Warren Earl Burger

@Former Chief Justice of the United States, Family and Facts

Warren Burger was the 15th Chief Justice of the United States

Sep 7, 1907

AmericanUniversity Of MinnesotaLawyers & JudgesVirgo Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: September 7, 1907
  • Died on: June 25, 1995
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Former Chief Justice of the United States, University Of Minnesota, Lawyers & Judges
  • Spouses: Elvera (Vera) Stromberg Burger, her death)
  • Known as: Warren E. Burger
  • Childrens: Margaret Elizabeth, Wade Allen

Warren Earl Burger born at

Saint Paul, Minnesota

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Birth Place

He married his fellow student from the University of Minnesota, Elvera Stromberg, on November 8, 1933. The couple had two children – Wade Allen Burger and Margaret Elizabeth Burger.

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Personal Life

Elvera Burger died on May 30, 1994 at her home in Washington, while Warren Burger passed away from a congestive heart failure in his sleep, on June 25, 1995, aged 87.

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Personal Life

His body was displayed in the Great Hall of the US Supreme Court Building, after which he was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

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Personal Life

Warren Earl Burger was born on September 17, 1907 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, as the fourth of seven children, to Swiss-German immigrants Charles Joseph Burger and Katherine (Schnittger) Burger.

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Childhood & Early Life

His father worked as a railroad cargo inspector and traveling salesman, in order to finance the needs of the working-class family. As a result, Burger started delivering newspapers when he was nine years old.

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Childhood & Early Life

He completed his schooling from John A. Johnson High School in 1925. Being active in sports, like football, swimming, hockey and track, he was the president of the student council and wrote sports articles, published in local newspapers.

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Childhood & Early Life

He started working as life insurance salesman, after high school, to finance his education while attending night classes for a two-year course at the University of Minnesota.

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Childhood & Early Life

He received his degree from St. Paul College of Law (now William Mitchell College) in 1931 and began working at a St. Paul law firm, handling real estate and corporate cases. He taught contract law at his alma mater for over 12 years.

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Childhood & Early Life

He entered Republican politics unexpectedly and played an active role in establishing Minnesota Young Republicans, in 1934, soon after which he got involved with Harold Stassen for his governor campaign in 1938, 1940 and 1942.

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Career

His vital role in the 1952 successful campaigns for presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower landed him at the post of Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the Justice Department.

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Career

Despite no experience in maritime law, he successfully supervised 180 lawyers, handling numerous cases for the government.

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Career

Seeing his efforts and hard work, he was promoted to the US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia, in 1956, a position he retained for 13 years.

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Career

Upon Chief Justice Earl Warren’s retirement in 1968, Burger was nominated as the new Chief Justice in 1969, by President Richard Nixon, thus becoming the 15th Chief Justice of the United States.

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Career

His 1973 Roe vs. Wade became a controversial case for his support towards women’s constitutional right to get abortions and annul the law in states that penalized pregnancy.

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Major Works

In one of his most popular criminal cases, he exposed President Nixon in the infamous 1974 Watergate tape recordings, proving him guilty and forcing him to resign from his position before his term ended.

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Major Works

While shaping the country’s legal system, he started National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management, and National Institute of Corrections.

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Major Works

He began the annual ‘State of the Judiciary’ speech given by Chief Justice to the American Bar Association.

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Major Works