Phillip Burton
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Phillip Burton (June 1, 1926 – April 10, 1983) was an American politician and attorney who served as a
United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
from 1964 until his death in 1983. A
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, he was instrumental in creating the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Burton was one of the first members of Congress to acknowledge the need for
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
research and introduce an AIDS bill. He was the husband of Congresswoman
Sala Burton Sala Burton (née Galante; April 1, 1925 – February 1, 1987) was a Polish-born American politician who served as a United States Representative from California from 1983 until her death from colon cancer in Washington, D. C., in 1987. Early ...
, and brother of
California State Senator The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...
and Congressman John Burton.


Early years and education

Burton was born in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio, the son of Mildred (Leonard) and Thomas Burton, who was a salesman and physician. He attended Washington High School in
Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, and graduated from George Washington High School in the Richmond District of
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, in 1944. He earned a B.A. from the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
in 1947 and an LL.B. from Golden Gate College School of Law in 1952.


Career

Burton worked as a lawyer and was admitted to practice before the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in 1956. He was a member of the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
during both
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. Burton was elected to the
California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...
in November 1956, and served there from 1957 to 1964. In 1959 he represented the United States at the Atlantic Treaty Association Conference in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.


U.S. Congress

Burton, as a Democrat, won a special election in February 1964 to fill the U.S. House of Representatives vacancy caused by the resignation of
John F. Shelley John Francis Shelley (September 3, 1905 – September 1, 1974) was a U.S. politician. He served as the 35th mayor of San Francisco, from 1964 to 1968, the first Democrat elected to the office in 50 years, and the first in an unbroken lin ...
, who was elected mayor of San Francisco. Burton was reelected to the 10 succeeding Congresses (February 18, 1964 – April 10, 1983). In 1965, Burton was one of only 3 members of the House to vote against appropriations that President Lyndon B. Johnson requested for the Vietnam War. Burton was a delegate to the California State Democratic convention from 1968 to 1982. He was also a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
in 1968 and 1972. At the 1968 convention, he was a part of the delegation pledged to
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
, who was assassinated after winning the California Democratic Primary in June. In 1973, Burton allowed a bill to go to the floor without a "closed rule"—a stipulation that there could be no amendments proposed to it—for the first time since the 1920s. The ending of the closed rule created an infusion of federal lobbyists at the Capitol building; the lobbyists targeted members of Congress to add funding for lobbyists' favorite projects into bills. For this reason, David Frum wrote that Burton "created the modern Congress" more than anyone else. After the Democrats gained a strong majority in 1974, he was successful in getting the House to abolish the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
. Burton was supported by
labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s and championed union activists, supporting the activities of the farm workers union and the coal miners union. When President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
appeared before Congress in 1975 to request aid during a refugee crisis in the
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
ese and
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
n capitals, Burton became so upset with Ford's request that he called it "an outrage" and left halfway through the speech. In December 1976, Burton narrowly lost a bid for
House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...
to
Jim Wright James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas's 12th congressional district as a ...
of
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, by a vote of 148 to 147. He was the author of the bill that created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and legislation setting up
wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
across the country. He sponsored a law that substantially enlarged
Redwood National Park The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are a complex of one national park and three state parks, cooperatively managed, located in the United States along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968 ...
in 1987. The Point Reyes National Seashore includes the
Phillip Burton Wilderness The Phillip Burton Wilderness is part of the 111 sq. mile (288 km2) Point Reyes National Seashore located about northeast of San Francisco, California. Total wilderness land is 33,373 acres which includes a roadless "potential wilderness" ...
, named for the congressman in 1985. In the early 1980s, he worked with gay liaison
Bill Kraus William James Kraus (June 26, 1947 – January 11, 1986) was an American gay-rights and AIDS activist as well as a congressional aide who served as liaison between the San Francisco gay community and its two successive US Representatives i ...
to create legislation and funding for AIDS research in the San Francisco area. He also was instrumental in establishing the position of non-voting representative from
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, the Virgin Islands, and
American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
.


Death and legacy

Burton died on April 10, 1983, in San Francisco at age 56, of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was
cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
, and the ashes were interred in the National Cemetery of the
Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...
. His wife
Sala Burton Sala Burton (née Galante; April 1, 1925 – February 1, 1987) was a Polish-born American politician who served as a United States Representative from California from 1983 until her death from colon cancer in Washington, D. C., in 1987. Early ...
won a special election in June 1983 to serve the remainder of his term. She was elected to full terms in 1984 and 1986. Burton's House was later held by
Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
, who won a special election in 1987, following Sala Burton's death. There is a statue of Burton at the Great Meadow at Fort Mason, in the Golden Gate Recreation Area. San Francisco's federal building is named for Burton.
Phillip & Sala Burton High School Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School is an American secondary school in San Francisco, California. The founding of the school is a result of a consent decree ruling in 1984 between the City of San Francisco and the National Association fo ...
, in San Francisco on the site of the former Woodrow Wilson High School, is named for Burton and his wife.


In popular culture

He was portrayed by Dakin Matthews in HBO's 1993 film ''And the Band Played On''.


See also

*
List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99) There are several lists of United States Congress members who died in office. These include: * List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899) *List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–1949) *List o ...


References


Further reading

*Jacobs, John. ''A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of Phillip Burton''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. *Robinson, Judith. ''You're in Your Mother's Arms: The Life and Legacy of Congressman Phil Burton''. San Francisco, CA: M.J. Robinson, 1994. *Nies, Judith. The Girl I Left Behind: A Personal History of the 1960s. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. (Memoir of a congressional staffer working with anti-war Congressmen.)


External links

Retrieved on 2008-07-20 *
Finding Aid to the Phillip Burton Papers, 1945-1986
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Phillip 1926 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American politicians Golden Gate University School of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Politicians from Cincinnati Politicians from Milwaukee Politicians from San Francisco Military personnel from Ohio United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War United States Air Force airmen United States Army soldiers University of Southern California alumni