Burke, Robert E. (Robert Eugene), 1921-1998

Professor of history, University of Washington; collector, author. 1921- .

Robert E. Burke was a history professor at University of Washington from 1958 until 1993. Burke acquired this collection during his research, which often focused on studies of progressive and radical politics in California and the United States during the New Deal.

The Washington Commonwealth Federation was created in 1935 from efforts of the Commonwealth Builders. It was a coalition of organized labor, local Democratic Party clubs, advocates of technocracy, and old-age pension supporters. It operated as a left-wing political organization that sought to control the Democratic Party of of Washington state. For most of its history, it focused on drafting, supporting, and endorsing candidates for local, state and federal public offices, and lobbying public officials in pursuit of its own policy agenda. The Federaton was often a center of controversy because of the dominant role played by the Communist Party in setting Federation policy, and because many of its members were also members of the Communist Party. Hugh DeLacy, the Federation's president from 1938 to 1945, was elected to Congress from Seattle in 1944. His election was a high point for the organization, but also left it with a leadership crisis. Having achieved some of its goals in effecting Democratic Party unity and change, the WCF dissolved in 1945.

From the guide to the Robert E. Burke collection, 1892-1994, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)