Frederick Elliott Biermann (March 20, 1884 – July 1, 1968) was an American politician who was a three-term Democratic

U.S. 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 c ...

from

Iowa's 4th congressional district Iowa's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its northwestern part, bordering the states of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, and the Missouri River. The district includes Sioux Ci ...

. Elected as part of the 1932 Roosevelt landslide, he was defeated when running for a fourth term by an opponent from his own small community of

Decorah, Iowa Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest commu ...

Personal background

Born in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Ac ...

in 1884, Biermann moved to Decorah four years later, following his mother's death, to live with an aunt."Biermann in Race for Congressman," Oelwein Daily Register, 1932-03-09, at 2. After graduating from Decorah High School in 1901, he attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

for three years before transferring to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, where he graduated in 1905. He wrote his senior thesis on "Jefferson and Jackson as Leaders of the Democracy" at

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

. He returned to Decorah and taught at Valder's Business College. He homesteaded in Morton County,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

, then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1906 and 1907, before returning to Decorah the following year to become half-owner of the Decorah Journal. He became the sole owner in 1911. Starting in 1913, he also served as Decorah's postmaster. His service as editor and postmaster was interrupted when he volunteered for service in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and then as a first lieutenant in the 88th Infantry Division. He served from April 1917 until June 1919, including ten months overseas. After the war, he continued to serve as postmaster (until 1923) and editor and publisher of the Journal. In the 1920s his editorials and speeches were often repeated and critiqued on the editorial pages of other area newspapers, such as the Mason City Globe-Gazette and the Oelwein Daily Register. When he sold the Journal in 1931, he explained that burns he had received nine years earlier in an X-ray accident had crippled him.Editorial comment, "Ill Health the Cause,' Oelwein Daily Register, 1931-11-20, at 2.

Political service

During the 1920s, Biermann was actively involved in the Democratic Party, serving on the Central Committee of the Iowa Democratic Party for eight years, and as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1928. In March 1932 Biermann announced his candidacy for the U.S. House seat in

, then held by the longest-serving member of Congress, sixteen-term Republican Gilbert N. Haugen."Biermann Leads Haugen Thruout Fourth District," Waterloo Daily Courier, 1932-11-09 at 2. As part of the Roosevelt landslide, Biermann won by over 20,000 votes. Biermann won the next two elections, but by increasingly narrow margins. His adversary in 1936 was Henry O. Talle, a professor of economics at Luther College in Decorah. While Biermann defeated Talle that year, two years later (as part of a Republican sweep of all but two U.S. House seats) Talle defeated Biermann by over 4,000 votes. Biermann's Congressional service, which began March 4, 1933, ended on January 3, 1939. As a congressman, Biermann served as delegate to the Interparliamentary Union Conference at Paris in 1937.

After Congress

Biermann was appointed

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a Government agency, bureau within the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Depa ...

for northern Iowa in October 1940, in which capacity he served until 1953. He was also a delegate to Democratic National Conventions in 1940 and 1956. He died in

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census ...

, on July 1, 1968. He was interred in Phelps Cemetery, in Decorah.

External links

* Th
Frederick Elliott Biermann Papers
are housed at the University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biermann, Frederick Elliott 1884 births 1968 deaths University of Minnesota alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Army officers United States Marshals Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa 20th-century American politicians Columbia College (New York) alumni Editors of Iowa newspapers 20th-century American newspaper editors People from Decorah, Iowa Iowa postmasters Military personnel from Iowa