Usher Lloyd Burdick
(February 21, 1879 - August 19, 1960) was a member of the United States House of
Representatives from North Dakota
. He was the father of
Quentin N. Burdick, father-in-law of both
Jocelyn Burdick and
Robert W. Levering.
Early life and career
Born in
Owatonna,
Minnesota
, Burdick moved with his parents to Dakota Territory in 1882.
He
graduated from the North Dakota State Normal
School at Mayville
in 1900.
He was
deputy superintendent of schools of Benson
County
from 1900 to 1902. He graduated from the
law department of the University of Minnesota
in 1904, teaching school in a business college
while attending the university. He was admitted to the
North Dakota State Bar in
1904 and commenced practice in Munich, North Dakota
.
Politics
He served as member of the
North Dakota House of
Representatives 1907 to 1911, serving as speaker in 1909.
He moved
to Williston
in 1910 and continued the practice of law.
He was
Lieutenant Governor
of North Dakota from 1911 to 1913, state's attorney of Williams
County
from 1913 to 1915, and served as assistant United
States district attorney for North Dakota from 1929 to 1932.
Burdick also engaged in livestock breeding and farming and was an
author.
Burdick was an unsuccessful candidate for the
Republican nomination to
the
73rd Congress in
1932, but Burdick was elected as a Republican to the
74th Congress and to the four
succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1935 January 3, 1945). He was not
a candidate for renomination in 1944, but was an unsuccessful
candidate for the Republican nomination for
United States Senator for North
Dakota. He was an unsuccessful Independent candidate for election
in 1944 to the
79th
Congress. Burdick was elected to the
81st Congress and to the four
succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1949 January 3, 1959). He was not
a candidate for renomination in 1958.
Death
Burdick
died in Washington,
D.C.
, August 19, 1960 and was interred on his ranch at
Williston, North
Dakota
.