John Toussaint BERNARD, Congress, MN (1893-1983)

BERNARD John Toussaint , a Representative from Minnesota; born in Bastia, Island of Corsica, France, March 6, 1893; in 1907 immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in Eveleth, St. Louis County, Minn.; attended public schools in France and in Eveleth, Minn.; employed as an iron-ore miner 1910-1917 and as city fireman 1920-1936; served in the United States Army during the First World War as a corporal in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Field Artillery, and also as a civilian employee in the Army and Navy Intelligence 1917-1919, serving overseas fifteen months; delegate to the State Farmer-Labor Party conventions in 1936, 1938, and 1940; elected as a Farmer-Labor candidate to the Seventy-fifth Congress (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1939); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1938 to the Seventy-sixth Congress and for election in 1940 to the Seventy-seventh Congress; engaged as a labor organizer, legislative director and civil rights activist; moved to Long Beach, Calif., where he lived until his death there on August 6, 1983.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present