He keeps the shell of a claymore mine (secretly filled with party supplies, he doesn't know this until the episode: Leslie & Ron) and a sawed-off shotgun on his desk, so people who ask for things have to stare down the barrel. He is usually non-confrontational and gives Leslie a lot of leeway to run the department. While at the department, he closed many unnecessary recreational spaces, including the Portola Skate Park, the Grice Dog Run, the Morris-Easton Observatory, the Mohanga Native American Heritage Center, and most public drinking fountains. Ron believes the government should be privatized and follow the business model of Chuck E. Ron believes in the elimination of government waste, and during his tenure always brought the department under budget. Ron Swanson was Director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department for six years. His brother's names are Don, Bob, Vaughn, and Lon Swanson, Lon being named after his uncle Lon. He has four brothers, one of whom is in the Air Force and another (or potentially the same) shot him in the foot with a nail gun when they were little. However, Ron hitchhiked and went to college anyway, where he learned a lot about life.

When college came around, his dad, feeling that college wasn't important, dropped Ron off at a metal factory. Ron attended a prom when he was 12 and while he enjoyed himself, he felt it was unnecessary to go to another one, as he'd felt he was too old for it. He tried to do both as well as finish Middle School but he eventually realized he could only do one thing at a time. When he was eleven he was offered a job at the Tannery where he could work with leather, a dream he always had. When Ron was nine he began work in a sheet metal factory and within two weeks, he was running the floor. He cried for the first time when he was seven when he was hit by a school bus. Ron's birthday has long been a secret kept between him and the people at Baskin-Robbins, although Leslie Knope managed to figure it out. Ron was born to Tamara Swanson and was delivered by his future wife, also known as Tammy I, a candy striper at the hospital. He also enjoys artichokes, plums, and intense riddles or scavenger hunts. Ron presents himself with a steely demeanor in the office, however he secretly plays the saxophone as Duke Silver. In late 2014, he quit the Parks department and started Very Good Building and Development Co.

He was Leslie Knope's deadpan superior as the head of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department until she left the department to become a city councilor, and then again when she rejoined the department after she was recalled.

Mind song by Donna Swanson