Preceded by Charles R. Robertson Governor John Burke Resigned January 3, 1959 Party Republican Party | Preceded by James H. Sinclair Name Usher Burdick Succeeded by Quentin N. Burdick Preceded by Robert S. Lewis Children Quentin N. Burdick | |
Role Member of the United States House of Representatives Died August 19, 1960, Williston, North Dakota, United States Education University of Minnesota Law School, University of Minnesota Books The Last Days of Sitting Bu, Jacob Horner and the Indian, Some Old Time Cow Men of th, Marquis deMores at war in the | ||
Succeeded by Charles R. Robertson | ||
Usher Lloyd Burdick (February 21, 1879 – August 19, 1960) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from North Dakota. He was the father of Quentin N. Burdick.
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Early life and career
Burdick was born in Owatonna, Minnesota. His parents were farmers. Burdick moved with his parents to Dakota Territory in 1882. He graduated from the North Dakota State Normal School at Mayville in 1900.
He was deputy superintendent of schools of Benson County from 1900 to 1902. He graduated from University of Minnesota Law School in 1904, playing football as well as teaching school in a business college while attending the university. He was admitted to the North Dakota State Bar in 1904 and commenced practice in Munich, North Dakota.
Politics
He served as member of the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1907 to 1911, serving as speaker in 1909. He moved to Williston in 1910 and continued the practice of law. He was the eighth Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota from 1911 to 1913, state's attorney of Williams County from 1913 to 1915, and served as assistant United States district attorney for North Dakota from 1929 to 1932. Burdick also engaged in livestock breeding and farming and was an author.
In 1932, Burdick was elected president of the Farmers' Holiday Association, an association which advocated strikes for farmers, and which took radical direct action against farm foreclosures. Burdick was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to the 73rd Congress in 1932, in which he favored Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected president and the repeal of Prohibition.
Burdick was elected as a Republican to the 74th Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1945). While in Congress he supported many New Deal programs. He also was supportive of Native American issues. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1944, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator for North Dakota. He was an unsuccessful Independent candidate for election in 1944 to the 79th Congress. Burdick was elected to the 81st Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1959). He was the only Republican congressional representative to vote against the Communist Control Act which banned the Communist party. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1958.
Death
On August 19, 1960 Burdick died at age 81 in Washington, D.C. and was interred on his ranch at Williston, North Dakota.