In the series, Ron is the director of the Parks and Recreation department of fictional , , and the immediate superior of series protagonist until Knope's election to the Pawnee City Council at the end of Season 4. In demeanor, political philosophy and work ethic, Knope and Swanson are very nearly polar opposites: where Knope is sunny and outgoing, decidedly liberal and constantly working, Swanson is distant, and as a staunch , is a strong advocate for —stating his belief that government should be privatized—and therefore believes that the parks department should not even exist. He loves meat, woodworking, hunting, , and breakfast foods. He hates and fears his two ex-wives, both named , one of whom is played by Offerman's real-life wife,. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues, and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie. Conceived by series creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, Ron has been a central character since the of Parks and Recreation. Offerman had some input into the character's creation, and some aspects of Ron's personality were inspired by the actor, like his affinity for and 16-year-old. The traits of the character were also partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official in. Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson has received critical acclaim. The character developed a and is widely considered the of the series. Ron's platonic relationship with Leslie has been compared to that of and in. Offerman received several award nominations for the role, and won the , tying with of. Despite Ron being a very private person, including getting his birthdate redacted from all public documents, his background does occasionally come up. He grew up on a farm in a small town and is shown to have enjoyed woodworking from an early age, building his first chair at age 5. Ron is opposed to child labor laws, stating he got his first job at a sheet metal factory at age 9 and, in two weeks, was running the floor. Ron claimed that, at age 12, he went to prom and was working at a quarry. When he was 15, Ron moved in with his first wife, Tammy 1, who was a at the hospital when he was born, and subsequently both his math and Sunday school teacher; he has said that although the circumstances of their relationship were considered scandalous, people were too afraid of her to say anything. Ron said that when he was 18, his father wanted him to work at the steel mill, but he chose to go to college instead. Ron Swanson had been director of Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department for six years at the time began. A staunch Libertarian, with a distinctive mustache, Ron is an extremely strong advocate for small government. Despite working in a city hall job, he believes all government is a waste of taxpayer money. Ron believes the park system should be privatized and run entirely by corporations for profit, as exemplified by the business model of the chain of family entertainment centers. He advocates for program cuts wherever possible, and purposely tries to hire people who are bad at their jobs so they will slow down the government. Ron puts almost no effort into his job, and lets his deputy director do the vast majority of the work. Despite differing personalities and ideologies, Ron and his deputy director Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, pictured have a deep respect for each other. Despite his lack of interest in the job, Ron occasionally demonstrates he is a good manager who recognizes the abilities of his co-workers. However, Ron cares more about his colleagues than he lets on and often helps them in spite of himself. Despite sharing a nearly opposite view on the role of government, Ron gets along well with Knope, and the two share a strong mutual respect. Although Leslie had considered a job offer in the neighboring town of Eagleton, she stays based on advice from Ron that, no matter how many job offers she gets, Pawnee will always be her hometown. In the voiceover while Ron drops Andy off for his first day of class, he recalls his own first day of college when his father dropped him off at the. His father thought he should not bother with college, but Ron hitched a ride to the school and went anyway. Ron speaks in a deadpan tone of voice and seldom expresses any kind of emotion, although he is often shown to be very giddy when it comes to riddles and meat. He adheres to many stereotypically masculine traits. He claims to have only cried twice: once when he was hit by a school bus at age 7; secondly when miniature horse died. Ron is an who loves hunting, fishing, , and. For years, Ron has used a park ranger station in the woods as a lodge for private hunting trips with his male colleagues at city hall. Ron is extremely concerned with the image people have of him and once refused to seek treatment for a ; he instead chose to remain immobile at his desk all day and night until April offered to take him to the hospital. Before the start of Parks and Recreation, Ron has two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy, which is also the name of Ron's mother. Ron despises and fears both of his ex-wives, and they are among the few individuals in the world who can break Ron's usually unwavering stoicism. Ron plays the saxophone, and secretly performs at out-of-town jazz clubs under the name Duke Silver, which he keeps secret from his colleagues in Pawnee. He wears a hat and suit jacket while playing, fronts a band called the Duke Silver Trio, and has released such albums as Memories of Now, Smooth as Silver, and Hi Ho, Duke. His music is especially popular with older women among