Phillip Burton - U.S. Congress

U.S. Congress

Burton, as Democrat, won a special election in February 1964 to fill the U.S. House of Representatives vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative John F. Shelley, who was elected mayor of San Francisco. Burton was reelected to the 10 succeeding Congresses (February 18, 1964 – April 10, 1983). In 1965, Burton was one of only 3 members of the House to vote against appropriations that President Lyndon Johnson requested for the Vietnam War.

Burton was a delegate to the California State Democratic convention from 1968 to 1982. He was also a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and 1972. At the 1968 convention, he was a part of the delegation pledged to Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated after winning the California Democratic Primary in June.

In 1973, Burton allowed a bill to go to the floor without a "closed rule"—a stipulation that there could be no amendments proposed to it—for the first time since the 1920s. The ending of the closed rule created an infusion of federal lobbyists at the Capitol building; the lobbyists targeted members of Congress to add funding for lobbyists' favorite projects into bills. For this reason, David Frum wrote that Burton "created the modern Congress" more than anyone else.

After the Democrats gained a strong majority in 1974, he was successful in getting the House to abolish the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Burton was supported by labor unions and championed union activists, supporting the activities of the farm workers union and the coal miners union.

When President Gerald Ford appeared before Congress in 1975 to request aid during a refugee crisis in the Vietnamese and Cambodian capitals, Burton became so upset with Ford's request that he called it "an outrage" and left halfway through the speech. In December 1976, Burton lost a bid for House Majority Leader to Jim Wright of Fort Worth, Texas.

He was the author of the bill that created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and legislation setting up wilderness areas across the country. The Point Reyes National Seashore includes the Phillip Burton Wilderness, named for the congressman in 1985. In the early 1980s, he worked with gay liaison Bill Kraus to create legislation and funding for AIDS research in the San Francisco area.