John Bernard (American politician)

John Toussaint Bernard ( March 6, 1893 in Bastia, France; † August 6, 1983 in Long Beach, California ) was an American politician. Between 1937 and 1939 he represented the state of Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In the year 1907, who was born in Corsica John Bernard with his parents to the United States, where the family settled in Eveleth (Minnesota). Bernard attended the public schools in his old and new home. Between 1910 and 1917 he worked as a miner in an iron mine. From 1920 to 1936 he was a fireman in the city's fire department. In between, he served during World War II in the U.S. Army.

Politically, Bernard was a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, whose party days he attended as a delegate in the years 1936, 1938 and 1940. In the congressional elections of 1936 he was in the eighth constituency of Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC selected. There he came into effect on January 3, 1937 in the footsteps of William Pittenger of the Republican Party. Since he lost against Pittenger in the elections of 1938, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until January 3, 1939. At this time there more New Deal legislation of the Federal Government were adopted. In Congress, John Bernard was the only MP who voted against an arms embargo against Spain. In this country was raging at the time of the Civil War.

1940 Bernard applied unsuccessfully to return to Congress. In the following years he became a leader of the workers' movement and was also active in the civil rights movement. Later he became a member of the Communist Party. He spent his life in Long Beach, where he died in 1983.