James Burke was born in Petroleum Center, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants.[1] He studied law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he graduated 1892. While at Michigan he organized the American Republican College League, the predecessor to the College Republicans. Petitioning then president, Republican William McKinley Burke won approval for the organization and hosted an inaugural banquet attended by McKinley along with 1,500 college students[2] The organization quickly spread to almost every college in the country. In 1888, at age 21, Burke was made secretary of the committee in charge of the dedication of the then-new Allegheny County Court House, at which President Rutherford B. Hayes made the dedicating address.
Burke ran for Congress in 1904 and was elected by a wide majority. He subsequently served five consecutive terms. He was chairman of the congressional committee which inaugurated William Howard Taft as the president of the United States.
During his time in congress, Burke served on a number of committees, including:
Following his political career, Burke resumed the practice of law, practicing for 10 years as a criminal lawyer at the Allegheny county bar. Additionally, he was elected General Counsel of the Republican National Committee in December 1927 and served until his death. He was parliamentarian of the Republican National Convention at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1928.
Burke wrote a number of treatises, including "The Powers of the President", investigating the role of the president during wartime, and a history of the World Peace Conference entitled "Perplexing Problems of the World's Peace Conference".
Personal
Burke was an avid golfer and belonged to a number of golf and country clubs. He was founder of the Beaumaris Yacht Club, in Beaumaris, Ontario, where he had a summer house. He may also have been a member of the very exclusive Bath and Tennis Club in Palm Beach, Fl. At one point the United States Golf Association asked him to prepare a set of rules which was ultimately presented to the international committee at St. Andrews in Scotland.
* Alternately named Economic and Educational Opportunities in 104th Congress and Education and the Workforce in 105th through 109th and 112th through 115th Congresses.