Berkeley L. Bunker

Berkeley L. Bunker

Berkeley Lloyd Bunker (* 12. August 1906 in St. Thomas , Clark County , Nevada , †  21st January 1999 in Las Vegas , Nevada) was an American politician of the Democratic Party , of the State of Nevada in both houses of Congress represented .

Berkeley Bunker was born in the town of St. Thomas, which later had to give way to the Lake Mead Reservoir . He attended the public schools in his home country and graduated from Clark County High School in 1926 . As a result, Bunker served as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a missionary role for his denomination. He traveled through the southeastern United States. After returning to Nevada, he married and entered the tire and oil business in Las Vegas.

From 1936 to 1941 Bunker held his first political mandate as a member of the Nevada Assembly , where he was the Speaker of the Chamber of Parliament in 1939 . After the death of US Senator Key Pittman on November 10, 1940, he was appointed as his successor by Governor Edward P. Carville . Bunker served his mandate in Washington, DC from November 27, 1940 to December 6, 1942. He also applied for the nomination for the by-election, but was subject to James Graves Scrugham within his party , who then also decided the actual election for himself. Bunker returned to Nevada and subsequently worked in the life insurance industry.

He returned to Congress on January 3, 1945 after winning the United States House election against Republican Rex Bell , a former film actor. He completed a two-year term during which he introduced, among other things, a bill to constitute Boulder City as a city. At that time, the place was still under the control of the Bureau of Reclamation , a federal agency. Ultimately, the law was not discussed in plenary; Boulder City only received city rights in 1960.

In 1946, Bunker did not run for re-election. Instead, he ran for his former Senate seat and was run as a candidate after his victory in the Democratic Primary against incumbent Edward P. Carville, but he lost the election to Republican George Malone . After that, he concentrated on his business activities and only appeared once politically when he was defeated by Republican Paul Laxalt in the 1962 election as lieutenant governor of Nevada .

Within his denomination, Bunker held the office of bishop in a parish of Las Vegas. He was also involved in the construction of the Las Vegas Nevada Temple . At the time of his death on 21 January 1999 was Berkeley bunker of the oldest living ex-senator and the last to this office even during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt had held.

Web links

• Berkeley L. Bunker in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Berkeley L. bunker in the database of Find a Grave (English)