J. Herbert Burke

Republican Representative of Florida's 12th district

Congresses Served

House Terms

January 14, 1913 (80 years old)

Birthday

June 16, 1993

Death

Served as a Republican U.S. Representative from Florida from 1967 to 1979
Born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended public schools, Central YMCA College, Northwestern University, and graduated from Kent College of Law
Served in the United States Army in France during World War Two, earning the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, European Theater Medal, and American Theater Ribbon, and was discharged as a captain
Admitted to the bar in 1940 and practiced law in Chicago until 1949, then in Hollywood, Florida, from 1949 to 1968
Elected Republican commissioner in Broward County in 1952 and served until 1967
Was a Republican State committeeman from 1954 to 1958 and an unsuccessful candidate for the Eighty-fourth Congress in 1955
Served as delegate to Republican National Conventions in 1968, 1972, and 1976 and was a member of the Republican Platform Committee in 1968
Appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Southeastern Advisory Board of Small Business in 1956
Voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968
Arrested in 1978 on charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest, later pleaded guilty and nolo contendere to witness tampering, resulting in three months of probation and a fine
The arrest incident inspired the novel “Strip Tease,” which was adapted into a film
Lost reelection in 1978 to Democrat Edward J. Stack following the scandal
Resided in Falls Church, Virginia, and Fern Park, Florida, after leaving Congress, until his death in 1993 in Altamonte Springs, Florida