Robert Doolittle "Doc" Newton (September 10, 1911 - July 14, 1984) was a prominent American politician and lawyer from Georgia, best known for his time as a Senator from 1951 until his death in 1984. He served as the extremely powerful Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee from 1965 until 1973, when he was elevated to Senate Majority Leader in a conservative revolt amongst the Democrats. However, he was unable to avoid infighting between the conservative and liberal wings of the party and was embarrassed when the Nationalists gained a Democratic Senate seat in the 1974 midterms, and the humiliation of the defeat after his bombastic rhetoric in the months leading up to the election along with his narrow victory over a well-funded Nationalist in his own state eventually forced him to step aside in favor of Phil Barton in 1975.
Initially opposed to integration and women's rights, Newton's stances softened by the end of the 1960's and he was surprisingly moderate once he assumed leadership after Dennis Hayward declined to reseek his old Senate post. However, in his opposition to Dawley, in particular the Medicare Act which had bipartisan support in the House and amongst some Senators, he was brutally upstaged by the President and became caricatured as being an out-of-touch paleo-segregationist, despite his stated support for integration in 1974. His public spat with popular Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter led to his decline in support in native Georgia as well, although he became one of Carter's strongest allies once the former Governor was elevated to Vice President, and campaigned for him countrywide in the 1980 elections.