Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Dworshak attended its local public schools and learned the printer's trade. During the First World War, he served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Fourth Antiaircraft Machine Gun Battalion in the American Expeditionary Forces. After the war, Dworshak managed a printing supply business in Duluth.
He moved west in 1924 to Burley, Idaho, to become the publisher and editor of the Burley Bulletin, a semi-weekly newspaper in Cassia County.[1][2] Dworshak became a public figure when he was elected president of the Idaho Editorial Association in 1931, and he was a prominent member of the American Legion and Rotary International. He was also a member of the Elks and a freemason.[2][3][4]
Congress
House
Dworshak ran for Congress in 1936 in Idaho's 2nd district,[4] but lost to incumbent D. Worth Clark. Two years later, in 1938, Clark ran for U.S. senator and won, and Dworshak won the open House seat. He was re-elected in 1940, 1942, and 1944.[1]
Republican senator John Thomas died in office in November 1945, and Democratic governor Charles C. Gossett resigned to accept an appointment (by his successor) to fill the seat. Gossett failed to secure the nomination for the special election; Dworshak defeated state senator George Donart in the November 1946 election to complete the term. Two years later, Dworshak was defeated for a full term in the 1948 general election by state supreme court justice Bert H. Miller, a former state attorney general; he had defeated Miller ten years earlier.
Source:[9] ^Dworshak was appointed to the vacant seat in November 1946 and October 1949
Death
Dworshak died in office of a heart attack on July 23, 1962, at his home in Washington, D.C.,[1] and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[2][10] His obituary described him as "...a staunchly conservative voice on Capitol Hill..."[2][11] He was succeeded by former governor Len B. Jordan, who served until January 1973.