Peter NORBECK, Congress, SD (1870-1936)

NORBECK, Peter, a Senator from South Dakota; born near Vermillion, Clay County, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota), August 27, 1870; attended the public schools and the University of South Dakota at Vermillion; moved to Redfield, Spink County, S.Dak., in 1900; engaged in agricultural pursuits and in 1895 also engaged as a contractor and driller of deep water, oil, and gas wells; member, State senate 1909-1915; lieutenant governor 1915-1916; Governor of South Dakota 1917-1921; was instrumental in the establishment of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1920; reelected in 1926 and 1932 and served from March 4, 1921, until his death; chairman, Committee on Pensions (Sixty-ninth Congress), Committee on Banking and Currency (Seventieth through Seventy-second Congresses); died in Redfield, S.Dak., December 20, 1936; interment in Bloomington Church Cemetery, near Platte, S.Dak.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Fite, Gilbert. Peter Norbeck: Prairie Statesman. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1948; Norbeck, Lydia. “Recollections of the Years.” Edited by Nancy Tystad Koupal. South Dakota Historical Collections 39 (1978): 1-147.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present