Robert H. Lounsberry

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Robert Horace Lounsberry (b. June 22, 1918, Carlisle, Iowa d.February 10, 2001) was Iowa Secretary of Agriculture from 1972 to 1987, a nationally known farmer advocate during the farming crises of the 1980s, and a powerful figure in the Republican party at both the state and national level.

Shortly after graduating from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, Lounsberry served in World War II as a U.S. Air Force B-24 pilot in the Asiatic Pacific Theater, where he received several military honors including the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Philippine Liberation Medal.

Lounsberry was active in the Republican Party, serving on the local, county, district and state levels. He was a key player in the Iowa Presidential Caucus, with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, and George W. Bush all holding campaign events at his farm near McCallsburg, Iowa.

Lounsberry was appointed Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in 1972, and was re-elected in 1974, 1978, 1982 and served until retiring on Jan. 3, 1987. In 1978, he was elected by the largest margin in Iowa history for a statewide office. He was at the helm during farm crises of the 1980s and testified several times before the U.S. House and Senate and was a leading force in Federal farm bankruptcy laws passed during that time. He also led several international trade missions, which led to the opening of many new markets for U.S. agricultural products.

Near the end of his tenure as Secretary, Lounsberry made a comment about the Japanese that some considered racist, but Lounsberry contended was taken out of context. Speaking about how the relationship between the United States and Japan had evolved since the time he was a World War II pilot, Lounsberry said that when the U.S. was at war with Japan, he and other pilots fighting the Japanese only knew them derogatorily as "slant eyes," but that his view had changed to the point that he "now only knows the Japanese as friends."

The Lounsberry family has been well off since the start. The Lounsberrys had used their power and wealth to join reliances in the beginning. The family has produced two New York state senators, both strongly republic, and has also produced Yale professors as well.