Burton K. Wheeler
Encyclopedia
Burton Kendall Wheeler was an American
politician of the Democratic Party
and a United States Senator
from 1923 until 1947.
, the son of Mary Elizabeth Rice (née Tyler) and Asa Leonard Wheeler. He grew up in Massachusetts, attending the public schools and working as a stenographer in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
in 1905. He initially headed for Seattle, Washington, but after getting off the train in Butte, Montana
and losing his belongings in a poker
game, he settled there and began practicing law.
, most famously refusing to hand down a single sedition
indictment during World War I
, especially significant as Montana was a large stronghold of the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW). In 1920 he ran for Governor of Montana as a candidate of the Non-Partisan League
. The ticket included a multi-racial set of candidates, unusual for 1920, including an African-American and a Blackfoot Indian
. Wheeler was defeated by Republican
former U.S. Senator Joseph M. Dixon
, but ran for U.S. Senator two years later.
Wheeler won election to the United States Senate
from Montana in 1922 with 55% of the vote over Republican Congressman Carl W. Riddick
and served four terms, being reelected in the 1928, 1934 and 1940 elections. He broke with the Democratic Party in 1924 to run for Vice President of the United States
on the Progressive Party ticket led by Robert La Follette, Sr. He returned to the Democratic Party after the election, which was not successful for the Progressives or the Democrats. Wheeler supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's election, and many of his New Deal
policies, but broke with him over his opposition to the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, and also opposed much of Roosevelt's foreign policy before World War II
.
In 1930, Wheeler gained national attention when he successfully campaigned for the reelection to the US Senate of his friend and Democratic colleague Thomas Gore
, the colorful "Blind Cowboy" of Oklahoma
. Wheeler is often credited for steering public opinion in Gore's favor with a series of speeches in which, with characteristic hyperbole, he repeatedly implied that he would personally play the part of the Blind Cowboy's horse on his ride to Washington.
In the 1940 presidential election, there was a large movement to "Draft Wheeler" into the presidential race, possibly as a third party
candidate, led primarily by John L. Lewis
.
. As chair of the Senate Interstate Commerce Commission, Wheeler announced in August 1941 he would investigate “interventionists” in the motion picture industry. Jewish studio heads were of particular concern to him. Wheeler questioned why so many foreign-born were allowed to shape American opinion.
After the start of World War II
in Europe, he opposed any aid to Britain
or the countries involved in the war. On 17 October 1941, Wheeler said: "I can't conceive of Japan
being crazy enough to want to go to war with us." One month later, he added: "If we go to war with Japan, the only reason will be to help England." The United States Army secret Victory Plan was leaked on 4 December 1941 to Wheeler, who passed the Plan on to three newspapers.
Wheeler did not, however, vote against America's participation in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
, saying the only thing left to do was "to lick hell out of them".
, who attacked Wheeler as insufficiently liberal, in the Democratic primary. Erickson was then defeated by Republican state Representative Zales Ecton
. Wheeler did not return to politics and returned to his law practice. He died in Washington, D.C.
and is interred there at Rock Creek Cemetery
.
(2004) by Philip Roth
, Wheeler serves as Vice President
in the administration of President
Charles Lindbergh
. Roth depicted Wheeler as a political opportunist who imposes martial law
in Lindbergh's absence, whereas the real Wheeler had been a leading opponent of the martial law imposed in Montana during World War I. Bill Kauffman
described Wheeler as being an "anti-draft
, antiwar, anti-big business defender of civil liberties
".
The Plot Against America: Senator Wheeler and the Forces Behind Him is also the name of a pamphlet by David George Kin, published against Wheeler during the 1946 campaign by supporters of the Communist Party USA
, which accused both Wheeler and Harry S. Truman
of a being part of a fascist conspiracy.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and a United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from 1923 until 1947.
Early life
Wheeler was born in Hudson, MassachusettsHudson, Massachusetts
Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,063 at the 2010 census. The town is located in central Massachusetts, about a 40-minute drive, or about , west of Boston, and about a 20-minute drive, or about , northeast of Worcester.Before its...
, the son of Mary Elizabeth Rice (née Tyler) and Asa Leonard Wheeler. He grew up in Massachusetts, attending the public schools and working as a stenographer in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
in 1905. He initially headed for Seattle, Washington, but after getting off the train in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
and losing his belongings in a poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
game, he settled there and began practicing law.
Political career
He became a Montana state legislator in 1910 where he gained a reputation as a champion of labor against the Anaconda Copper Mining Company which dominated the state. He then served as a United States AttorneyUnited States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
, most famously refusing to hand down a single sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
indictment during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, especially significant as Montana was a large stronghold of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW). In 1920 he ran for Governor of Montana as a candidate of the Non-Partisan League
Non-Partisan League
The Nonpartisan League was a political organization founded in 1915 in the United States by former Socialist Party organizer A. C. Townley. The Nonpartisan League advocated state control of mills, grain elevators, banks and other farm-related industries in order to reduce the power of corporate...
