Charles_H._Burke

Charles H. Burke

Charles H. Burke

American politician


Charles Henry Burke (April 1, 1861 – April 7, 1944) was a Republican Congressman from South Dakota and Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1920s.

Quick Facts 35th Commissioner of Indian Affairs, President ...

Biography

He was born near Batavia, New York, in 1861, and attended the public school there. He moved to the Dakota Territory in 1882 and settled on a homestead in Beadle County of what is now South Dakota, moving on to Hughes County in 1883.

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He also engaged in the real estate investment business in the area of Pierre, South Dakota. He was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 1895 and 1897. He ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1898, won election, and remained in that position through 1907, losing the nomination for the 1906 election, although he won again in 1908 and remained in the House through 1915, serving as Minority whip from 1913 through 1915. In 1906 he was heavily involved in passing the Burke Act. In 1914, he received the nomination for the United States Senate seat from South Dakota and chose not to run for reelection to the House. He lost that Senate race.

He was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1921 and served in that capacity until his resignation in 1929. He died in 1944, in Washington, D. C.

Legacy

The town of Burke, South Dakota, was named for the congressman.[1]


References

  1. Hellmann, Paul T. (May 13, 2013). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 984. ISBN 978-1135948597. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
More information Party political offices, U.S. House of Representatives ...

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Charles_H._Burke, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.