Born in Somerset, Ohio, Brehm attended the public schools and worked in steel mills, rubber factories, and oil fields after graduation from high school.

Brehm was a private in Company D, Seventh Regiment, Ohio Infantry from 1908 to 1913.

[3] On June 11, 1951, Federal Judge Burnita Shelton Matthews sentenced Brehm to five to fifteen months in prison, and fined him $5000.

She suspended the sentence, saying that Brehm had led an exemplary life before the incident.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress