Background
Bob Armstrong was the son of the late Robert C. Armstrong and the former Louise Landis.
Bob Armstrong was the son of the late Robert C. Armstrong and the former Louise Landis.
University of Texas at Austin (Bachelor of Arts, 1953. LL B., 1959). Assistant Attorney General, 1961. Member, Texas House of Representatives, 1963-1970.
State Land Commissioner, 1970-1982.
From 1993 to 1998, he was the assistant secretary for land and minerals management at the United States Department of the Interior under appointment of United States. President Bill Clinton. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas and his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Texas School of Law, both in his native Austin. He served during the Korean War as an ensign in the United States Navy.
The vacancy was created by the resignation of fellow Democrat Jack Ritter.
Coincidentally, Armstrong was to have been sworn into office on November 22, 1963, the day of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Instead, his swearing-in was delayed until the following day.
He remained a representative until January 1971. In his last two terms, he also represented neighboring Burnet County.
In 1970, Armstrong was elected the Commissioner of the General Land Office to succeed long-term incumbent Jerry Sadler.
He was Land Commissioner for twelve years until 1983. While Land Commissioner he became interested in acquiring the Big Bend Ranch for the State. In the spring of 1982, Armstrong ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against Texas Railroad Commissioner Buddy Temple and then Attorney General Mark White and lost, having finished third in the primary.
In 1985, Governor White appointed Armstrong, his former intraparty opponent, to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
President Clinton nominated Armstrong to serve in the Department of the Interior. After he left that position in 1998, Armstrong remained active in the environmental community and sought greater funding for Texas parks and wildlife.
Subsequent Republican land commissioner Jerry East. Patterson said of Armstrong: "He was just a good guy.. He was a lover of Texas."
Armstrong appeared in January 2015 at the swearing in of current land commissioner George P. Bush, along with earlier commissioners Patterson, David Dewhurst, and Garry Mauro.
The Texas Senate adjourned in Armstrong"s honor on March 1, 2015.
He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Armstrong holds a distinction in that he has a dip named after him. Matt"s El Rancho restaurant in Austin named a concoction of queso, guacamole, taco meat, and other ingredients named a "Bob Armstrong.".
As the party nominee, White then unseated Republican Governor Bill Clements in the 1982 general election.
Just an extremely pleasant smiling guy even if he disagreed with your point of view.
He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1963 to 1971, Commissioner of the General Land Office from 1971 to 1983, and a member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission from 1985 to 1991. While at Utah, Armstrong was a member of the service organization known as the Texas Cowboys. He was a board member of the non-profit law firm, Trustees for Alaska.