Burton Kendall Wheeler (February 27, 1882 – January 6, 1975) was an attorney and an American politician of the Democratic Party in Montana, which he represented as a United States senator from 1923 until 1947.

[1] Born in Massachusetts, Wheeler began practicing law in Montana almost by chance, after losing his belongings while en route to Seattle.

An independent Democrat who initially represented the progressive wing of the party, he received support from Montana's labor unions in his election to the Senate in 1922.

As a freshman senator, Wheeler played a crucial role in exposing the Harding administration's unwillingness to prosecute people involved in the Teapot Dome scandal.

In foreign policy, from 1938 to 1941, he became a leader of the non-interventionist wing of the party, fighting against entry into World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[6] In 1920, Wheeler ran for Governor of Montana, easily winning the Democratic primary, and he won the support of the Non-Partisan League in the general election.

[11][12][13][14][15] In an otherwise negative assessment of Wheeler's career and views, journalist John Gunther called the indictment "pure vindictive retaliation, a frameup," laying the blame upon Attorney General Daugherty.

[16] Wheeler returned to the Democratic Party after the election, which Republican Calvin Coolidge won in an Electoral College landslide.

In 1930, Wheeler gained national attention when he successfully campaigned for the reelection to the U.S. Senate of his friend and Democratic colleague Thomas Gore, the colorful "Blind Cowboy" of Oklahoma.

[17] Now commonly known as the Wheeler resolution, it was approved on June 13, 1938[18] and the next year the Federal Communications Commission implemented a 50,000 watt cap, which still remains in force.

[23] As chair of the "Wheeler Committee" (formally, the Subcommittee to Investigate Railroads, Holding Companies, and Related Matters of the United States Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce),[24] Wheeler announced in August 1941 he would investigate “interventionists” in the motion picture industry, which his detractors characterized as anti-Semitic.

"[25] Representing the studios was 1940 Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie who charged that Wheeler and other critics sought to impose the same kind of censorship that Nazi Germany was enacting all over Europe.

Wheeler also led the attack on Roosevelt's Lend Lease Bill, charging that if passed "it would plow under every fourth American boy".

In 1962, he recalled that he had “protested to various high-level government officials,” including his friend Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, asserting that internment violated the “principles of the Four Freedoms.” He warned that if the government “can get away with such treatment of citizens of Japanese descent, it can do the same to any minority.” [30] In 1945, Wheeler was among the seven senators who opposed full United States entry into the United Nations.

Published by supporters of the Communist Party, the pamphlet accused Wheeler, along with President Harry S. Truman, of being part of a fascist conspiracy.

[34]On September 15, 1950, Wheeler served as counsel to Max Lowenthal, a fellow Democrat from Minnesota, as the latter testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

[38] In 2004, political writer Bill Kauffman of The American Conservative described Wheeler as having been notable as an "anti-draft, anti-war, anti-big business defender of civil liberties".