Bernard J. Gehrmann

Bernard J. Gehrmann (1939)

Bernard John Gehrmann (born February 13, 1880 near Königsberg , East Prussia , †  July 12, 1958 in Mellen , Wisconsin ) was an American politician of German origin. Between 1935 and 1943 he represented the state of Wisconsin in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Bernard Gehrmann attended public schools in his East Prussian homeland. In 1893 he emigrated with his parents to the United States, where the family settled in Chicago . Gehrmann initially worked there in a packaging company. Then he did an apprenticeship in printing at a German-language newspaper. He also improved his education by attending evening schools. In 1896, Gehrmann moved to Wisconsin, where he settled on a farm near Neillsville . There he worked in agriculture in the following years. In 1915 he moved to another farm near Mellen. There he also began a political career.

Between 1916 and 1934 Gehrmann was a member of the school committee of the city of Mellen. From 1916 to 1921 he was also employed as a Town Assessor in his new hometown. Between 1921 and 1932 he was chairman of the city council. Between 1920 and 1933 he also ran several schools for the training of farmers on behalf of the University of Wisconsin . Politically, Gehrmann was a member of the Republican Party at the time . From 1927 to 1933 he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly . In 1932 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where US President Herbert Hoover was nominated for re-election. In 1933 and 1934, Gehrmann was a member of the Wisconsin Senate . During this time he moved to the Wisconsin Progressive Party .

In the 1934 congressional elections , Gehrmann was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the tenth constituency of Wisconsin , where he succeeded Hubert H. Peavey on January 3, 1935 . After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1943 . There, further New Deal laws of the federal government were first passed. Since 1941, the work of the Congress was also shaped by the events of World War II .

In the 1942 elections, Gehrmann was defeated by Republican Alvin O'Konski , who then represented the tenth district of Wisconsin in Congress until its dissolution in 1973. Between 1943 and 1945 Gehrmann worked for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. Between 1946 and 1952 he was elected to the State Assembly four times . From 1954 to 1957 he was also a member of the State Senate. Bernard Gehrmann died on July 12, 1958 in Mellen and was buried there.

Web links

• Bernard J. Gehrmann in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Bernard J. Gehrmann in the database of Find a Grave (English)