After graduating, Biemiller became active in the Socialist Party of America and was a campaign manager for Norman Thomas, Socialist candidate for president in 1932. In 1933, he went to Milwaukee to work for the party, serving as educational director of the party from 1933 to 1936, editing the Milwaukee Leader (a Socialist newspaper) from 1934 to 1936, and working with various organizations.
He was re-elected in 1938, with 5,098 votes to 2934 for Republican Edward J. Mueller and 2848 for Democrat William W. Murphy. He remained on the judiciary committee, and was appointed to special committees on "Revenue Needs of the State for the Current Biennium" and automobile title laws.[3]
He was re-elected once more in 1940, with 7,812 votes to 4,869 for former Socialist State Representative Otto Kehrein (now running as a Republican) and 4095 for Democrat Elmer Foerster. He was moved to the committee on engrossed bills and to an additional special committee on "Subversive and Un-American Activities of Certain Groups of Employes Engaged in the Manufacture of National Defense Materials". His official biography no longer listed him as an active member of the Socialist Party, but did describe him as a member of the Progressive Party Federation; and he became the floor leader of the Progressive Party in the Assembly.[4]
He was defeated for re-election in 1946 by Republican Charles J. Kersten, and went to work as director of political education for the Upholsterers Union. During this period Biemiller joined many other former Socialists and Progressives in helping to found Americans for Democratic Action. He cooperated with Hubert Humphrey in successfully calling for a strong civil rights plank at the 1948 Democratic National Convention, to which he was a delegate and chair of the platform committee which produced the plank.
He defeated Kersten in a 1948 re-match for election to the 81st Congress, but once more lost a bid for re-election in 1950 to Kersten.
After losing his seat in Congress, Biemiller worked through the remainder of the Truman administration at the Department of the Interior. He served from 1953 to 1956 as a legislative representative (lobbyist) for the American Federation of Labor, and then Director of the Department of Legislation (chief lobbyist) of the AFL-CIO from 1956 to 1978. During this period, he played a significant role in passing civil rights, Medicare, and other social and economic legislation, especially during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Legacy
As a legislator, congressman and labor activist and advocate, Biemiller had played a role in most major social legislation of his era. He died in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 3, 1982. His papers are at the Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma.
References
^'Wisconsin Blue Book 1950,' Biographical Sketch of Andrew Biemiller, pg. 21
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