11 Facts About Jacob Thorkelson

Jacob Thorkelson was a Norwegian-born American politician who served as the representative from Montana's 1st congressional district from January 3,1939 to January 3,1941.

Jacob Thorkelson immigrated to the United States in 1892; he studied nautical navigation, and later worked as navigator and sailing master on ocean-going ships.

Jacob Thorkelson graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1911, and served as a member of the faculty from 1911 until 1913.

Jacob Thorkelson practiced medicine while residing successively in Dillon, Warm Springs, and Butte.

Jacob Thorkelson served with the Virginia Naval Reserve, a militia organization, from 1897 to 1899.

Jacob Thorkelson was in the United States Navy Reserve from 1936 until 1939, and attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

Jacob Thorkelson was labeled as "rabidly pro-fascist and antisemitic" and "Jew-baiting, fascist-minded" by contemporary journalists for his use of the Congressional Record to reprint anti-British and anti-Jewish propaganda and his support for retired General George Van Horn Moseley.

Jacob Thorkelson was opposed to the United States accepting more Jewish refugees.

Jacob Thorkelson inserted into the Congressional Record quotations from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, from World Hoax by Ernest Fredrick Elmhurst, from blackshirt Sir Oswald Mosley's Action, from Los Angeles based Nazi-leaning publication Christian Free Press; and defended himself by saying:.

Jacob Thorkelson sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Montana in 1944, challenging incumbent Governor Sam C Ford in the primary, but lost to Ford by a landslide.

Jacob Thorkelson died from heart ailments in Butte on November 20,1945, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Butte.