Budd Dwyer
R. Budd Dwyer seconds before his suicide. Photo credit: Gary Miller/The Associated Press
Born	November 21, 1939(1939-11-21) Saint Charles, Missouri
Died	January 22, 1987 (aged 47) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Treasurer of Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Joanne Dwyer

Robert "Budd" Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician who, on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference. Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was a former Pennsylvania politician who, on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference. ... Picture of Budd Dwyers last moments. ... is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... St. ... is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... This article is about the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ... GOP redirects here. ... is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... A member of Liberal Democratic Party Taizo Sugimura in an apology news conference in Japan A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. ...

Career

Budd Dwyer graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He went on to get his master's degree in education and taught social studies and coached football at Cambridge Springs High School. As a Republican, Dwyer served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1965 to 1970 and the Pennsylvania Senate from 1970 to 1980. After his tenure as a senator, Dwyer moved on to the treasurer's office, a position he held up to his death. Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college located in northwestern Pennsylvania which prides itself as being one of the oldest colleges in the United States. ... Meadville is the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, USA. The city is generally considered part of the Pittsburgh Tri-State and is within 20 miles of Erie, Pennsylvania. ... A masters degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded after the completion of an academic program of one to six years in duration. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... Cambridge Springs is a borough located in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. ... The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ... The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislative branch of Pennsylvania government. ...

Controversy and guilty verdict

During the early 1980s, state employees overpaid millions of dollars in Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes. As a result, the commonwealth began accepting bids from companies to calculate the amount of the refund each employee was due. For other uses, see FICA (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. State. ...

One firm, the California-based Computer Technology Associates, was owned by a Harrisburg native named John Torquato, Jr., who used his area connections and a series of bribes to obtain the contract, worth a reputed US $4.6 million. An anonymous memo reached the office of Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh informing him of what had happened. This article is about the U.S state. ... This article is about the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ... Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ... USD redirects here. ... List of Pennsylvania Governors The office of Pennsylvania governor was created by the states Constitution of 1790. ... Richard L. Dick Thornburgh (born July 16, 1932) is a lawyer and Republican politician who served as the Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S. Attorney General from 1988 to 1991. ...

In late 1986, Budd Dwyer was charged with agreeing to receive a kickback of $300,000. A plea bargain was made for Torquato and Dauphin County Republican Party Chairman William Smith (who was also Torquato's attorney), as well as Smith's wife, which required them to testify against Dwyer. This, coupled with the government's refusal to name unindicted co-conspirators in the case, made it difficult for Dwyer to defend himself, though the unindicted co-conspirators are believed to have been staff members of the Dauphin County Republican Party. During this time, the district's United States Attorney offered Dwyer a plea bargain that carried a maximum of five years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea on one count of accepting a bribe, resignation, and cooperation in the investigation.^[1] Dwyer refused the offer, and was later found guilty but continued to profess his innocence vehemently, as did others who were close to him.^[2] Under state law, Dwyer could continue to serve as state treasurer until his sentencing. The maximum sentence Dwyer was facing was 55 years imprisonment and a $300,000 fine. However, his co-defendant, former state Republican Party chairman Robert Asher, was given a year in jail. Asher later returned to politics, and served as a Republican National Committeeman for Pennsylvania. World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. High numbers (green) indicate relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate relatively more corruption. ... A plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal or copping a plea) is an agreement in a criminal case in which a prosecutor and a defendant arrange to settle the case against the defendant. ... Dauphin County is a county located in the state of Pennsylvania. ... United States Attorneys (also known as federal prosecutors) represent the U.S. federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. ... This article is about the institution. ...

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Public suicide

On January 22, 1987, the day before his sentencing, Dwyer called a press conference to "provide an update on the situation". Many expected Dwyer to announce his resignation from office. is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... A joint press conference by U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House. ...

