Senator William V. Roth

William Victor Roth Jr. (July 22, 1921 – December 13, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware, and a member of the Republican Party who served in the United States Congress for more than three decades. A veteran of World War II, he represented Delaware as its lone at-large member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1970 and as a U.S. Senator from 1971 to 2001. Over seven terms in Congress, including five in the Senate, he became nationally known for his fiscal conservatism, his advocacy of tax cuts, and his sponsorship of the individual retirement account that bears his name, the Roth IRA. He is the last Republican to serve as and/or be elected a U.S. Senator from Delaware.

Roth was born on July 22, 1921, in Great Falls, Montana. He grew up in the American West before eventually making his home in Delaware. During World War II he served in the United States Army, an experience that shaped his later views on public service and international affairs. After the war he pursued legal studies and entered the practice of law, establishing himself professionally before turning to elective politics. By the late 1950s and early 1960s he had become active in Delaware Republican politics, positioning himself as a rising figure within the state party.

Roth’s early political career included both defeat and rapid advancement. In 1960 he ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, a setback that nonetheless elevated his profile within the party. On April 10, 1961, he was named chair of the Delaware Republican Party, succeeding Ellwood S. Leach. He served as state party chair until May 13, 1964, when he lost his bid for reelection to Clayton S. Harrison Jr. by a 32–24 vote among party leaders. Undeterred, Roth sought federal office and, in 1966, defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Harris McDowell. He entered the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 1967, and served two terms, remaining in the House until December 31, 1970. During his House service he participated actively in the legislative process and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, aligning himself with key civil rights legislation of the era.

Roth moved to the Senate at the start of the 1970s, succeeding retiring Republican Senator John J. Williams. Appointed to fill the final days of Williams’s term, he began his Senate service on January 1, 1971, and then served continuously until January 3, 2001. His long tenure coincided with a significant period in American history, spanning the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate era, the Reagan and post–Cold War years, and the beginning of the twenty-first century. As a senator, Roth represented the interests of Delaware’s constituents while participating in major national debates over taxation, spending, civil rights, ethics, and foreign policy. He was known as a fiscal conservative, and critics at times blamed him and like-minded colleagues for contributing to large federal deficits during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Within the Senate, Roth became a central figure on fiscal and governmental oversight matters. He served for many years on the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Finance, and from September 12, 1995, through January 3, 2001, he was chairman of the Finance Committee. He was best remembered as a strong advocate of tax cuts and co-authored, with Representative Jack Kemp, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, widely known as the Kemp–Roth Tax Cut, a cornerstone of Reagan-era economic policy. Roth was also the principal legislative sponsor of the Roth IRA, an individual retirement account established in 1998 that allows contributions with post-tax dollars and tax-free withdrawals in retirement. The Roth 401(k), introduced in 2006 after his Senate career had ended, was likewise named in his honor. Though generally conservative, he occasionally broke with many in his party, voting for the Brady Bill and for the federal ban on certain semi-automatic weapons, and he strongly supported environmental protections. He was also one of nine senators in 1977 to vote against adopting a stringent new Senate code of ethics intended to restore public confidence in Congress.

Roth’s voting record reflected both his party loyalty and his individual convictions. He supported the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and voted for the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, including the successful effort to override President Reagan’s veto of that measure. He voted in favor of the Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, aligning with the conservative legal agenda of the late twentieth century. During the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, Roth voted to convict the president on both articles of impeachment, though Clinton was ultimately acquitted on both charges. On foreign and defense policy, Roth sometimes diverged from the Reagan administration; on December 2, 1981, he was one of four senators to vote against an amendment to President Reagan’s MX missile proposal that would have diverted $334 million from the silo-based system and earmarked further research for alternative basing methods, a vote widely interpreted as a rebuff to the administration’s approach. He was also deeply engaged in international affairs more broadly, serving as president of NATO’s parliamentary body, the North Atlantic Assembly, from 1996 to 1998.

Roth’s long political career came to an end in the 2000 election. Seeking another term, he faced Democratic Governor Tom Carper and was defeated, with many observers attributing the loss in part to concerns about his age and health. During the campaign he collapsed twice, once in the middle of a television interview and once during a campaign event, episodes that raised questions about his physical stamina. His Senate service concluded on January 3, 2001, marking the end of a 34-year congressional career and leaving him as the last Republican to have represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate. Known personally as a witty man but not a natural campaigner, he often sought to soften his public image by appearing with a Saint Bernard dog at campaign events; over the decades, his succession of St. Bernards became a distinctive personal trademark.

In his later years, Roth remained a respected figure in Delaware and national political circles, associated above all with tax policy innovation and long-term retirement savings reform. He died on December 13, 2003, closing a public life that had spanned wartime military service, party leadership in Delaware, and more than three decades in the U.S. Congress. Through his legislative work—particularly the Kemp–Roth tax cuts and the creation of the Roth IRA—he left a lasting imprint on American fiscal policy and the retirement planning of millions of Americans.