William Lemke

William Lemke

William Frederick Lemke (born August 13, 1878 in Albany , Stearns County , Minnesota , †  May 30, 1950 in Fargo , North Dakota ) was an American politician . He represented the state of North Dakota in the US House of Representatives and was the top candidate for the short-lived Union Party in the 1936 presidential election .

Life

William Lemke was the son of a farmer couple. He grew up in Towner County , North Dakota, and spent much of his time working on his family's farm. He only attended public school during the summer months. However, his parents' savings were enough to enable him to study at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks , where he excelled and graduated in 1902. He then moved to the Law School of Georgetown University , before he graduated in Yale made. He returned to North Dakota in 1905, where he practiced as a lawyer in Fargo.

From 1921 to 1922, Lemke served as the Attorney General of North Dakota. In 1932 he was elected to the US House of Representatives for the first time, running as a Republican candidate, but was still a member of the Nonpartisan League at that time . As a member of this political association, he remained in Congress until January 3, 1941 .

During this time, William Lemke a reputation as a progressive politician who represented the interests of farmer-families and acquired New Deal of President Roosevelt supported. However, Lemke was opposed to Lemke in 1934 when he brought down a bill brought by Lemke together with another member of parliament. The Frazier- Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act provided for a rescheduling in favor of mortgage-burdened farmers.

This was also one of the reasons why Lemke in 1936 accepted the presidential candidacy against incumbent Roosevelt, which was proposed to him by the Union Party, which was only founded that year ; his running mate for the vice presidency was Thomas C. O'Brien from Massachusetts . Both achieved 892,378 votes, which corresponded to a share of almost two percent. This meant third place behind the again victorious Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Republican Alf Landon .

In 1940 Lemke was again a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives; However, he waived and instead applied unsuccessfully as an independent for a seat in the US Senate . Two years later, by now he had joined the Republicans, he again won the election to the House of Representatives, of which he was a member until his death in May 1950.

Web links

Commons : William Lemke  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• William Lemke in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Lemke in the database of Find a Grave (English)