View source for Quentin Burdick

{{Short description|American politician (1908–1992)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Quentin Burdick (D-ND).jpg
| caption             = Official portrait of Burdick {{circa|1975}}
| jr/sr               = United States Senator
| state               = [[North Dakota]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] ([[North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party|D-NPL]])
| term_start          = August 8, 1960
| term_end            = September 8, 1992
| preceded            = [[Norman Brunsdale]]
| succeeded           = [[Jocelyn Burdick]]
| state2              = [[North Dakota]]
| district2           = [[North Dakota's at-large congressional district|at-large]]
| term_start2         = January 3, 1959
| term_end2           = August 8, 1960
| predecessor2        = [[Usher L. Burdick]]
| successor2          = [[Hjalmar Carl Nygaard|Hjalmar Nygaard]]
| birth_name          = Quentin Northrup Burdick
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1908|6|19}}
| birth_place         = [[Munich, North Dakota]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1992|9|8|1908|6|19}}
| death_place         = [[Fargo, North Dakota]], U.S.
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Marietta Janecky|1933|1958|end=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Jocelyn Burdick|Jocelyn Birch]]|1960}}
}}
| children            = 5
| education           = [[University of Minnesota]]<br/>[[University of Minnesota Law School]]
| father              = [[Usher L. Burdick]]
| relatives           = [[Eugene A. Burdick]] (brother)
}}
'''Quentin Northrup Burdick''' (June 19, 1908 &ndash; September 8, 1992) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the [[North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party|North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party]], he represented [[North Dakota]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] (1959–1960) and the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] (1960–1992). At the time of his death, he was the third longest-serving senator (after [[Strom Thurmond]] and [[Robert Byrd]]) among current members of the Senate.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|date=1992-09-09|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Quentin N. Burdick, 84, Is Dead; U.S. Senator From North Dakota|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/09/us/quentin-n-burdick-84-is-dead-us-senator-from-north-dakota.html|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Quentin Burdick was born in [[Munich, North Dakota|Munich]], [[North Dakota]], as the oldest of three children of [[Usher L. Burdick|Usher Lloyd Burdick]] and Emma Cecelia Robertson.<ref name=papers>{{cite news|work=[[University of North Dakota]]|title=QUENTIN BURDICK PAPERS|url=http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/Burdick/og204p1.html|archive-date=2016-03-04|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025719/http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/Burdick/og204p1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> His father was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician who served as [[Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota]] (1911–1913) and a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] (1935–1959).<ref name=father>{{cite news|work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]|title=BURDICK, Usher Lloyd, (1879 - 1960)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001079}}</ref> His mother was the daughter of the first white settler in the area of North Dakota that lies west of [[Park River, North Dakota|Park River]].<ref name=yearbook>{{cite book|title=Current Biography Yearbook|volume=24|year=1964|publisher=[[H.W. Wilson Company]]|location=New York}}</ref> He was the brother of Eugene Allan Burdick, who was judge of the Fifth Judicial District of North Dakota from 1953 to 1978.<ref name=brother>{{cite news|work=[[University of North Dakota]]|title=EUGENE A. BURDICK PAPERS|url=http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/og1043.html|archive-date=2016-03-04|access-date=2012-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025816/http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/og1043.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> His sister Rosemary was married to [[Robert W. Levering]], who was a U.S. Representative from [[Ohio]] (1959–1961).<ref name=father/>

In 1910, Burdick moved with his family to [[Williston, North Dakota|Williston]], where his father engaged in farming and practiced law.<ref name=yearbook/> As a child, he enjoyed breaking wild ponies on his father's ranch.<ref name=papers/> He attended local public schools, and graduated in 1926 from [[Williston High School (North Dakota)|Williston High School]], where he was class president and captain of the football team.<ref name=papers/>

Burdick had his undergraduate studies at the [[University of Minnesota]], receiving a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1931.<ref name=congress>{{cite news|work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]|title=BURDICK, Quentin Northrup, (1908 - 1992)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001077}}</ref> During college, he played on the football team as a blocking back for [[Bronko Nagurski]], and was president of the [[Sigma Nu]] fraternity.<ref name=yearbook/> He suffered a knee injury in football that disqualified him from military service in [[World War II]].<ref name=nytimes/> In 1932, he received his law degree from the [[University of Minnesota Law School]] and was admitted to the bar.<ref name=congress/>

