 |
History and Government—Congressional Biographies—North DakotaLANGER, William
(1886—1959)
Senate Years of Service:
1941-1959
Party:
Republican
LANGER, William, a Senator from North Dakota; born on a farm in Everest Township, near Casselton, Cass County, N.Dak., September 30, 1886; attended the rural schools; graduated from the law department of the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks in 1906 and from Columbia University, New York City in 1910; admitted to the bar in 1911 and began practice in Mandan, N.Dak.; State’s attorney of Morton County, N.Dak., 1914-1916; moved to Bismarck, N.Dak., in 1916 and continued the practice of law; attorney general of North Dakota 1916-1920; legal adviser for Council of Defense during the First World War; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1920; Governor of North Dakota January 1933 to July 1934, when he was removed by the State supreme court; again Governor 1937-1939; unsuccessful candidate for nomination for United States Senator in 1938; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1940; though there was an attempt to block his seating, Langer took his seat in the Senate in 1941; reelected in 1946, 1952, and again in 1958, and served from January 3, 1941, until his death in Washington, D.C., November 8, 1959; chairman, Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service (Eightieth Congress), Committee on the Judiciary (Eighty-third Congress); interment in St. Leo’s Catholic Cemetery, Casselton, N.Dak.
Bibliography
American National Biography
; Dictionary of American Biography
; Barber, Charles M. “A Diamond in the Rough: William Langer Reexamined.” North Dakota History
64 (Fall 1998): 2-18; Smith, Glenn H. Langer of North Dakota: A Study in Isolationism, 1940-1959.
New York: Garland Press, 1979.
Anhalt, Walter C., and Glenn H. Smith. “He Saved the Farm? Governor Langer and the Mortgage Moratoria.” North Dakota Quarterly
44 (Autumn 1976): 5-17.
Barber, Charles M. “A Diamond in the Rough: William Langer Reexamined.” North Dakota History
64 (Fall 1998: 2-18.
Ertresvaag, James. “The Persuasive Technique of William Langer.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1960.
Geelan, Agnes. The Dakota Maverick: The Political Life of William Langer, also Known as “Wild Bill” Langer
. Fargo: Geelan, 1975.
Hjalmervik, Gary L. “William Langer’s First Administration, 1932-1934.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1966.
Holzworth, John M. The Fighting Governor: The Story of William Langer and the State of North Dakota
. Chicago: Pointer Press, 1938.
Horne, Robert M. “The Controversy over the Seating of William Langer, 1940-1942.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1964.
Johnson, Gordon W. “William Langer’s Resurgence to Political Power in 1932.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1970.
Kramer, Peter. “William Langer’s Victory in the 1940 Senatorial Election.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1967.
Langer, William. The Nonpartisan League: Its Birth, Activities and Leaders
. Mandan, ND: Morton County Farmers Press, 1920.
Larsen, Lawrence H. “United States v. Langer, et al: The U.S. District Attorney’s Files.” North Dakota History
51 (Spring 1984): 4-13.
___. “William Langer: A Maverick in the Senate.” Wisconsin Magazine of History
44 (Spring 1961): 189-98.
Olson, Ronald. “William Langer’s Rise to Political Prominence in North Dakota.” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1967.
Rylance, Daniel. “William Langer and the Themes of North Dakota History.” South Dakota History
3 (Winter 1972): 41-62.
Smith, Glenn H. Langer of North Dakota: A Study in Isolationism, 1940-1959
. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979.
___. “Senator William Langer and Military Conscription, 1945-1959.” North Dakota Quarterly
37 (Autumn 1969): 19-24.
Tweton, D. Jerome. “The Politics of Chaos: North Dakota in the 1930s.” Journal of the West
41 (2002): 30-35.
U.S. Congress. Memorial Services Held in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of William Langer, Late a Senator from North Dakota
. 86th Cong., 2d sess., 1960. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1960.
Weber, Elaine. “William Langer: The Progressive Attorney General (1917-1920).” Master’s thesis, University of North Dakota, 1967.
Wilkins, Robert. “Senator William Langer and National Priorities: An Agrarian Radical’s View of American Foreign Policy, 1945-1952.” North Dakota Quarterly
42 (Autumn 1974): 42-59.
Wilkins, Wynona H. “Two If By Sea: William Langer’s Private War Against Winston Churchill.” North Dakota History
41 (Spring 1974): 20-29.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
Related Links
|
|
