Representative James R. Olin

James Randolph Olin (February 28, 1920 – July 29, 2006) was an American politician and businessman who represented Virginia’s 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, he served five terms in Congress and played an active role in the legislative process during a significant period in late twentieth‑century American political history, representing the interests of his constituents in western and central Virginia.

Olin was born in Chicago, Illinois, the grandson of Swedish immigrants, and was raised in Kenilworth, Illinois. He attended Deep Springs College, an intensive, service‑oriented institution in California, before transferring to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. At Cornell he studied engineering and earned a degree in electrical engineering in 1943. Shortly after completing his education, Olin entered military service during World War II, serving in the Signal Corps of the United States Army from 1943 until 1946, where he applied his technical training to military communications work.

Following his military service, Olin embarked on a long career in industry with General Electric (GE). Over a span of 35 years, he rose through the company’s ranks to become corporate vice president and general manager of industrial electronics, a senior leadership position he held until his retirement in January 1982. His responsibilities with GE took him to several of the company’s major centers of operation, including Schenectady, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Salem, Virginia. Olin’s first formal entry into politics came in New York State, where, as a Democrat, he made his initial bid for public office in 1953. That year he was elected supervisor of Rotterdam, New York, and served on the Schenectady County Board of Supervisors, gaining early experience in local government and public administration.

Olin’s corporate career eventually brought him and his family to Virginia. The Olin family settled in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1968, placing him within the boundaries of what would become his future congressional district. After retiring from General Electric, he turned his full attention to elective office. In 1982, he ran as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 6th congressional district, a district stretching from Roanoke through the Shenandoah Valley that had been one of the first areas of Virginia to turn Republican in the post‑World War II era. The seat had been held by Republican M. Caldwell Butler for six terms, and Butler had not faced major‑party opposition since 1974. In the 1982 general election, Olin won a narrow victory with 51 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Kevin Grey Miller and becoming the first Democrat to hold the seat since 1953.

James R. Olin took office in January 1983 and served five consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, remaining in office until January 1993. Over the next decade, he consolidated his position in a district that continued to vote Republican at the presidential level. He worked the geographically large district intensively and was re‑elected in 1984 with 54 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Ray L. Garland, even as President Ronald Reagan carried the district by a wide margin. In 1986, Olin was re‑elected with 70 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Flo Neher Traywick. He secured another term in 1988 with 64 percent of the vote against Republican Charles E. Judd, and in 1990 he was re‑elected with 84 percent of the vote, defeating Independent Gerald E. Berg. During his tenure, he was regarded as a moderate member of the Virginia delegation. Serving on the United States House Committee on Agriculture, he advocated changes in federal agricultural policy, including efforts to reduce milk price subsidies. In 1990, he was one of only three Democrats in the House to vote against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and that same year he clashed with President George H. W. Bush over budget proposals. In 1991, he opposed U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War, reflecting his independent approach to major foreign and domestic policy questions.

Olin chose not to run for a sixth term in 1992 and retired from Congress at the conclusion of his fifth term in January 1993. That year he received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in recognition of his public service. His preferred choice to succeed him as the Democratic nominee for the 6th district lost at the district convention to Stephen Musselwhite, who was subsequently defeated by Republican Bob Goodlatte, a former aide to M. Caldwell Butler. The outcome underscored the increasingly Republican character of the district; since Olin left office, no Democrat has crossed the 40 percent mark in the 6th district.

In his personal life, Olin married Phyllis Olin, and together they had five children: Richard, Thomas, Kathy (Milliken), James, and Trina (Santry). The couple’s move to Roanoke in 1968 established their long‑term roots in Virginia, and in 2003 they relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia. Jim and Phyllis Olin had eleven grandchildren—Jennifer Milliken Bartlett, Marc Dentico‑Olin, Scott Milliken, Julia Milliken, John Olin, Chad Olin, Christine Milliken, Hannah Olin, Arthur Santry IV, Alexa Santry, and Richard Santry—and, as of 2012, two great‑grandsons, Aidan Bartlett and Nathan Bartlett. James Randolph Olin died at age 86 in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 29, 2006, closing a life that spanned military service, corporate leadership, local government, and a decade of congressional representation for Virginia’s 6th district.