William Markle Berlin (March 29, 1880 – October 14, 1962) was an American businessman and politician who served as a Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

for two terms from 1933 to 1937.

Life and career

William M. Berlin was born on a farm near Delmont, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Laird Institute at

Murrysville, Pennsylvania Murrysville, known formally by its legal name in its Charter as The Municipality of Murrysville, is designated as a home rule status community in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population ...

, in 1896, and moved to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1916. He was engaged as an automobile distributor, in the wholesale oil and gas business, and in coal mining.

Political career

He was chairman of the Democratic County Committee in 1916. Berlin was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

. After his time in Congress, he served as clerk of the court of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from 1937 to 1941.

Later career

He resumed the mining of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in 1941. He was a delegate to the

1944 Democratic National Convention The 1944 Democratic National Convention was held at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois from July 19 to July 21, 1944. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented fourth term. Senator Ha ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican congressional nomination in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. He served as assistant librarian of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from February 1, 1957, until 1961 when promoted to librarian, and served in that capacity until his death in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, William M. 1880 births 1962 deaths People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans 20th-century American politicians