them being April's mother , who find Duke Silver extremely attractive. Season One Ron Swanson made his first appearance in the of Parks and Recreation, where he repeatedly denies Leslie's requests to pursue turning a construction pit into a park because he does not believe the parks department should build parks at all. He agrees to green-light the project only when city planner secretly cashes in an unspecified favor in exchange for the approval. However, when he finds that business is now doing extremely poorly, Ron sadly realizes he will be in his government job for a long time. Ron interrupts half-way through the review, defends Leslie and angrily berates the panel for aggressively questioning her. Although Ron claims he did it only due to his hatred for procedures, it is implied that he really did so out of respect for Leslie. Season Two Ron hires , pictured as his assistant, and he becomes a to her. Ron promises he will keep Tom's arrangement a secret. Later, Tom discovers Ron playing the saxophone at a bar in his Duke Silver persona. Tom agrees to keep Ron's secret as well. In fact, Tammy schemed to get Ron to give her the rights to land Leslie plans to turn into a park, so Tammy can build a library branch there instead. During their meeting, Ron and Tammy start loudly arguing, but eventually have passionate sex and get back together. Unable to resist Tammy's charms, Ron asks Leslie to break up with Tammy for him. When Leslie stands up to Tammy in Ron's defense, he is moved by what he describes as the first time any woman has put his needs before her own, and it gives him the strength to finally break up with Tammy. Ron begrudgingly agrees, but is frustrated to learn that Leslie is in fact an excellent hunter who overshadows his own abilities. During this trip, Ron is shot in the back of the head by misfired , and becomes hallucinatory and furious after taking multiple with alcohol. He initially accuses Leslie of shooting him based on her desire to prove herself, but later learns Tom was at fault and that Leslie took the blame to keep Tom from being arrested for hunting without a license. After interviewing several candidates, he chooses April Ludgate, convinced her constant apathy and negative attitude will suit him perfectly. April previously kept people who wanted to meet with Ron away by scheduling them for a meeting on March 31, a date she wrongly believed was nonexistent. When March 31 actually comes around, Ron has to enroll help from others in the park department to handle the meetings. He becomes so furious with April that she quits, but Ron later apologizes and hires her back. However, when Ben and Chris reveal they are considering firing Leslie, Ron passionately defends her and insists they should fire him instead. During the final scene of the episode and season, Tom spots Ron and Wendy together in city hall and realizes with horror that they are now dating. Season Three The third season opens with Ron seen begrudgingly returning to his city hall job after the Pawnee government has been shut down for three months. However, after Ron hires Andy to be her temporary replacement, the two spend the day bonding and Ron, against his better judgment, tells Andy that April is in the hospital and that he should visit her. His advice ultimately helps April decide to forgive Andy. Ron's relationship with the of , pictured causes tension between the two characters. Ron finds himself very happy in his relationship with Wendy, although it creates tension between him and Tom. This occurs, however, the same day that Wendy and Ron break up, after she decides she must move back to Canada to care for her ailing parents. Ron and Tammy end up having a wild night of drinking and sex, in which Ron gets , he and Tammy get remarried and the two end up in jail. The parks department employees hold an intervention to try to convince Ron to leave Tammy, but their efforts are unsuccessful. After Tom reveals that Tammy only went to the party with him to make Ron miserable, Tammy brutally beats up Tom. This makes Ron remember how horrible Tammy is and he leaves her, thus ending their marriage for a second time, and Ron and Tom later reconcile. Shortly after Leslie successfully relaunches the Pawnee harvest festival, she struggles to find any new ideas for future parks project. She awakens the next day refreshed and full of ideas. Who's to say what works? You find somebody you like, and you roll the dice, its all anyone can do. I get to burn another effigy. However, her surprise party for Ron is instead a quiet, private one more appropriate for Ron's personality: an evening alone with a steak, scotch, and copies of his favorite movies. Chris agrees to abandon his plan if Ron's regular hamburgers are deemed better than his lean meat turkey burgers. Although Ron exerts little effort compared to Chris, his burgers easily win the contest. The two bond, and he ends the day by giving her a as a gift. Later, at the funeral of Pawnee's celebrity Li'l Sebastian, Ron is nearly killed as a result of Leslie and Ben's affair. When their efforts to hide their relationship accidentally cause Li'l Sebastian's to be filled with lighter fluid instead of propane, Ron creates a massive fireball when he lights it, which burns off his eyebrows and part of his mustache. The season ends as a horrified Ron learns that his first ex-wife, Tammy, has arrived to see him; the news is enough to make his second ex-wife, also named Tammy, run away in horror. When Leslie's campaign managers decide to announce her candidacy for city council sooner than expected, she panics and also flees to the wilderness to hide out with Ron. Together