Was Burton K. Wheeler a principled civil libertarian or a dangerous political opportunist?
In short: Burton K. Wheeler spent decades as a central figure in American politics, moving from a progressive labor champion to a fierce isolationist. His career spanned the Teapot Dome scandal, the New Deal, and the lead-up to World War II, leaving a legacy that remains as polarizing as it is complex.
Born in Massachusetts in 1882, Burton K. Wheeler settled in Butte, Montana, after losing his belongings in a poker game. He rose to prominence as a U.S. Attorney who defied the pro-war fervor of World War I, refusing to prosecute sedition cases because he believed they violated free speech. This principled stance cost him his job in 1918 but helped propel him to the U.S. Senate in 1922. As a freshman senator, he gained national fame by exposing the Teapot Dome scandal, a feat that inspired the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Wheeler’s political trajectory was defined by his shifting alliances. While he initially supported many New Deal policies, he broke with Franklin D. Roosevelt over the 1937 attempt to pack the Supreme Court. By the late 1930s, he became a leading non-interventionist, arguing against U.S. entry into World War II. His rhetoric during this period was intense; he famously warned that the Lend-Lease Bill would 'plow under every fourth American boy.' Critics accused him of anti-Semitism and drew parallels between his anti-war rallies and Nazi imagery, though he maintained he was simply defending civil liberties.
The end of Wheeler’s career was marked by a decline in his political intuition. After losing his 1946 primary, he retired to private practice in Washington, D.C. In his 1962 autobiography, Yankee from the West, he rejected the idea that he had swung from left to right. Instead, he argued that his ideology remained consistent: he consistently opposed the concentration of economic and federal power. Whether viewed as a champion of the individual or a reactionary, Wheeler remains a singular figure whose career highlights the tension between national security and constitutional rights.
His legacy has been further complicated by fiction. In Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, Wheeler is depicted as a sinister opportunist who imposes martial law. This portrayal stands in stark contrast to his historical record as a vocal opponent of the martial law imposed in Montana during World War I. Ultimately, Wheeler’s life reflects the turbulent shifts of 20th-century American politics, where the same methods could be praised as heroic or condemned as treasonous depending on the era.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Burton K. Wheeler
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