William LEMKE, Congress, ND (1878-1950)

LEMKE, William, a Representative from North Dakota; born in Albany, Stearns County, Minn., August 13, 1878; attended the public schools; was graduated from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks in 1902 and Yale University in 1905; studied law at the University of North Dakota and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; was admitted to the bar in 1905 and commenced practice at Fargo, N.Dak.; member of the national executive committee of the National Nonpartisan League 1917-1921; chairman of the Republican State committee 1916-1920; attorney general of North Dakota in 1921 and 1922; Union Party candidate for President in 1936; elected as a Nonpartisan on the Republican ticket to the Seventy-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1941); renominated as a Republican in 1940; later withdrew and was an unsuccessful Independent candidate for election to the United States Senate; resumed the practice of law; elected as a Republican to the Seventy-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1943, until his death in Fargo, N.Dak., May 30, 1950; interment in Riverside Cemetery.

Bibliography

Blackorby, Edward C. Prairie Rebel; The Public Life of William Lemke. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.

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