Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
BURTON, Phillip (1926-1983)

BURTON, PHILLIP, (Brother of John Lowell Burton and husband of Sala Burton), a Representative from California; born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, June 1, 1926; attended Washington High School, Milwaukee, Wis.; graduated from George Washington High School, Richmond District, Calif., 1944; B.A., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1947; LL.B., Golden Gate Law School, San Francisco, Calif., 1952; lawyer, private practice; admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, 1956; United States Air Force, World War II and the Korean conflict; member of the California state assembly, 1956-1964; represented the United States at the Atlantic Treaty Association Conference in France, 1959; delegate, California State Democratic convention, 1968-1982; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1968 and 1970; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative John F. Shelley, and reelected to the ten succeeding Congresses (February 18, 1964-April 10, 1983); died on April 10, 1983, in San Francisco, Calif.; cremated; ashes interred in the National Cemetery of the Presidio, San Francisco, Calif.

California State Archives
Sacramento, CA
Oral History: In the William Campbell Below interview, 1990, 128 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

Oral History: In the Roy Greenaway interview, 1990-1992, length unknown.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

Oral History: In the Leroy Clyde Hardy interview, 1989, 244 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

Oral History: In the Alan Heslop interview, 1994, 398 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

Oral History: In the John E. Moss, Jr. interview, 1989, 217 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

Oral History: In the Steven Earl Smith interview, 1990, 111 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.


Michigan State University Libraries
Main Library
East Lansing, MI
Papers: ca. 1975, 1 audio file.
Representatives Robert Carr and Phillip Burton discuss the leadership of young Democratic congressmen in cutting off funds to continue the Cambodian war. Broadcast on CBS-TV, March 13, 1975.


University of California, Berkeley
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA
Papers: ca. 1952-1983, approximately 60 feet.
The collection of Phillip Burton includes congressional papers and correspondence, containing campaign files, voting records, press clippings, California Assembly files, reapportionment files, subject files, photographs, motion picture film, and audiotapes. A preliminary folder listing for the collection is available in the repository. Advance notice required to use the papers. Restricted.

Oral History: In the John L. Burton interview, 1987, 46 pages.
Subjects include Phillip Burton.

  • Jacobs, John. A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of Phillip Burton. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995.
  • Ralph Nader Congress Project. Citizens Look at Congress: Phillip Burton, Democratic Representative from California. Washington, D. C.: Grossman Publishers, 1972.
  • Robinson, Judith. You're In Your Mother's Arms: The Life and Legacy of Congressman Phil Burton. San Francisco, CA: M. J. Robinson, 1994.
  • Memorial services held in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, together with tributes presented in eulogy of Phillip Burton, late a Representative from California, Ninety-eighth Congress, first session. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1983.