While skeptical North Dakotans scratch their heads over Governor Douglas Burgum’s race for president, we need to be reminded that he is not the first aspirant for the big chair in Washington.

While a congressman, North Dakota’s William Lemke threw his hat in the ring as the presidential candidate for the Union Party in 1936.

Of course, Doug is not burdened by the likes of Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith, all of whom fragmented the Union message.

Messages of disunion

Townsend had a plan to pay everyone over the age of 60 $200 a month, sort of a prize for getting old. His plan was undone when FDR got the Social Security program.

A Canadian-American Catholic priest, Father Charles Coughlin was anti-Semitic as well as a pro-fascist admirer of Adolph Hitler. He broadcast his venom on radio from the Detroit area and was finally told by the Church to quit this nonsense and become a parish priest.

Gerald L. K. Smith was a far-right anti-Semitic who believed in sharing the wealth. He befriended Louisiana Governor Huey Long in Louisiana before Long was assassinated. Until his sudden death, Long was considered the front-runner for the Union nomination, opening the door for North Dakota’s William Lembke.

Lembke’s debut

With the support of the newly-formed Nonpartisan League, Lembke made his political debut by eking out a victory for attorney general over R. F. Gallagher by less than 2,000 votes in the 1920 election.

His joy was shortened when the opponents of the Socialistic Bank of North Dakota and Mill & Elevator gathered enough signatures to recall the NPL Industrial Commission, consisting of the governor, attorney general and commissioner of agriculture. The voters removed the three from office in a special election October 28, 1921, but at the same time voted to keep the Bank and the Mill, creating a conundrum for the new Industrial Commission.

Lembke Is back

The recall didn’t put Lemke’s political aspirations on hold. A year later, he was on the ballot getting elected to Congress, a seat he held through his presidential campaign. His name was on the ballot twice in 1936, once as a presidential candidate and again for his congressional seat.

As a candidate for president. Lembke got 38,000 (13%) of North Dakota votes. And the Union Party disappeared after its one appearance in the 1936 presidential election.

In the 1940 general election, Lembke risked his congressional seat to run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent but was defeated by the political chameleon William Langer, who had the Republican endorsement.

Fight for TR Park

Now on a first-name basis, the voters gave Lembke his congressional seat back in 1942 and he continued in that office until 1950. He campaigned for FDR in North Dakota in 1932 to no avail.

Comparing the candidacies of Burgum and Lembke, Lembke was a professional – and successful – candidate for offices between 1920 and 1948 while Burgum came in the front door by himself on the first run.

According to Wikipedia, Lemke spent much of his time fighting for the establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park. The Park Service did not like the idea; Lembke was no admirer of Theodore Roosevelt but he saw economic benefits in the Park and won the fight in 1948.

And that’s the story of the other North Dakota candidate for the presidency.