Robert P. Griffin

Who is Robert P. Griffin?

Robert Paul Griffin was a Republican U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan and Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Griffin was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended public schools in Garden City and Dearborn. During the Second World War, he enlisted in the 71st Infantry Division in 1943 and spent fourteen months in Europe. After the war, he graduated from Central Michigan College at Mount Pleasant in 1947. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1950. He commenced the practice of law in Traverse City.

Griffin was elected as a Republican to U.S. House of Representatives from the Michigan's 9th congressional district in 1956, unseating incumbent Ruth Thompson in the Republican primary. He served in the Eighty-fifth United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1957, until his resignation May 10, 1966. He was appointed by Governor George Romney on May 11, 1966, to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Patrick V. McNamara. He was elected November 8, 1966, to a full six-year term, defeating former Governor Soapy Williams by a 56% to 44% margin, commencing January 3, 1967 and was reelected in 1972, winning a tough race against state Attorney General Frank J. Kelley, and served from May 11, 1966, to January 2, 1979. He was Republican Whip 1969–1977. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1978, narrowly defeated by Democrat Carl Levin. He was a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court 1987–1994. His son, Richard Allen Griffin, was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1989 to 2005, until he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2005.