. The ticket included a multi-racial set of candidates, unusual for 1920, including an African-American and a Blackfoot Indian
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
. Wheeler was defeated by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
former U.S. Senator Joseph M. Dixon
Joseph M. Dixon
Joseph Moore Dixon was a Republican politician from Montana. He served as a Representative, Senator, and the seventh Governor of Montana. A businessman and a modernizer of Quaker heritage, Dixon was a leader of the Progressive Movement in Montana and nationally...
, but ran for U.S. Senator two years later.
Wheeler won election to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Montana in 1922 with 55% of the vote over Republican Congressman Carl W. Riddick
Carl W. Riddick
Carl Wood Riddick was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Second District of Montana, from March 1919 to March 1923 in the 66th and 67th Congresses, replacing Jeannette Rankin. In 1922 he ran unsuccessfully for election to the U.S. Senate.His son, Merrill K...
and served four terms, being reelected in the 1928, 1934 and 1940 elections. He broke with the Democratic Party in 1924 to run for Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
on the Progressive Party ticket led by Robert La Follette, Sr. He returned to the Democratic Party after the election, which was not successful for the Progressives or the Democrats. Wheeler supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's election, and many of his New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
policies, but broke with him over his opposition to the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, and also opposed much of Roosevelt's foreign policy before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1930, Wheeler gained national attention when he successfully campaigned for the reelection to the US Senate of his friend and Democratic colleague Thomas Gore
Thomas Gore
Thomas Gore was a Democratic politician. He was blind and served as a United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1907 until 1921 and from 1931 until 1937. He was the maternal grandfather of author Gore Vidal.-Life and career:...
, the colorful "Blind Cowboy" of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. Wheeler is often credited for steering public opinion in Gore's favor with a series of speeches in which, with characteristic hyperbole, he repeatedly implied that he would personally play the part of the Blind Cowboy's horse on his ride to Washington.
In the 1940 presidential election, there was a large movement to "Draft Wheeler" into the presidential race, possibly as a third party
Third party (politics)
In a two-party system of politics, the term third party is sometimes applied to a party other than the two dominant ones. While technically the term is limited to the third largest party or third oldest party, it is common, though innumerate, shorthand for any smaller party.For instance, in the...
candidate, led primarily by John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
.
During World War II
As tensions mounted in Europe, he became a supporter of the anti-war America First CommitteeAmerica First Committee
The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in...
. As chair of the Senate Interstate Commerce Commission, Wheeler announced in August 1941 he would investigate “interventionists” in the motion picture industry. Jewish studio heads were of particular concern to him. Wheeler questioned why so many foreign-born were allowed to shape American opinion.
After the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe, he opposed any aid to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
or the countries involved in the war. On 17 October 1941, Wheeler said: "I can't conceive of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
being crazy enough to want to go to war with us." One month later, he added: "If we go to war with Japan, the only reason will be to help England." The United States Army secret Victory Plan was leaked on 4 December 1941 to Wheeler, who passed the Plan on to three newspapers.
Wheeler did not, however, vote against America's participation in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, saying the only thing left to do was "to lick hell out of them".
Later life
Wheeler sought renomination in 1946 but was defeated by Leif EricksonLeif Erickson (politician)
Leif Erickson was a politician and jurist in the State of Montana.-Biography:Erickson was born on July 29, 1906 to Oluf and Dora B. Erickson in Cashton, Wisconsin. On December 29, 1932 he married Huberta Burton Brown. He died on December 22, 1998 in Missoula, Montana...
, who attacked Wheeler as insufficiently liberal, in the Democratic primary. Erickson was then defeated by Republican state Representative Zales Ecton
Zales Ecton
Zales Nelson Ecton was a rare Republican United States senator from Montana, having served from 1947 to 1953.Ecton was born in Weldon, Decatur County, Iowa. He moved with his family to Gallatin County, Montana, when he was nine years old...
. Wheeler did not return to politics and returned to his law practice. He died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and is interred there at Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery — also Rock Creek Church Yard and Cemetery — is an cemetery with a natural rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE in Washington, D.C.'s Michigan Park neighborhood, near Washington's Petworth neighborhood...
.
In Popular Culture
In the alternate history novel The Plot Against AmericaThe Plot Against America
The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternate history in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh.-Plot introduction:...
(2004) by Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, Wheeler serves as Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
in the administration of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
. Roth depicted Wheeler as a political opportunist who imposes martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
in Lindbergh's absence, whereas the real Wheeler had been a leading opponent of the martial law imposed in Montana during World War I. Bill Kauffman
Bill Kauffman
Bill Kauffman is an American political writer generally aligned with the paleoconservative movement. He was born in Batavia, New York, and currently resides in Elba, New York, with his wife and daughter....
described Wheeler as being an "anti-draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, antiwar, anti-big business defender of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
".
The Plot Against America: Senator Wheeler and the Forces Behind Him is also the name of a pamphlet by David George Kin, published against Wheeler during the 1946 campaign by supporters of the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, which accused both Wheeler and Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
of a being part of a fascist conspiracy.