Robert Joseph Dwyer

Robert Joseph Dwyer (August 1, 1908 – March 24, 1976) was an American Catholic prelate who was the fifth archbishop of Portland in Oregon from 1966 to 1974, having previously served as the second bishop of Reno in Nevada from 1952 to 1966.

Early life and education Dwyer was born on August 1, 1908, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the only child of John Charles and Mabel (née Maynard) Dwyer. His father was of Irish descent, and his mother of French Canadian. He attended Wasatch Public School and Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City. He was the first Utah native to be ordained a priest for its diocese. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Dwyer as a curate at the Cathedral of the Madeleine Parish.

As a historian Dwyer began his work as a historian of the American West at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. in 1938, receiving his Ph.D. in history in 1941. His dissertation was published as The Gentile Comes to Utah: A Study in Religious and Social Conflict (1862-1890) and is considered an accomplished and objective work on the religious history of early Utah. Dwyer described Mormonism as an attempt to resurrect the idea of creating an ideal human order on earth. Sections of this work addressed the conflicts between the religious stance of Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the antipolygamy crusade launched by the federal government

Although his work as a historian was secondary to his religious calling, he served as a member of the governing and editorial boards of the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City from 1943 to 1952. Dwyer periodically acted as editor to the Utah Historical Quarterly, and produced two noted volumes. In 1943, he edited work on the diary of Albert Tracy, a soldier in Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston's troops during the Utah War. Dwyer, in 1946, edited a volume on Mormon pioneer Lorenzo Dow Young. It contained a biography of Young by James Amasa Little, an edited diary of Lorenzo Dow Young, and additional information on the pioneer's extensive family.

After he became archbishop, Dwyer became a member of the board of advisors of the Western History Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Publications The Gentile Comes to Utah: A Study in Religious and Social Conflict (1862-1890). Washington D.C., Catholic University of America Press, 1941, republished in 1971.