FRENCH, Burton Lee

FRENCH, Burton Lee
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
1875–1954

Concise Biography

FRENCH, Burton Lee, a Representative from Idaho; born near Delphi, Carroll County, Ind., August 1, 1875; moved with his parents to Kearney, Nebr., in 1880, and thence to Idaho in 1882; attended the public schools; was graduated from the University of Idaho at Moscow in 1901; fellow in the University of Chicago 1901-1903; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Moscow, Idaho; member of the State house of representatives 1898-1902; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, and Sixtieth Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1909); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1908 to the Sixty-first Congress; elected to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1915); was not a candidate for renomination in 1914, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator; elected to the Sixty-fifth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1917-March 3, 1933); chairman, Committee on Memorials (Seventieth and Seventy-first Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1932 to the Seventy-third Congress and for election in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress; delegate to the Interparliamentary Union Conventions, at London in 1930, and at Bucharest in 1931; professor of government at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, from 1935 until his retirement in 1947; appointed by President Truman in 1947 a member of the Federal Loyalty Review Board and served until 1953; died in Hamilton, Ohio, September 12, 1954; interment in Moscow Cemetery, Moscow, Idaho.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

[ Top ]

External Research Collections

Miami University Library

Oxford, OH
Papers: 1903-1953. 51 feet. Correspondence, notes for speeches, lecture notes, and papers related to his membership on U.S. Loyalty Review Board.

University of Idaho Library

Moscow, ID
Papers: ca. 1890-1954, 2 cubic feet. The papers of Burton L. French contain personal and family correspondence, genealogical material, diaries, speeches, newspaper clippings, and photographs.
Papers: In the John Williams Daniels Papers, 1886-1908, 17 items. Correspondents include Burton L. French.
Papers: In the Lloyd A. Fenn Papers, 1924-1955, 50 feet. Correspondents include Burton L. French.
[ Top ]