Robert E. McLaughlin (1907–1978) was a Washington, DC politician who served as the 21st President of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, from 1956 to 1961.

McLaughlin was born in 1907 in rural Greene County, Indiana, where he attended school until joining the Navy at age 15 and he was assigned, at his request, to the Naval Hospital in Washington.

[1] Based on a competitive examination, he won an appointment to the Naval Academy in 1925 and but resigned after two years and went to Paris briefly for international studies at the Institut de Touraine.

[2] In 1941 he rejoined the Navy and served overseas during World War II earning the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

As president of the commission he helped cancel Capital Traction Company's streetcar franchise, leading to the formation of DC Transit.

He was instrumental in getting the Eisenhower Administration to support what would eventually become the Washington Metro and in forming the National Capital Transportation Agency.

He supported integration - withholding construction contracts from companies that didn't have black employees - and often found himself in conflict with southern Democrats in Congress.