26 Facts About Quentin Burdick

Quentin Northrup Burdick was an American lawyer and politician.

Quentin Burdick was born in Munich, North Dakota, as the oldest of three children of Usher Lloyd Burdick and Emma Cecelia Robertson.

Quentin Burdick's father was a Republican politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota and a US Representative.

Quentin Burdick's mother was the daughter of the first white settler in the area of North Dakota that lies west of Park River.

Quentin Burdick was the brother of Eugene Allan Burdick, who was judge of the Fifth Judicial District of North Dakota from 1953 to 1978.

Quentin Burdick's sister Rosemary was married to Robert W Levering, who was a US Representative from Ohio.

In 1910, Burdick moved with his family to Williston, where his father engaged in farming and practiced law.

Quentin Burdick attended local public schools, and graduated in 1926 from Williston High School, where he was class president and captain of the football team.

Quentin Burdick had his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931.

Quentin Burdick suffered a knee injury in football that disqualified him from military service in World War II.

Quentin Burdick joined his father's law firm in Fargo, where he advised farmers who were threatened with foreclosure during the years of the Great Depression.

Quentin Burdick, who believed the NPL was dividing the state's progressive vote, began to advocate aligning the NPL with the Democratic Party.

Quentin Burdick subsequently ran for Governor of North Dakota in 1946 as a Democrat, but was again unsuccessful.

Quentin Burdick was a delegate for former Vice President Henry A Wallace, who ran as a candidate of the Progressive Party, in the 1948 presidential election.

That same year, Quentin Burdick suffered his sixth and final electoral defeat when he ran against Republican incumbent Milton Young for the US Senate.

Quentin Burdick was the first Democrat-NPLer to be elected to the House of Representatives from North Dakota.

Quentin Burdick received high ratings from organized labor and the Americans for Democratic Action.

An opponent of the Eisenhower administration's farm policies, in his maiden speech on the House floor, Quentin Burdick called for the resignation of US Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson.

Quentin Burdick called for high price supports and strict production controls on grains with high surpluses.

Quentin Burdick narrowly defeated Davis by a margin of 1,118 votes.

Quentin Burdick secured a full six-year term in the heavily Democratic year of 1964, having defeated Republican Thomas Kleppe.

Quentin Burdick easily defeated Kleppe in a rematch in 1970, another national Democratic year.

Quentin Burdick continued to be reelected by wide margins in 1976,1982, and 1988.

In 1987, Quentin Burdick became the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Quentin Burdick earned the nickname the "King of Pork" for focusing nearly all of his legislative efforts on bringing federal funds to North Dakota, which was rural, poor, and less developed than many other states.

On September 8,1992, at age 84, Quentin Burdick died from heart failure, while at St Luke's Hospital in Fargo.