Thomas H. Werdel

Thomas Harold Werdel (September 13, 1905 – September 30, 1966) was an American politician and lawyer who served as an assembly member and Representative from California as a member of the Republican Party.

Thomas Werdel
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 10th district
In office
January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953
Preceded byAlfred J. Elliott
Succeeded byCharles Gubser
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 39th district
In office
January 3, 1943 – January 6, 1947
Preceded byAlfred W. Robertson
Succeeded byWright Elwood James[1]
Personal details
Born
Thomas Harold Werdel

(1905-09-13)September 13, 1905
Emery, South Dakota, U.S.
DiedSeptember 30, 1966(1966-09-30) (aged 61)
Bakersfield, California, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations		State's Rights Party
Spouse
Rosemary Cutter
​
(m. 1934)​
Children3
Alma materUniversity of California at Berkeley
UC Berkeley School of Law

Werdel was staunchly conservative and supported Senator Robert Taft's 1952 presidential bid and later served as T. Coleman Andrews's vice presidential running mate on the State's Rights Party ticket.

Early life

Thomas Harold Werdel was born to Mary Laura Burke and Bernard Werdel in Emery, South Dakota on September 13, 1905.[2] In 1912, Werdel moved with his parents to California and three years later in 1915, they settled in Kern County, California.[3] He attended the public schools and Kern County Union High School. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1930, and from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1936. He was admitted to the bar in 1936, and started to practice law in Bakersfield, California.

Career

State Assembly

On June 24, 1942, he announced his candidacy for the 39th Assembly District and won both the Democratic and Republican nominations leading him to run unopposed in the general election.[4][5] Shortly before the election he was selected as Kern County's delegate to the California Republican state convention.[6]

After taking office Werdel was appointed as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and also appointed as a member of the Conservation, Natural Resources and Planning, Roads and Highways, Government Efficiency and Economy, and Elections and Reapportionment committees.[7] The first legislation he proposed in the state Assembly was a resolution requesting the federal government to grant funds to help in the construction of the Madera and Friant-Kern canals.[8] Following the riot on Hollywood Black Friday in 1945, he served on a committee investigation into the Conference of Studio Unions and accused them of being guilty of conspiracy.[9] Werdel submitted a resolution to condemn Attorney General Robert W. Kenny that accused him of being an associate of subversive communist groups, but was overwhelmingly rejected by a vote of 57 to 19 in the Assembly.[10]

In 1946, he announced that he would not seek reelection and that he would not run for the state Senate as he was quitting state politics.[11] In 1947, after leaving office, he was appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee on Legislative Constitutional Revision.[12]

House of Representatives

In March 1948, he announced his intention to run for California's 10th Congressional District seat and filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries where he easily won the Republican primary and narrowly won the Democratic primary.[13][14] During the campaign Governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Earl Warren showed support for Werdel.[15] In the general election he easily defeated the Progressive nominee; he was one of the four Republican gains that year, and would serve in the Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses from 1949 to 1953.[16][17]

In 1949, he accused union leaders, specifically from the National Education Association, AFL and CIO, of plotting to use an education aid bill created by Democrats to defeat Senator Robert A. Taft in Ohio's 1950 Senate election.[18] During the 1952 Republican primaries Werdel announced that he would run a slate of seventy delegates in the California primary to lead a pro-Taft delegation to the Republican National Convention rather than a pro-Warren one and he attacked Warren for supporting socialized medicine.[19] However, Governor Earl Warren, a favorite son candidate, once again controlled California's votes.

Later life

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1952 to the Eighty-third Congress after he was redistricted into the 14th Congressional District and was defeated by Harlan Hagen. He resumed the practice of law. In 1956, he was the running mate of T. Coleman Andrews as the State's Rights Party candidates; they won 107,929 votes (0.17%), doing best in Virginia, where they received 6.16% of the vote.[20] During the 1960 and 1964 presidential elections he served as a campaign adviser to Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater.[21]

On September 30, 1966, he died in Bakersfield, California and was survived by his wife and three sons. He was interred in Greenlawn Memorial Park.[22]

Electoral history
Thomas H. Werdel electoral history
1948 California Tenth Congressional District election[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Thomas H. Werdel 67,448 71.28% +71.28%
Progressive Sam J. Miller 27,168 28.71% +28.71%
N/A Other 15 0.02% -0.19%
Total votes '94,631' '100.00%'
1950 California Tenth Congressional District election[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Thomas H. Werdel 59,313 53.57% -17.71%
Democratic Ardis M. Walker 51,409 46.43% +46.43%
N/A Other 2 0.00% -0.02%
Total votes '110,724' '100.00%'
1952 California Fourteenth Congressional District election[25]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Harlan Hagen 70,809 51.01% +1.66%
Republican Thomas H. Werdel 68,011 48.99% +12.18%
N/A Other 3 0.00%
Total votes '110,724' '100.00%'

See also

References
  1. "Committees Hear James' Measures; Opposition Seen". The Bakersfield Californian. 12 April 1947. p. 7. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Congress, United States (1952). "Official Congressional Directory".
  3. "Thomas Werdel Announces State Assembly Candidacy". The Bakersfield Californian. 24 June 1942. p. 13. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Werdel Wins in Assembly". The Bakersfield Californian. 27 August 1942. p. 13. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "1942 Assembly Primary". The Bakersfield Californian. 8 September 1942. p. 7. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Party Leaders Off To Capital". The Bakersfield Californian. 17 September 1942. p. 21. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Werdel Named To Head Group". The Bakersfield Californian. 5 January 1943. p. 4. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Federal Funds for Friant-Kern Asked". The San Francisco Examiner. 7 January 1943. p. 15. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Federal Funds for Friant-Kern Asked". The Bakersfield Californian. 30 November 1945. p. 11. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Assembly Rejects Bitter Political Attack on Kenny". The Press Democrat. 20 February 1946. p. 1. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Werdel to Quit State Politics". The Bakersfield Californian. 13 February 1946. p. 9. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Werdel Named to Constitution Revision Group". The Bakersfield Californian. 20 October 1947. p. 11. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Thomas H. Werdel Throws hat in Ring for Congressional Seat". The Bakersfield Californian. 8 March 1948. p. 13. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Werdel Leads Both Tickets in Kern County". The Los Angeles Times. 2 June 1948. p. 26. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Warren Declares Unity Is Issue In Campaign". The Bakersfield Californian. 29 October 1948. p. 2. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "California Solon To Address GOP Political School". The Bakersfield Californian. 5 April 1950. p. 31. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "The New Congress". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 9 December 1948. p. 8. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Charges Plot Against Taft". The Akron Beacon Journal. 23 August 1949. p. 31. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Warren Faces Double Threat In California". Chicago Tribune. 29 March 1952. p. 4. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "New Record City, County Vote Looms". Kenosha News. 3 November 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "T. Werdel Dies, Ex-Congressman". Hartford Courant. 3 October 1966. p. 4. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "New Record City, County Vote Looms". The San Francisco Examiner. 2 October 1966. p. 62. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "CA District 10 1948". 4 November 2006.
  24. "CA District 10 1950". 4 November 2006.
  25. "CA District 14 1952". 27 November 2019.
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