==Early career==
Burdick joined his father's law firm in [[Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo]], where he advised farmers who were threatened with [[foreclosure]] during the years of the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=nytimes/> He later recalled, "I guess I acquired a social conscience during those bad days, and ever since I've had the desire to work toward bettering the living conditions of the people."<ref name=yearbook/> In 1933, he married Marietta Janecky; the couple had one son and three daughters. She died in 1958.<ref name=papers/>

Like his father, Burdick became active in politics and joined the [[Nonpartisan League]] (NPL), a [[populist]]-progressive group which was allied with the Republican Party.<ref name=yearbook/> As a candidate for the NPL, he unsuccessfully ran for [[North Dakota Attorney General|attorney general]] in 1934 and 1940, [[North Dakota Senate|state senator]] from [[Cass County, North Dakota|Cass County]] in 1936, and [[Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota|lieutenant governor]] in 1942.<ref name=papers/>

Burdick, who believed the NPL was dividing the state's progressive vote, began to advocate aligning the NPL with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref name=papers/> He subsequently ran for [[Governor of North Dakota]] in 1946 as a Democrat, but was again unsuccessful.<ref name=yearbook/> He was a delegate for former [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Henry A. Wallace]], who ran as a candidate of the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]], in the [[1948 United States presidential election|1948 presidential election]].<ref name=papers/>

In 1956, the NPL aligned with the Democratic Party to create the [[North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party]]. That same year, Burdick suffered his sixth and final electoral defeat when he ran against Republican incumbent [[Milton Young]] for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]].<ref name=nytimes/>

==Congressional career==

===U.S. House of Representatives===
In the spring of 1958, Usher Burdick, who worried about being defeated for re-election in the Republican primary, offered to withdraw his candidacy if the NPL agreed to support his son as the Democratic-NPL candidate for his seat in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]].<ref name=yearbook/> Quentin subsequently received the NPL endorsement in April, and was elected to [[North Dakota's at-large congressional district]] the following November.<ref name=congress/> He was the first Democrat-NPLer to be elected to the House of Representatives from North Dakota.<ref name=nytimes/>

During his tenure in the House, Burdick served as a member of the [[United States House Committee on Natural Resources|House Interior Committee]], where he promoted the Garrison Diversion Project to provide water from the [[Missouri River]] to North Dakota.<ref name=papers/> He received high ratings from organized labor and the [[Americans for Democratic Action]].<ref name=nytimes/> An opponent of the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|administration]]'s farm policies, in his [[maiden speech]] on the House floor, Burdick called for the resignation of [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|U.S. Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Ezra Taft Benson]].<ref name=papers/>

===United States Senator===
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Meets with Senator Quentin N. Burdick of North Dakota (02).jpg|thumb|right|Burdick with [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1961]]
After the death of Senator [[William Langer]] in November 1959, Burdick ran in a special election on June 28, 1960, to fill the remaining four and a half years of Langer's term.<ref name=congress/> His Republican opponent was Governor [[John E. Davis (North Dakota politician)|John E. Davis]]. During the campaign, Burdick received strong support from the [[National Farmers Union (United States)|National Farmers Union]]. He called for high price supports and strict production controls on grains with high surpluses.<ref name=yearbook/> His campaign slogan, "Beat Benson with Burdick", referred to Agriculture Secretary Benson, whose policies were unpopular with the state's wheat farmers.<ref name=yearbook/> Burdick narrowly defeated Davis by a margin of 1,118 votes.<ref name=papers/>

Nine days after the election, the widower married [[Jocelyn Burdick|Jocelyn Birch Peterson]]. She had two children from a previous marriage. Together the couple had one son, Gage, who died on May 23, 1978, at the age of 16 after receiving a shock from an electric belt sander at the family home.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1978-05-25 |title=Senator's Son Is Electrocuted |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/25/archives/senators-son-is-electrocuted.html |access-date=2024-03-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On August 8, 1960, Burdick resigned his House seat and was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Senate. He secured a full six-year term in the heavily Democratic year of 1964, having defeated Republican [[Thomas Kleppe]].

