Thomas Harold Werdel was a U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Born in Emery

Emery, South Dakota

Emery is a city in Hanson County, South Dakota, United States. It is part of the Mitchell, South Dakota Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 447 at the 2010 census.- School :Emery has a K-12 school...

, Hanson County, South Dakota

Hanson County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,139 people, 1,115 households, and 848 families residing in the county. The population density was 7 people per square mile . There were 1,218 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile...

, Werdel moved with his parents to Kern County, California

Kern County, California

Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

, in 1915. He attended the public schools and Kern County Union High School. He was graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1930 and from the University of California Law School in 1936. He was admitted to the bar

Admission to the bar in the United States

In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...

 in 1936 and commenced the practice of law in Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....

. He served as member of the California State Assembly

California State Assembly

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 from the thirty-ninth district in the legislative sessions of 1943 and 1945.

Werdel was elected as a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 to the Eighty-first

81st United States Congress

The Eighty-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives...

 and Eighty-second

82nd United States Congress

The Eighty-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1951 to January 3, 1953, during the last two years...

 Congresses (January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953). In 1952 he led the Senator Robert Taft

Robert Taft

Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...

 delegation in California for the Republican presidential nomination.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1952 to the Eighty-third

83rd United States Congress

The Eighty-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1953 to January 3, 1955, during the first two years...

 Congress. He resumed the practice of law. In 1956

United States presidential election, 1956

The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.Incumbent President Eisenhower...

, he was the Vice President

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

 candidate for the States' Rights Party; his running mate was T. Coleman Andrews

T. Coleman Andrews

Thomas Coleman Andrews was an accountant and an independent candidate for President of the United States....

. They won 107,929 votes (0.17%), doing best in Virginia, where they won 6.16% of the vote.

He died in Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....

, September 30, 1966. He was interred in Greenlawn Memorial Park.

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