Thomas
Amlie, the son of a farmer, was born in Griggs County, North Dakota,
on 17th April, 1897. Amlie was educated at the University of North
Dakota, the University of Minnesota and the law department of the
University of Wisconsin.
Amlie
was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1923 and worked as a lawyer in
Beloit before moving to Elkhorn in 1927. A member of the Republican
Party, Amlie was elected to Congress in 1931. Over the next few
years he worked closely with William
Borah,
Gerald Nye, Bronson
Cutting, Lynn Frazier, John
Elmer Thomas, Henrik Shipstead,
Robert LaFollette Jr., Burton
K. Wheeler and
other progressives in Congress.
Amlie
was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1932. He joined
the Progressive Party and was elected
to the 74th and 75th Congress (January 1935 to January 1939). Amlie
supported Huey P. Long and his Share
Our Wealth campaign and Francis Townsend
and his Old Age Revolving Pension Plan.
Amlie
wanted a more radical New Deal and for
a while he considered supporting Charles
Coughlin and his National Union
of Social Justice in the 1936 presidential campaign. However,
he eventually decided to support Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
In
1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt
wanted to appoint Amlie as a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission,
but he rejected the offer.
After
leaving Congress he worked as a lawyer and author. Thomas Amlie died
in Madison, Wisconsin, on 22nd August, 1973.
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