Born on November 12, 1893 in Mauston, Wisconsin. Attended Ripon College and the University of Wisconsin. After serving in France during World War I, he returned home to become the Mauston city attorney.

Elected to the Senate in 1930, ran for Governor as a Progressive in 1940 and 1942, but never made it. He first lost to Julius Heil, and although he would defeat Heil the second time around, he died of a stroke as Governor-elect on December 7, 1942, less than a month before being sworn in. The state supreme court would award his office to Heil's lieutenant governor, Walter Goodland.