Former Sen. Charles Robb of Virginia, a Democrat selected by President Bush on Friday as a co-chairman on the new White House commission on intelligence gathering, has never been the flashy sort.
The decorated former Marine and Vietnam veteran–and Virginia governor from 1982-86–was a stoic presence on Capitol Hill, immersing himself in the minutia of foreign policy while rarely seeking out the television spotlight.
Despite his meteoric rise in Virginia politics as the son-in-law of the late President Lyndon Johnson, Robb has never been particularly partisan. Even in recent years, out of respect for his prominent family, Robb has refused to say how he voted in the 1960 and 1964 presidential races, when his father-in-law was on the Democratic ticket.
But Robb’s mild temperament and low-key demeanor, friends say, should not be mistaken for lack of conviction or resolve.
As he prepares to investigate what could become a central question of the Bush administration–whether faulty intelligence led the U.S. into war to topple Saddam Hussein’ regime in Iraq–Robb will not succumb to political pressure from the White House or his fellow Democrats, observers said.
“I don’t think you can pressure Chuck Robb,” said former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles, who was state attorney general when Robb was governor. “He’s going to do what he feels is right. I think he can bring an impartial eye to the matters brought before him.”
Former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, who feuded with Robb for years during the 1990s, nonetheless praised Bush’s appointment.
“I would think he’s eminently qualified to do it by virtue of his training and experience,” Wilder said. “I expect he will be fair.”
While serving in the Senate from 1989-2001, Robb served as a member of the Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, hailed Bush’s appointments of Robb and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as “particularly strong choices.”
Robb survived a brush with scandal in the early 1990s when a former Miss Virginia beauty queen claimed on national television that she had an affair with him in 1984. Robb said he had only received a massage, but the disclosure undermined his image as a trusted family man.
He also survived a brutal re-election campaign in 1994 against Republican Oliver North, the former White House aide involved in the Iran-contra scandal under the Reagan administration.
But Robb lost his Senate seat in 2000 to Republican George Allen. Since then, he has been writing his memoirs, teaching law and serving on boards.