they realize they cannot run from their problems and they both return to the parks department. Tammy 1, who is an IRS agent, later meets up with Ron in his office and serves him audit papers. This is quite the difference compared to the influence Ron's latest ex Tammy 2 has over him. While Tammy 1 has an ice cold personality and reduces Ron into submissiveness and quietude, Tammy 2 causes Ron to make highly irrational decisions that end up jeopardizing his position at the Parks office. Tammy 2 also tries to assume control of Ron through using manipulation of her body. Ron is saved from the grasp of Tammy 1 after his own mother, who is also ironically a Tammy- her name is Tamara he refers to her as Tammy 0 to restore her son. He snaps back to his old self after witnessing a drinking contest between Tammy 1 and Tammy 0. They then drink in order to win control over Ron. Leslie also enters this competition in hopes of freeing him of the Tammys, however she ends up failing miserably due to the high alcohol content of Swanson family mash and is the first one out of the contest. In the end, Ron finally comes to his senses and stands up for himself and tells both Tammys to leave. Later in the episode, she admits she also loves him. Ron proposes, and she accepts on the condition they not have a huge wedding. They immediately get married on the fourth floor before he joins Leslie on a trip to London which he despises and the in Scotland which he heartily enjoys. Later in the season it is revealed that Diane gave birth to Ron's son, whom they named John. During The Unity Concert in the season finale, Ron's alias Duke Silver is revealed to the public when he takes the stage with Mouse Rat. Both have left the Parks Department, with Ron having started his own construction company. Both are competing in a bidding war for a piece of land in Pawnee owned by the Newport family. Leslie wishes to turn it into a national park, while Ron's company has partnered with GRYZZL to turn it into a new corporate campus. After a function where the two teams present their proposals, Leslie and Ron have a bitter exchange of words, prompting Ben and the rest of the team to lock the both of them in the Parks Department overnight, during which the two reconcile their differences. After much prying, Leslie learns the real story from Ron's side. After she took Jerry and April to work with her, and Tom and Donna left to run their businesses, Ron didn't recognize anyone he worked with anymore, prompting him to make an unthinkable decision: to ask Leslie for a job in the federal government, so he could work with people he knew again. He and Leslie are eventually able to settle their differences and rekindle their friendship. In a series of flash-forwards in the final episode, it is shown that Ron decides to leave his now-successful construction company. He is shown talking to about having diversified his funds by selling half his gold. The flash-forward reveals that Ron purchased 51% interest in the. Feeling his life lacks purpose, he asks Leslie for advice and she arranges for him to be the new superintendent of the Pawnee National Park. As long as the show is on, I will preach about the writers. I couldn't believe these guys could create a role that celebrates exactly the weirdness that had always kept me from getting network jobs. It took five months for me from the time Mike Schur and Greg Daniels said they wanted me to play this part. NBC insisted on auditioning every other guy in the country, and then they finally acquiesced. I'm aware of the irony. Ron's signature mustache was one of the first ideas conceived for the character. Offerman also plays saxophone in real life, just as Ron does, although the Parks and Recreation writers did not know this when they wrote this element of his character. The idea of Ron hating his ex-wife Tammy was established early in the creation of the character, and it was Schur who conceived the idea of casting Mullally, an idea to which Offerman was extremely responsive. Ron became more heavily involved in Parks and Recreation storylines during the second season, and Offerman largely credited Schur with the development of the character. In real life, he's an incredibly interesting guy, and at the very least, it's much easier to play an interesting guy when you're an interesting guy. Nick Offerman is such an amazing actor, he plays this very specific and weird character and manages to give him some humanity. But he also manages to embrace the weirdness. Considering how funny the show is and the scope of its cast, that says a lot. Before we knew it we couldn't wait to see Swanson's reactions to the slightest of problems. Offerman was particularly praised for his subtle minimalism and facial expressions, particularly the use of his eyebrows. Also that year, Nick Offerman received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy from 's. Despite critical success, Offerman never received a nomination for this role. Several reviewers expressed particular surprise that he did not receive a nomination for the in 2011, which many considered the biggest snub of the season. Archived from on May 22, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2011. Archived from on November 15, 2010. Retrieved December 6, 2009. Archived from on July 13, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011. Archived from on February 13, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2011. Archived from on July 13, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011. Archived from on December 5, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2010. 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