "Maggie" (née Carey) Saxbe, and Bart Rockwell Saxbe. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ohio State University in 1940, where he was a member of Chi Phi fraternity. He then served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, from 1940 to 1945.
Saxbe served in the Senate until January 3, 1974, when Nixon appointed him U.S. Attorney General. He was the permanent replacement for Elliot Richardson, who had resigned during the "Saturday Night Massacre" resignations during the Watergate scandal. Saxbe took over from Solicitor General Robert Bork, who had served as acting attorney general after Richardson's resignation. Gilligan, who had been elected Governor of Ohio in 1970, appointed Democrat Howard Metzenbaum to serve the remainder of Saxbe's vacated term. Former astronaut John Glenn was elected to replace Saxbe in November 1974.
There was some minor controversy regarding Saxbe's appointment and the Ineligibility Clause of the Constitution, which states that a legislator cannot be appointed to an executive position during the same term that the legislature had voted to increase the salary of said position. Nixon addressed the problem by having Congress reduce the salary of the attorney general to $35,000, as it was before Saxbe's term in the Senate began. This maneuver had only occurred once before, when Senator Philander C. Knox had been appointed Secretary of State during 1909, and has since become known as the "Saxbe fix". Because there was not any perception that anything intentional had been done to benefit Saxbe, the matter was largely ignored.
As attorney general for Nixon, Saxbe supervised United States v. AT&T, the antitrust suit that ultimately ended the Bell System telephone monopoly. Saxbe continued to serve as attorney general for the first few months of Gerald Ford's presidency before resigning in early 1975, when he was appointed United States Ambassador to India. He served in that capacity until 1977. After that, Saxbe returned to Mechanicsburg and resumed the practice of law.
Personal life and death
In 1940, Saxbe married the former Ardath Louise "Dolly" Kleinhans. They had three children: William Bart Saxbe Jr., Juliet Louise "Juli" Saxbe Spitzer, and Charles Rockwell "Rocky" Saxbe. Charles Saxbe served four terms in Ohio House of Representatives, and later as an attorney in private practice.
Saxbe was known for his quips. Asked about Senator Bob Dole, he commented that Dole was so unpopular with his fellow senators at the time that he "couldn't sell beer on a troop ship".
He died in his hometown of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, at the age of 94 on August 24, 2010. At the time of his death, Saxbe was the oldest living Republican senator and the second-oldest living senator overall (after Harry F. Byrd Jr. of Virginia).