Born on a farm near Panama, Nebraska on January 26, 1897, he graduated from Peru State College in 1926. He also graduated from University of California in 1928 and University of Nebraska in 1934. In 1918 to 1919, during World War I, he was a sergeant in the Twenty-second Engineers. He was the superintendent of schools in Bradshaw, Nebraska (1926-1929 ) and De Witt, Nebraska (1929-1937). He was a member of the school board of Norfolk, Nebraska from 1942 to 1951 and a member of the Governor’s Highway Advisory Committee. He owned an oil business in Norfolk and a farm in Cedar County, Nebraska.

He elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second United States Congress, December 4, 1951, in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Karl Stefan. He was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses and served from December 4, 1951, to January 3, 1959. He unsuccessfully ran for reelection in 1958 to the Eighty-sixth Congress. He was an adviser to Board of Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture from January 6, 1959 to April 1, 1960. He was then appointed the Nebraska director for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation on April 1, 1960 and served until February 1, 1962. He ran unsuccessfully for election in 1962 to the Eighty-eighth United States Congress. He retired to Norfolk where he died June 11, 1977. He is buried in Panama Cemetery.