William Lemke
William Lemke | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Dakota's at-large district | |
In office January 3, 1943 – May 30, 1950 | |
Preceded by | Charles R. Robertson |
Succeeded by | Fred G. Aandahl |
In office March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1941 | |
Preceded by | Olger B. Burtness |
Succeeded by | Charles R. Robertson |
11th Attorney General of North Dakota | |
In office 1921–1921 | |
Governor | Lynn Frazier Ragnvald Nestos |
Preceded by | William Langer |
Succeeded by | Sveinbjorn Johnson |
Personal details | |
Born | William Frederick Lemke August 13, 1878 Progressive (1912) |
Spouse | Isabelle McIntyre |
Children | 3 |
Education | University of North Dakota (BA) Georgetown University Yale University (LLB) |
William Frederick Lemke (August 13, 1878 – May 30, 1950) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Union Party's presidential candidate in the 1936 presidential election.
Life and career
He was born in
During the 1910s, the Nonpartisan League (NPL) was formed and quickly gained significant traction in North Dakota.[2] Lemke was heavily involved and quickly became one of its top leaders.[1] He is considered by many to be the brains of the operation, often being called the "bishop" or "political bishop" of the NPL.[3]
Lemke was elected attorney general of North Dakota in 1920,[1] although this violated the rule set by NPL leader A. C. Townley about its leaders running for office.[3] By this time the NPL was plagued with infighting and controversies and public support was declining.[2][4][5] In 1921, a special recall election, initiated by opponents of the NPL (the Independent Voters Association or IVA) successfully removed all three members of the Industrial Commission, all of which were NPL members: John N. Hagan (Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor), Lynn Frazier (Governor), and Lemke (Attorney General). They were replaced with IVA-supported candidates.[2][4][5][6]
However, Lemke remained popular. In 1922, he received the NPL's nomination for governor, but he was defeated by incumbent
While in Congress, Lemke earned a reputation as a progressive populist and supporter of the New Deal, championing the causes of family farmers and co-sponsoring legislation to protect farmers against foreclosures during the Great Depression.
In 1934, Lemke co-sponsored the Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act, restricting the ability of banks to repossess farms. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act into law on June 28, 1934. The Act was later struck down by the Supreme Court in Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford. Lemke tried to get the Act re-passed by Congress, but was stymied by the Roosevelt administration which privately told Congressmen that they would exercise a Presidential veto against the bill. The Act was eventually re-passed and later held constitutional by the Supreme Court. Lemke was a political friend and ally of Louisiana populist Huey Long prior to his assassination in 1935.
In June 1936, Lemke accepted the nomination of the
In 1940, having already received the Republican nomination for a fifth House term, he withdrew from that race to launch an unsuccessful run as an independent for the U.S. Senate. He ran again for the House in 1942 as a Republican and served four more terms, until his death in 1950.
From 1943 to 1948, Lemke was the champion for establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park (now Theodore Roosevelt National Park). The National Park Service did not support this proposal, and oddly enough Lemke was no admirer of Theodore Roosevelt, but he seems to have pursued the establishment of a park in anticipation of the economic benefits it might bring to the region. His efforts were ultimately successful, with the park established by act of Congress in June, 1948.[10]
Lemke died of a heart attack in Fargo, North Dakota and is buried in Riverside Cemetery.[11][12] Former Atlanta Braves baseball player Mark Lemke is Lemke's second cousin twice removed.
Bibliography
- Edward C. Blackorby. "William Lemke: Agrarian Radical and Union Party Presidential Candidate," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 49, No. 1. (Jun., 1962), pp. 67–84. in JSTOR
- William Lemke Papers at The University of North Dakota University of North Dakota.
- "Lemke, William" in American National Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 2000.
See also
- List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99)
References
- ^ a b c d Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections. "William Lemke Papers, 1901-2014". apps.library.und.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
- ^ a b c State Historical Society of North Dakota. "Nonpartisan League - Summary of North Dakota History". www.history.nd.gov. Archived from the original on 2023-03-18. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ a b Bank of North Dakota. "William Lemke". The BND Story. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
- ^ a b "Section 2: End of the NPL | 8th Grade North Dakota Studies". North Dakota Studies Grade 4 Curriculum. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
- ^ a b "Section 3: Recall | 8th Grade North Dakota Studies". North Dakota Studies Grade 4 Curriculum. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
- ^ North Dakota (1921). "Recall Election October 28, 1921: Votes for Governor, Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor" (PDF). North Dakota Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-11-12. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- OL 6193934M.
- ISBN 0405077114
- ISBN 0786422173
- ^ Harmon, David (1986). "The Creation of the Park". At the Open Margin: The NPS's Administration of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association.
- New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
Representative William Lemke, Republican of North Dakota, died on the way to a hospital tonight soon after he collapsed in the Power Hotel in downtown Fargo. He was 71 years old.
- ^ "Lemke, House Veteran, Dies of Heart Attack" (PDF). Binghamton Press. May 31, 1950.
Notes
- ^ These six were Bottineau County, Burke County, Divide County, Mountrail County, Towner County and Williams County.
- Civil Rights Movement meant unpledged and "Dixiecrat" nominees frequently outpolled one or both major-party nominees in the Deep South and occasionally elsewhere in antebellum slave states.
External links
- United States Congress. "William Lemke (id: L000238)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Dakota Datebook -- August 13, 2004 from North Dakota Public Radio (via PrairiePublic.org) -- article on Lemke
- "Memorial services held in the House of Representatives of the United States, together with remarks presented in eulogy of William Lemke, late a representative from North Dakota frontispiece 1951"