Here's a contribution to Filling the Gaps proper for a change
Earl Browder (1891-)
Born in Wichita, Kansas, Earl Browder was a steadfast member of the Socialist Party from a young age. His father William, a teacher and farmer, was sympathetic to the party, and Browder became a party member at age 16. His application for conscientious objector status having been rejected, he spent two years in the army before working as an office worker. He was kept as a reservist and brought back into service during the Great War in 1915 in spite of his vocal anti-war activism, serving unenthusiastically though diligently in the western theatre.
After the war Browder returned to Wichita, working as a trade union activist and running for State Senate in 1918, which he lost narrowly. His pre-war pacifist stance being vindicated by the immediate post-war atmosphere, Browder started rising as a force on the far-left of Kansas politics, criticising the Sinclair administration for not going far enough in pursuing Socialist policies. In 1924, Browder ran for the now open house seat representing Wichita, and won in an upset, defeating a moderate primary opponent and a Democrat and a Republican in the General Election.
Carried by Sinclair's landslide victory that year, Browder was the only Socialist representing Kansas in Congress, and struck a balance between representing his constituents and acting as the most radical voice in Congress. Winning re-election in 1926 and 1928, Browder publicly predicted that the post-war boom wouldn't last into the new decade, and was rather unfortunately vindicated. Though changing demographics in the largest city in Kansas allowed Browder to hold onto his seat for the duration of Blackford's Presidency, there was little appetite for Browder's radical platform on a broader stage while the Socialists were being blamed for the crash.
Holding his seat by only 357 votes in 1932, Browder became well known as a vocal critic of the Hoover administration in Congress, strongly opposing all of Hoover's austerity measures on the Ways and Means Committee. Browder won by a far more comfortable margin in 1934, and achieved a breakthrough in 1936, when he successfully convinced the Socialist Party of Kansas to vote against a "Populist" merger with the Republicans in order to defeat the Democrats. In doing so, Browder became the most prominent Socialist in the state. Easily re-elected in 1936, Browder began to shift his tone on Foreign Policy upon the Hoover Administration's decision to allow the Confederate States to re-arm. Perhaps to appeal to ultra-Hawkish Kansas, Browder began to oppose President Smith's policy towards the CSA.
In 1938, Browder chose against running for re-election. Instead, he took a gamble by running for Senate in a state that had never before elected a Socialist statewide official. Incumbent Andrew Frank Schoeppel, a conservative Democrat, faced an extremely divided field. Primary challenger Henry J. Allen ran as an independent, and the Republicans were split as well, between official nominee Benjamin S. Paulsen and "Populist" Arthur Capper. In a shocking upset, with such a divided field, Browder managed to win the seat with only 25% of the vote, becoming the first Socialist elected statewide from Kansas in history. Important to Browder's election was the "Red" Russian emigre community in Kansas, including the Peasants' and Workers' Red Army veterans that would later form the "Lenin Brigade" that fought in Sequoyah during the Second Great War. Browder's support was crucial to that unit's formation, and the Russian vote was crucial to Browder's election. Subtract it and Allen would have won the seat.
Now-Senator Browder's most important act during his early tenure was opposing the Richmond Agreement. One of three Socialist Senators to vote against its ratification, Browder claimed his opposition was to "the fundamentally dangerous Featherston Regime". The vote consolidated his support in Kansas, and Browder became a nationwide rallying figure for Far-Left Socialists and Hawks, disillusioned after the failure of John Reed's 1936 campaign for the Presidency. Vindicated by Featherston's betrayal of the agreement, Browder was a keynote speaker at the 1941 Remembrance day in Philadelphia, attracting a strong reception from an otherwise decidedly right-wing crowd for his anti-Confederate rhetoric.
Browder's growing base of support followed him impassionately, and in May 1941, while the world was on the brink of war, Browder's followers in the House formed the "Communist Caucus", ten strong. During the war, Browder's main activity concerned the "Lenin Brigade". Browder was the main backer of the project, and when it was formed he visited it for inspections several times. Browder rejected President LaFollette's offer to be Secretary of Labor, instead returning to Kansas to help organise the wartime government and consolidate local support.
Vocally supporting President LaFollette's proclaimed desire to re-integrate the CSA, Browder stood for re-election in 1944, successfully pushing against Dewey's landslide to win re-election with 35% of the vote in a three-way race. Subsequently there has been much speculation about Browder's political future, including much talk of a potential run for President in 1948.