William Robert Roy (born in Bloomington, Illinois on February 23, 1926), also known as Bill Roy,[1] is a former United States Representative from Kansas, a retired phyisician, and a columnist for The Topeka Capital-Journal.
He attended the Lexington, Illinois public schools and earned a B.S. from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1945 as well as a B.M. from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in 1948. He received an M.D. from the same university in 1949 as well as a J.D. from Washburn University Law School in Topeka, Kansas, 1970. He did his obstetrics and gynecology residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital.[2] Roy served in the United States Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and was a military doctor at Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka;[2] he was discharged with rank of captain.
He practiced medicine in Topeka from 1955 to 1970 and was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-second and Ninety-third Congresses (January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1975). He changed his registration in 1970 to run as a Democrat.[1]
He was not a House candidate in 1974 for reelection, but was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in that year; in a bitter race, he lost to Bob Dole only by a few thousand votes. In a 1996 interview with PBS, he explained his decision to seek election to the Senate, saying, "I was far from an admirer of Bob Dole, I'll tell you that. He'd been around and he had been pretty much a hatchet man, both in Kansas, and as far as President Nixon was concerned. And so I saw it as a wonderful opportunity to take him out of politics, which I thought was very important at that time."[3] He ran for the U.S. Senate again in 1978 but lost to Nancy Kassebaum. He resumed the practice of medicine in Topeka until 1989 and is a resident of that city.
Since 1989, Roy has been a regular columnist for The Topeka Capital-Journal. His columns often reflect a liberal perspective, including support for abortion rights[2] and opposition to the policies of President George W. Bush.[4] His 2001–2002 columns in The Topeka Metro News rallied sentiment to stop the sale of Kansas Blue Cross Blue Shield to Anthem of Indianapolis (now merged into Wellpoint).[5]
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Chester L. Mize |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 2nd congressional district 1971–1975 |
Succeeded by Martha Elizabeth Keys |