Richard Bryan

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

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

Richard Bryan
Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Terry Sanford
Succeeded by	Mitch McConnell
United States Senator from Nevada
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Chic Hecht
Succeeded by	John Ensign
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 (age 88) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	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	United States Army
Service years	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 J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In 1963 he was admitted to the Nevada Bar. He was Clark County's first public defender.^[2]

Political career

Bryan as governor.

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.

Governor of Nevada

In 1982, Bryan challenged incumbent Republican Nevada Governor Robert List, who was running for reelection. He defeated List and became governor in January 1983. Bryan was easily reelected in 1986, defeating Nevada State Treasurer Patricia Cafferata.

He became known for his frequent invitations to state legislators to join the governor for meals at the governor’s mansion. The practice created goodwill between the governor and legislators of both parties.^[3]

U.S. Senate

By 1987, Bryan was encouraged by several prominent politicians, including Harry Reid and Alan Cranston, to run for the U.S. Senate.^[4] He declared his candidacy shortly after, and in the 1988 U.S. Senate election, he defeated incumbent Republican Senator Chic Hecht. He was sworn in at the convening of the 101st Congress on January 3, 1989. During his tenure in the Senate, Bryan served on the Finance, Banking, Intelligence and Commerce Committees.

Bryan was an opponent of Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), stating: "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." He introduced an amendment to the 1994 budget that secured the cancellation of the High Resolution Microwave Survey and terminated NASA's SETI efforts less than one year after their launch.^[5][6][7] Bryan ran for reelection in the Senate in 1994, easily defeating Republican challenger Hal Furman.

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, delayed any actual storage from occurring. This opposition would continue after Bryan had retired before plans for storage were discontinued by President Barack Obama.^[8]

Bryan opted not to run for a third term in the Senate in 2000.^[8]