At the conference, an agitated and nervous Dwyer once again professed his innocence, and declared that he would not resign as state treasurer. Those attending would hear his final words:^[3]

I thank the good Lord for giving me 47 years of exciting challenges, stimulating experiences, many happy occasions, and, most of all, the finest wife and children any man could ever desire. Now my life has changed, for no apparent reason. People who call and write are exasperated and feel helpless. They know I'm innocent and want to help. But in this nation, the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. Some who have called have said that I am a modern day Job. Judge [Malcolm] Muir is also noted for his medieval sentences. I face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison and a $300,000 fine for being innocent. Judge Muir has already told the press that he, quote, "felt invigorated" when we were found guilty, and that he plans to imprison me as a deterrent to other public officials. But it wouldn't be a deterrent because every public official who knows me knows that I am innocent; it wouldn't be a legitimate punishment because I've done nothing wrong. Since I'm a victim of political persecution, my prison would simply be an American gulag. I ask those that believe in me to continue to extend friendship and prayer to my family, to work untiringly for the creation of a true justice system here in the United States, and to press on with the efforts to vindicate me, so that my family and their future families are not tainted by this injustice that has been perpetrated on me. William Blakes imagining of Satan inflicting boils on Job. ... Nikolai Getman Moving out. ...

At this point, Dwyer stopped with his prepared text and called to three of his staffers, giving each an envelope. One of the envelopes contained a suicide note to his wife. The second contained an organ donor card and other related materials. The third contained a letter to Robert P. Casey, who had taken office only two days before. A suicide note is a message left by someone who later attempts or commits suicide. ... Organ donationcan only be peformed by untrained workers who do not have a drivers license and are poor. ... “Robert Casey” redirects here. ...

After handing out the envelopes, Dwyer opened a manila envelope and withdrew a .357 Magnum revolver, advising those in the crowd, "Please leave the room if this will offend you." Those in attendance cried out to Dwyer, pleading with him to put the gun down ("Budd, don't do this!" and "Budd, listen to me!" were heard on television). Some tried to approach him. "Don't, don't, don't, this will hurt someone," he warned.^[4] Amid the cry of "Budd, Budd, Budd!" Dwyer put the gun barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He collapsed against a wall in a sitting position, blood pouring from his nose, all in front of five television news cameras while the people were screaming and using profanity in shock. Dwyer was declared dead at the scene at 11:31 a.m. EST.^[4] “.357” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Revolver (disambiguation). ... The Eastern Standard Time Zone is a geographic region that keeps time by subtracting five hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). ...

Dwyer is buried in Blooming Valley Cemetery in Blooming Valley, Pennsylvania. Blooming Valley is a borough located in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. ...

Aftermath

A number of television stations throughout Pennsylvania aired taped footage of Dwyer's suicide before a mid-day audience. Due to a major snowstorm throughout Pennsylvania that day, many schools were closed and many school-aged children bore witness to the suicide. Over the next several hours, however, news editors had to decide whether to air the graphic images or to edit the footage for evening news telecasts. Dwyer's case has become a favorite of a number of journalism professors to demonstrate that news editors (especially in the medium of television) must be prepared to make instant decisions, weighing the psychological impact on viewers against their business sense of beating other media outlets to the story.^[5] // Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ...

In the end, many stations, including WCAU, aired the footage up to a point just prior to the shooting. Others, including Pennsylvania's Group W stations KYW and KDKA, froze the action just prior to the trigger's being pulled. KDKA-TV and KYW-TV both chose this approach, and allowed the audio of the shooting to continue under the frozen image. Group W's news cameraman William L. "Bill" Martin and reporter David Sollenberger—based out of the Harrisburg state capitol's Correspondents Room—had a camera set up at the news conference and chose not to air the actual footage, choosing instead to air the audio with a freeze frame of the gun in Dwyer's mouth. Only a handful aired the entire press conference unedited. WPVI in Philadelphia was one station that chose to re-broadcast the suicide footage in full on their 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Action News broadcasts without a warning to viewers. That station's broadcast is a source for copies circulating on the Internet. WPXI in Pittsburgh is reported by the Associated Press to have broadcast the footage uncensored on an early newscast and did in fact broadcast the footage. In explaining the decision to air, WPXI news operations manager By Williams said, "It's an important event" about an "important man." Williams opted not to air the footage in the evening newscasts, explaining, "Everyone knows by then that he did it. There are children out of school."^[6] WCAU (NBC10) is a NBC owned and operated station serving the Delaware Valley area, owned by NBC-Universal, with its transmitter in Roxborough. ... Group W, also known as the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, was a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. ... KYW-TV, channel 3, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by the CBS Corporation and affiliated with the CBS Television Network. ... KDKA-TV is the CBS owned and operated (O&O) television station in Pittsburgh. ... WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Area    - City 369. ... Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. ... WPXI-TV is the NBC television affiliate based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Pittsburgh redirects here. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

The broadcast of the shooting became a topic for educators in Pennsylvania classrooms and led to questioning the wisdom of airing live news broadcasts in public school settings. This issue was also faced during the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was shown live in many classrooms since Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in outer space. Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASAs second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. ... Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe (September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire who was selected from among more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. ...

