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Robert Haskell

Robert Nance Haskell (August 24, 1903 – December 3, 1987) was a Maine state senator and the 65th governor of Maine for five days in 1959. Haskell graduated from the University of Maine with an engineering degree in 1925. He became a design engineer with the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company and rose to president of the company in 1958. He was elected as a Republican to the Maine House of Representatives in 1945. After serving one term, he was elected to the Maine Senate in 1947 and served five terms, including two as majority leader and two as president of the Senate. He was nicknamed "Slide Rule Bob" for his mathematical abilities. On January 2, 1959, outgoing Governor Edmund Muskie resigned before the end of his term to take his seat in the United States Senate. Haskell was sworn in as Governor to fill the five-day period until the inauguration of Clinton Clauson. With Clauson's death later in the year, Haskell was the second of four governors Maine had in 1959. Haskell then left politics, but continued to lead the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, as well as serving as a bank board chairman and a trustee of the University of Maine. He died in 1987. He was not closely related to Nathaniel M. Haskell, who had served a brief term six years before as Maine's Governor due to being Senate President.

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Article summary

Robert Nance Haskell (August 24, 1903 – December 3, 1987) was a Maine state senator and the 65th governor of Maine for five days in 1959. Haskell graduated from the University of Maine with an engineering degree in 1925. He became a design engineer with the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company and rose to president of the company in 1958. He was elected as a Republican to the Maine House of Representatives in 1945. After serving one term, he was elected to the Maine Senate in 1947 and served five terms, including two as majority leader and two as president of the Senate. He was nicknamed "Slide Rule Bob" for his mathematical abilities. On January 2, 1959, outgoing Governor Edmund Muskie resigned before the end of his term to take his seat in the United States Senate. Haskell was sworn in as Governor to fill the five-day period until the inauguration of Clinton Clauson. With Clauson's death later in the year, Haskell was the second of four governors Maine had in 1959. Haskell then left politics, but continued to lead the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, as well as serving as a bank board chairman and a trustee of the University of Maine. He died in 1987. He was not closely related to Nathaniel M. Haskell, who had served a brief term six years before as Maine's Governor due to being Senate President.

Key claims

  1. date of death: 1987 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of death is "1987". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371801785

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.