Bertrand Wesley "Bud" Gearhart (May 31, 1890 – October 11, 1955) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Gearhart, a Republican, served seven terms as the

United States representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for

California's 9th congressional district California's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. Josh Harder, a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, has represented the district since January 2023. Prior to redistricting by the Cali ...

from 1935 to 1949.

Background

Gearhart was born the son of John Wesley Gearhart and Mary Elizabeth Johnson Gearhart in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

on May 31, 1890. After attending public school in Fresno, he went on to Boone's University School in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and graduated from there in 1910. He then went to

University of Southern California Law School The University of Southern California Gould School of Law located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 18 ...

to obtain his

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree, which he completed in 1914. While he was there, Gearhart was a member of

Phi Delta Phi Phi Delta Phi (), commonly known as Phid or PDP, is an international legal honor society and the oldest legal organization in continuous existence in the United States. Founded in 1869 at the University of Michigan as a professional fraternity, ...

and

Zeta Psi Zeta Psi () is an international collegiate fraternity. It was founded in 1847 at New York University. The fraternity has over 100 chapters, with roughly 50,000 members. Zeta Psi was a founding member of the North American Interfraternity Confer ...

fraternities.

Career

Gearhart was admitted to the California state bar the previous year, and had commenced his

law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professio ...

in Fresno. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served overseas as a second lieutenant in the 609th Aero Squadron from 1917 to 1919. Gearhart was one of the founders of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

, an organization of war veterans, in 1919. After the war, he first served as the assistant district attorney, and later the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populo ...

until 1923. In 1932, he served as a member of the board of directors of the California Veterans' Home.

Congress

A year later, Gearhart ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

seat in

for the

74th United States Congress The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 193 ...

. Democratic incumbent

Denver S. Church Denver Samuel Church (December 11, 1862 – February 21, 1952) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from California from 1913 to 1919, then a fourth term from 1933 to 1935. Biography Born in Fol ...

was not a candidate for renomination in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, and so Gearhart ran unopposed in the election. He captured all 77,650 votes cast in the election. Gearhart ran unopposed and captured nearly 100% of the vote in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

. In Congress, he was known as being a staunch Republican

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, and as

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

said, Gearhart was "one of the worst obstructionists in Congress". Gearhart was one of the few strong supporters of the Merchant Seamen's Bill of Rights. He faced his first Democratic challenger in the 1946 United States House elections when he was put up against Democrat Hubert Phillips. Gearhart defeated Phillips in the election, capturing 53.7% of the votes cast, in comparison to Phillips' 46.3%. In a personal jab at Gearhart,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Truman said, "You have got a terrible Congressman here. He has done everything he possibly could do to cut the throats of the farmer and the laboring man." Months later, Gearhart was beaten in the 1948 House elections by a political newcomer, 47-year-old Democratic cotton rancher

Cecil F. White Cecil Fielding White (December 12, 1900 – March 29, 1992) was an American farmer and politician. As a Democrat, White served as the U.S. representative for California's 9th congressional district for one term, from 1949 to 1951. White was a cot ...

, with the seven-term representative obtaining only 46.9% of the vote while White received 51.3%.Moore (1994), pg. 1209

Later career

After losing the election, Gearhart went back to Fresno to resume his law practice until his death.

Electoral results

Personal life and death

Bertrand W. Gearhart died age 65 on October 11, 1955, in a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

hospital. He was then interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Fresno.

References

External links

The Political Graveyard profile for Bertrand W. Gearhart
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gearhart, Betrand W. USC Gould School of Law alumni 1890 births 1955 deaths San Francisco Bay Area politicians Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California 20th-century American lawyers Lawyers from Fresno, California 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives