Richard Bryan

Richard Hudson Bryan (born July 16, 1937) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1989 to 2001. A Democrat, Bryan served as the 25th Governor of Nevada from 1983 to 1989, and before that served as the state's attorney general and a member of the State Senate.

For other people named Richard Bryan, see Richard Bryan (disambiguation).

Richard Bryan
United States senator from Nevada
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Chic Hecht
Succeeded by	John Ensign
Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Terry Sanford
Succeeded by	Mitch McConnell
25th Governor of Nevada
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989
Lieutenant	Bob Cashell Bob Miller
Preceded by	Robert List
Succeeded by	Bob Miller
27th Attorney General of Nevada
In office January 1, 1979 – January 3, 1983
Governor	Robert List
Preceded by	Robert List
Succeeded by	Brian McKay
Personal details
Born	Richard Hudson Bryan (1937-07-16) July 16, 1937 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic (1971–present)
Spouse(s)	Bonnie Fairchild ​ ( m. 1962; died 2016)
Children	3
Education	University of Nevada, Reno (BA) University of California, Hastings (JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1959–1960

Early life

Bryan was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the University of Nevada at Reno in 1959 where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega and the president of ASUN.[1] He earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. In 1963 he was admitted to the Nevada Bar. He was Clark County's first public defender.[2]

Political career

Bryan served as a member of the Nevada Senate from 1972 to 1978. In 1979, Bryan became the Nevada Attorney General, and served in the position until 1983.

Bryan served as the Governor of Nevada from 1983 to 1989.

After ending his tenure as Governor, Bryan successfully ran for the U.S. Senate, serving from 1989 to 2001. During his tenure in the Senate, Bryan served on the Finance, Banking, Intelligence and Commerce Committees. He opted not to run for re-election in 2000.[3]

Bryan was an opponent of SETI and introduced an amendment to the 1994 budget that secured the cancellation of the High Resolution Microwave Survey and terminated NASA's SETI efforts.[4][5] NASA criticized Bryan for his opposition to the SETI program, which uses electromagnetic radiation to search for extraterrestrial life.[6]

Bryan also focused on preventing Yucca Mountain from being used as a nuclear waste long-term storage site. Though the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository would be built during Bryan's time in the Senate, his opposition, along with delayed any actual storage from occurring. This opposition would continue long after Bryan had retired before plans for storage were discontinued by President Barack Obama.[3]

References

1. "Famous ATOs". Alpha Tau Omega. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
2. "After A Life Time Of Service, Richard Bryan Honored By Las Vegas, ACLU". Nevada Public Radio. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
3. Bryan Not to Seek Re-election Washington Post, 19/02/99, Retrieved 12/04/18
4. Alexander, Amir. "A History of SETI - Explore the Cosmos". The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on September 9, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2010. But less than one year after their launch, both searches were suddenly and irrevocably terminated, victims of a new wave of Congressional budget cuts. This time it was Senator Richard Bryan of Nevada who led the charge against governmental expenditures on SETI. "The Great Martian Chase," he said, "may finally come to an end. As of today millions have been spent and we have yet to bag a single little green fellow. Not a single Martian has said take me to your leader, and not a single flying saucer has applied for FAA approval."
5. H. Paul Shuch, ed. (2011). Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence: SETI past, present, and future. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-13195-0.
6. Garber, Stephen. "Searching for Good Science: The Cancellation of NASA's SETI Program" (PDF). Nasa History Office. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Retrieved October 9, 2014.

External links

• United States Congress. "Richard Bryan (id: B000993)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• A Guide to the U.S. Senatorial Papers of Richard H. Bryan, Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.
• How Richard Bryan destroyed the NASA's SETI project
• Richard H Bryan's current professional page
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Party political offices
Preceded by Robert E. Rose	Democratic nominee for Governor of Nevada 1982, 1986	Succeeded by Bob Miller
Preceded by Howard Cannon	Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Nevada (Class 1) 1988, 1994	Succeeded by Edward M. Bernstein
Legal offices
Preceded by Robert List	Attorney General of Nevada January 1, 1979 – January 3, 1983	Succeeded by Brian McKay
Political offices
Preceded by Robert List	Governor of Nevada January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989	Succeeded by Bob Miller
Preceded by Terry Sanford	Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995	Succeeded by Mitch McConnell
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Chic Hecht	U.S. senator (Class 1) from Nevada January 3, 1989 – January 3, 2001 Served alongside: Harry Reid	Succeeded by John Ensign