Children, however, responded to the event by creating a cycle of black comedy jokes similar to those that circulated after the Challenger disaster. Of these, the most popular was "What did Budd Dwyer's wife tell him the morning of the press conference? Don't go shooting your mouth off in public." A study of the incidence of these jokes showed that they were told only in areas of Pennsylvania where uncensored footage of the press conference had been shown by networks.^[7] This article is about the tone of comedy. ...

The suicide also changed Associated Press photo practices. At the time, the AP had its photographers shoot most photos in black and white, since the film was cheaper and the photos took less time to transmit. Also, most newspapers still had black-and-white front pages at the time. Color film would be issued only to photographers expected to be getting the top photos for national news that day. Since this news conference was expected to be of little interest outside Pennsylvania, black-and-white film was used. Once it turned into a major worldwide story, the AP got requests for color photos. After that, the AP promptly switched to taking all photos in color. Most of the photos were still transmitted in black and white until the transmission technology improved to a point when color photos did not cause delays.^{[citation needed]} The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

Since Dwyer died in office before being removed upon sentencing, his widow, Joanne, was able to collect full survivor benefits totaling over $1.28 million. A spokesman for Dwyer, immediately after the suicide, suggested Dwyer may have killed himself to retain the state-provided pension for his household, which had been ruined by legal defense costs.^[8]

Dwyer's legal struggles may have ended with his death, yet a fascination with his suicide goes on to this day. Copies of the footage continue to circulate via the Internet and have appeared in various films, including the Traces of Death series and Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Rock musicians have also incorporated Dwyer's suicide into their work, such as seminal American noise rock band Rapeman which released an album entitled Budd,^[9] and alternative rock band Filter, whose 1995 single "Hey Man, Nice Shot" similarly references Dwyer.^[10] The rockband CKY, had a picture of Budd Dwyer shooting himself as a cover on the CD Volume 1.^{[citation needed]} Traces of Death is a 1993 direct-to-video release of various footage similar to the style of Faces of Death. ... Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American political-activist, a film director, author, social commentator, and political humorist. ... Bowling for Columbine is a 2002 American documentary film written, directed, produced by, and starring Michael Moore. ... Merzbow Einstürzende Neubauten Sonic Youth Melt Banana Lightning Bolt Neptune Noise rock describes one variety of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. ... Rapeman was an American rock music group founded in 1987 and disbanded in 1990. ... Alternative music redirects here. ... Filter is a rock group formed in 1993 by Richard Patrick and guitarist/programmer Brian Liesegang. ... Hey Man, Nice Shot was the first song from 1990s industrial rock band Filter to garner airplay and notoriety. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In 2003, work started on "Honest Man", a feature length documentary about Budd and the CTA scandal. The film includes interviews with William Smith, the Dwyer family (Robert Dwyer, Joanne Dwyer and Dyan Dwyer), Barry O'Connell, as well as former colleagues and friends. Also authors Lorraine Yuhasz and William Keisling have contributed their expert knowledge of the CTA scandal to the project.

See also

• Christine Chubbuck, a news anchor who committed suicide live on-air in 1974
• Bob Asher, Dwyer's co-defendant in 1987 trial, current Pennsylvania GOP national committeeman
• List of unusual deaths

Christine Chubbuck[1] (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974) was an American television news reporter who committed suicide during a live television broadcast. ... This is a list of unusual deaths – unique or extremely rare circumstances – recorded throughout history. ...

References

is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1987. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the magazine. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Video of Budd Dwyer's Suicide (contains graphic violence)
• Trailer for "Honest Man" - A Documentary about Budd Dwyer
• "Sins of Our Fathers," by William Keisling and Richard Kearns
• Modern Television – R. Budd Dwyer
• A more detailed account