[2] He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1906, was admitted to the bar the same year, and commenced private practice in Ottumwa.

[4] The convention adopted a resolution that did not mention the Klan by name but that condemned organizations fostering racial, religious, or class strife.

Brookhart had run as a Republican and won the Republican nomination, but angered many within his party by crusading against business interests, demanding the withdrawal of Charles Dawes, President Coolidge's running mate, and by endorsing Progressive Party presidential candidate Robert M. La Follette.

However, as a Democratic senator from a state that consistently voted for Republicans, Steck's could not afford to follow a strict party line.

In 1931, Steck was considered the favorite for appointment by President Herbert Hoover to a seat reserved for a Democrat on the Tariff Commission.

[10] However, due to the opposition of Brookhart, Dickinson, and other Iowans, Hoover did not nominate Steck, but instead selected Ira Orburn of Connecticut.

In 1933 Steck was named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a board to hear appeals of Iowa veterans challenging adverse determinations regarding disability claims.

[18] The prize in the bet in question was a pig - soon named Floyd of Rosedale, and depicted in bronze after its death as a traveling trophy - wagered over the outcome of the 1935 football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Minnesota Gophers.

The criminal charge was dismissed on jurisdictional reasons, and Steck accompanied the pig to St. Paul to deliver it to Olson.