History

Robert N. Stanfield

United States Senator from Oregon · active 1921–1927

Republican United States Senator from Oregon, 1921–1927. On 20 July 1926, swimming at Ocean City, Md., he heard a Mrs Swanson of Miami crying for help about two hundred feet from shore, reached her first and held her up until her husband — who had dived in from a nearby pier in his street clothes — and others got her to the beach. Both Washington dailies carried it the next day, the Times with his portrait under the headline 'Senator A Hero'. He is the only nationally-known figure this campaign can place at Ocean City in 1926, and 1924 had none at all.

A sitting United States Senator on this beach, and the reason we know it is that he swam out after somebody.

In the record (1)

  1. 1926 · 1926-07-20

    Senator Robert N. Stanfield of Oregon reaches a drowning woman two hundred feet off the Ocean City beach and holds her up until help comes.

    Evening Star, 21 July 1926, 'SENATOR STANFIELD SAVES WOMAN'S LIFE — Rescues Swimmer Who Was Caught Far Off Shore in Strong Undertow': 'Senator Robert N. Stanfield of Oregon was back in Washington today after an eventful trip to Ocean City, Md., in the course of which he rescued a woman from drowning. The Senator minimized his part in the rescue, declaring that others assisted in getting the woman ashore. He was the first to reach her, however, and kept her from going down until help arrived. A Mrs. Swanson, wife of a real estate dealer of Miami, Fla., was the bather who became caught in the undertow about 200 feet from shore. She was struggling vainly when Senator Stanfield, who was swimming a short distance away, heard her cries, and quickly reached her. About the same time Mr. Swanson, who was watching from a nearby pier, dived into the water in his street clothes and others also went to the assistance of Mrs. Swanson and aided in getting her to the beach. She suffered no ill effects from the narrow escape.' The Washington Times ran his portrait the same day under 'Senator A Hero'. Note the detail in passing: Mr Swanson was watching 'from a nearby pier' seven months after the pier burned — a temporary or surviving structure the corpus does not otherwise describe.

    Source · checked 2026-08-06