US Congressman. He was born one of eleven children to Austrian immigrants on a farm in Gales Township, Minnesota, and was educated at local schools, and graduated from the Milroy High School in Milroy, Minnesota, in 1926. He then attended Mankato State College in Mankato, Minnesota, from 1926 to 1928, and received his teaching certificate in 1927. He also attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in Government, Political Science and Educational Administration in 1933. After college, he worked as a school teacher for several years in rural areas of Minnesota and was also involved in farming pursuits. In 1940, he married Agnes Schuller and the couple had five children, three girls and two boys. He also focused on a career in politics. He first, served as a Member of the Minnesota State House of Representatives from 1934 to 1946. He also served as a Member of the Minnesota Senate from 1946 to 1966 (two of those years were spent as a Member of the Interim Agriculture Commission, 1955 to 1957, and eight of those years he spent as Minnesota Senate Majority Leader, 1959 to 1966). He then ran for a seat in the United States Congress and won. A Republican, he then served Minnesota's 6th District in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 to 1975. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1974. During this time he also served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention from Minnesota in 1968. A longtime member of the Phi Beta Kappa organization he was instrumental in helping to establish a bill to create the Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota, in 1964. After his time in politics, he settled in Lucan, Minnesota. He passed away at the Redwood Falls Municipal Hospital in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, after a battle with lung cancer at the age of 83. His daughter, Barbara Zwach "Barb" Sykora, served as a Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007.