Four-term Senator Burton K. Wheeler was the most powerful politician Montana has ever produced says historian Marc C. Johnson who has authored the first-ever full-length biography of the controversial and consequential Democrat. Wheeler came of political age amid antiwar and labor unrest in Butte during World War I. As a crusading United States attorney, he battled Montana’s powerful economic interests, championed farmers and miners, and won election
to the U.S. Senate in 1922 where he made his name as one of the “Montana scandalmongers,” uncovering corruption in the Harding and Coolidge administrations.

The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives will continue its Brown Bag Lunch series on Wednesday, May 8, when Johnson will talk about Wheeler, his ties to Butte and his often-tumultuous career. The presentation will begin at noon and run about an hour at the Archives, 17 W. Quartz. Guests are encouraged to bring a sack lunch. Coffee and water will be provided.

The University of Oklahoma Press recently published Political Hell-Raiser: The Life and Times of Senator Burton K. Wheeler. Johnson is the former chief of staff to long-time Idaho Governor Cecil D. Andrus and he has written extensively on American political history.