Burdick easily defeated Kleppe in a rematch in 1970, another national Democratic year. He continued to be reelected by wide margins in 1976, 1982, and 1988.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

In 1987, Burdick became the [[chairman]] of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works|Senate Environment and Public Works Committee]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

In 1990, he was one of only nine Senators, all Democratic, who voted against confirming [[David Souter]] to be an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 101st Congress - 2nd Session |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1012/vote_101_2_00259.htm |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

Burdick earned the nickname the "King of [[Pork barrel|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.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Saxon|first1=Wolfgang|title=Quentin N. Burdick, 84, Is Dead; U.S. Senator From North Dakota|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/09/us/quentin-n-burdick-84-is-dead-us-senator-from-north-dakota.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A6%22%7D|access-date=2014-10-13|work=New York Times|date=9 September 1992}}</ref>

==Death==
Near the end of his life, Burdick suffered from health problems, including hospitalizations for heart problems, including a mild heart attack.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1992-09-04 |title=Ailing Senator refuses to step down |language=en |pages=8 |work=Sun Journal |agency=Associated Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgggAAAAIBAJ&dq=kent+conrad+burdick&pg=PA5&article_id=1261,840034 |access-date=2023-09-19}}</ref> At the end of his tenure, 76% of North Dakotans believed he should step down from his seat.<ref name=":0" /> On September 8, 1992, at age 84, Burdick died from heart failure, while at St. Luke's Hospital in Fargo.<ref name=nytimes/> After Burdick's death, his widow, [[Jocelyn Burdick]], was appointed by Governor [[George Sinner]] to fill his unexpired term until a special election was held that November. Ironically, [[Kent Conrad]], who was elected to North Dakota's other Senate seat in [[1986 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1986]] but announced he would not run for reelection in 1992, reversed course and won the special election to fill Burdick's unexpired term. [[Byron Dorgan]] won the concurrent election for a six-year term to the seat Conrad vacated.<ref>{{cite news|title=Senator Burdick's Wife Is Interim Successor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/13/us/senator-burdick-s-wife-is-interim-successor.html?mtrref=spiderbites.nytimes.com&gwh=3A1DB907F64C4F21DF48EAF51208BBBB&gwt=pay|work=The New York Times|date=September 13, 1992}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1950–1999)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208110523/http://www.library.und.edu/Collections/Burdick/og204p1.html Quentin Burdick Papers at The University of North Dakota]
{{CongLinks | congbio=B001077}}
* {{C-SPAN|4241}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Oscar W. Hagen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota]]|years=1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Clarence P. Dahl]]}}
{{s-bef|before=William T. DePuy}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of North Dakota]]|years=[[1946 North Dakota gubernatorial election|1946]]}}
{{s-aft|after=Howard I. Henry}}
{{s-bef|before=Harry O'Brien}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[List of United States Senators from North Dakota|U.S. Senator]] from [[North Dakota]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 3]])|years=[[1956 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1956]]}}
{{s-aft|after=William Lanier}}
{{s-bef|before=Raymond Vendsel}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[North Dakota]]<br>([[Classes of United States senators|Class 1]])|years=[[1960 United States Senate special election in North Dakota|1960]], [[1964 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1964]], [[1970 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1970]], [[1976 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1976]], [[1982 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1982]], [[1988 United States Senate election in North Dakota|1988]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Kent Conrad]]}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state=North Dakota
| district=AL
| before=[[Usher L. Burdick]]
| after=[[Hjalmar Carl Nygaard]]
| years=1959–1960}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
| state=North Dakota
| class=1
| before=[[C. Norman Brunsdale]]
| after=[[Jocelyn Burdick]]
| years=1960–1992
| alongside=[[Milton Young]], [[Mark Andrews (politician)|Mark Andrews]], [[Kent Conrad]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title=Chairman of [[United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works|Senate Environment and<br> Public Works Committee]]
|before=[[Robert Stafford]]
|years=1987–1992
|after=[[Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Pat Moynihan]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenND}}
{{SenPublic WorksCommitteeChairmen}}
{{NorthDakotaUSRepresentatives}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdick, Quentin}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Cavalier County, North Dakota]]
[[Category:Burdick family|Quentin]]
[[Category:American Congregationalists]]
[[Category:Protestants from North Dakota]]
[[Category:Nonpartisan League politicians]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Dakota]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from North Dakota]]
[[Category:North Dakota Democrats]]
[[Category:North Dakota lawyers]]
[[Category:Politicians from Williston, North Dakota]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:University of Minnesota Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Williston High School (North Dakota) alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century North Dakota politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]