Robert T. Hartmann

Robert Trowbridge Hartmann (April 8, 1917 – April 11, 2008) was an American political advisor, speechwriter and reporter, who served as chief of staff for Vice President Gerald Ford and Counselor to the President when Ford was elevated to the presidency in 1974.

Early life and career Hartmann was born April 8, 1917, in Rapid City, South Dakota, the only child of Miner Louis and Elizabeth Trowbridge Hartmann. His father was a chemical engineer and a patent lawyer. Hartmann grew up in upstate New York and Southern California.

Hartmann joined the Los Angeles Times as a reporter in 1939, a year after graduating from Stanford University.

During World War II, he worked in public relations and press censorship roles for the Navy in the Pacific. He retired from the Navy Reserve in 1977 with the rank of captain.

Resuming his career at the Times after the war, Hartmann was Washington, D.C. bureau chief from 1954 to 1963 and finished his newspaper career the next year after opening a bureau in Rome.

Early political career After leaving the Times, Hartmann became an information adviser for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In 1966, he went to work for the House Republican Conference as a press aide.

In 1969, Hartmann joined the staff of then-minority leader Gerald Ford as a legislative assistant, rising to become one of Ford's most trusted advisors.

Chief of Staff to the Vice President

After President Richard Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to be Vice President on October 12, 1973, Hartmann coordinated Ford's preparations for the confirmation hearings on the nomination. He then became Vice President Ford's chief of staff. When it became clear that the burden of administrative matters – hiring staff, finding office space, etc. – kept Hartmann from devoting sufficient time to speeches, political liaison, and advising the Vice President, Ford hired L. William Seidman as an assistant for administration, which left Hartmann to advise Ford on political matters.

Hartman died on April 11, 2008 in Washington, D.C., at the age of 91.