May 9, 2022
The Briscoe Center mourns the loss of former U.S. Ambassador and Senator Robert “Bob” C. Krueger, who died April 30, 2022 in his hometown of New Braunfels, Texas.
The Briscoe Center is the home of Krueger’s papers, and he served as a member of the center’s Advisory Council. In addition, the center published From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi: Our Embassy Years during Genocide [https://briscoecenter.org/books/from-bloodshed-to-hope-in-burundi/], written by Krueger and his wife, Kathleen Tobin Krueger, in its Focus on American History book series at the University of Texas Press.
“Bob Krueger will be remembered as a true statesman and outstanding public servant for Texas and the New Braunfels community,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “It was an honor to have Bob place his papers at the center and serve as a council member. The Briscoe Center extends its sincere condolences to Kathleen and the Krueger family.”
Krueger was born on September 19, 1935, in New Braunfels. After graduating from Southern Methodist University (B.A., 1957) and Duke University (M.A., 1958), Krueger received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Oxford in 1964. For several years, he taught English at Duke University, where he was dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
From 1975 to 1979, Krueger served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Following his loss in a bid for the U. S. Senate in 1978, Krueger served in President Jimmy Carter’s administration as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Mexican Affairs in the State Department from 1979 to 1981. He was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1990.
In 1993, Governor Ann Richards selected Krueger to fill Lloyd Bentsen’s vacated U.S. Senate seat until a special election. President Bill Clinton appointed Krueger as Ambassador to Burundi, and after two years, he became Ambassador to Botswana, serving until 1999. With a foreword by Desmond Tutu, From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi is a compelling account of Krueger’s service as the U.S. Ambassador to Burundi, a position he started shortly after the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.
The Bob Krueger Papers, 1970-1993, consist of correspondence, legislative files, news releases, employee records, constituency lists, speeches, articles, campaign records, photographs, and reference files. The papers document Krueger’s tenure in the U.S. Congress (1975-1978) and the U.S. Senate (January through July 1993).
