Idaho
A traveling country singer became one of Idaho's most liberal US senators and was later arrested – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS – As the Senate clerk called for Theodore Bilbo to be sworn in, Glen Taylor rose from his desk to object.
It was Jan. 3, 1947 and Taylor, Idaho’s senior U.S. Senator — a progressive Democrat from Pocatello who historians say may be the state’s most liberal politician to date — opposed Bilbo’s inauguration. The newly re-elected Democrat from Mississippi was a white supremacist and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Racist comments had reportedly dominated his 1946 re-election campaign.
In a 2019 book by three-term Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown, the author explains Bilbo told voters “to get out and see that no n***** votes.”
A special committee investigating Bilbo’s campaign determined Bilbo encouraged voter registrars to “think up questions enough to disqualify undesirables” from voting. Bilbo apparently supported violence against African-American voters.
Later, an investigation into his campaign expenditures found he’d received numerous illegal gifts on the campaign trail, including a new car and a swimming pool for his home.
Despite these charges, a committee consisting of three democrats and two republicans recommended on a party line vote that Bilbo be sworn in anyway.
Three weeks later, when Bilbo was called to the front of the Senate Chambers to be sworn in, Taylor stood up and requested Bilbo’s swearing in be delayed.
“What a hypocritical and blasphemous gesture we would witness today, if Mr. Bilbo were to stand in our midst and place his hands on The Holy Bible and swear (falsely) to democratic institutions, to free elections, to the rights of citizens,” Taylor said, according to Brown.
Taylor spoke against Bilbo for about an hour, Brown writes. The author includes an excerpt from a well-known newspaper columnist at the time, who explains “Bilbo came over and sat down a few feet from the speaker … glowering up with an arrogance rarely equaled in Senate history.”
Several republicans introduced a resolution to deny Bilbo his seat.
Bilbo had cancer at the time and had an upcoming medical procedure. The Senate minority leader asked for the discussion to be tabled while Bilbo underwent surgery.
Bilbo never was sworn in. He died eight months later on a New Orleans hospital bed.
Taylor’s arrest and political views
Civil rights was an issue Taylor supported nearly two decades before it became a national movement led by Martin Luther King — and Taylor often paid a high price for his beliefs.
In 1948, Henry Wallace, former vice president to FDR, ran for president on a third party ticket and selected Taylor as his running mate. Harry Truman ultimately won that election, but during a campaign stop in Birmingham, Alabama, Taylor was arrested while speaking at a black youth rally.
The Birmingham Police Department arrested Taylor for trying to enter a door labled “coloreds only.” Brown writes in his book that Taylor was driven around in a police car and “subjected to taunts and threats” from officers before being taken to jail.
“It was a big story all around the country. Not every day a United States senator gets arrested,” political historian Marc Johnson told KTVB in 2021.
To this day, KTVB reports Taylor is the only sitting U.S. senator to ever be arrested for protesting.
Taylor was a controversial figure in politics for espousing what his political opponents called “semi-socialist” views. This perception came in part from Taylor’s opposition to the Truman Doctrine, foreign policy established by President Harry Truman that pledged American support to “free peoples” resisting communist takeover.
“The pathological fear and hatred of Russia … is leading some of our more affluent citizens to risk the extinction of mankind in a desperate effort to erase communism from the earth,” Taylor said in a radio speech in 1947. “Our militaristic Wall Street Foreign Policy … has failed to make friends of Russia, and by its arrogant manner has cost us the friendship of practically every country on earth.”
Taylor’s early life and introduction to politics
Taylor was born in Portland, Oregon. His family moved to Kooskia in northern Idaho six weeks later, according to his obituary. He settled in Pocatello years later with his wife and kids.
He held a variety of jobs in his early life, and left school after his eighth-grade year to work for his brother’s stock theater company. Eventually, he gained a reputation as a country western singer.
As an adult, he and his wife, Dora, toured with their kids in a family band called The Glendora Singers.
In 1932, the 28-year-old Taylor visited his cousin in Arco. Taylor found a book on his cousin’s bookshelf called “The People’s Corporation” by King Camp Gillette, the creator of the Gillette razor.
In the book, Gillette refers to himself as a “Utopian socialist” and Taylor was awestruck with many of his ideas.
This got him thinking about politics.
Four years later, Taylor was in Driggs looking for a place for his family to perform and saw Gov. C. Ben Ross and his secretary of state holding a campaign rally at a small theater in town. To Taylor, it looked liked a rehearsed vaudeville act.
“If he can do this and get elected to office … so can I,” Taylor wrote in his 1979 autobiography. “But I can do it better than C. Ben Ross because he is an amateur and I am a professional.”
When he told his wife about his decision, she reminded him that they didn’t have a permanent address in Idaho. Political candidates must have proof of residency for the state they represent. That’s how they ended up in Pocatello.
Though Taylor first ran for Congress in 1938, his first election victory didn’t happen until 1944 when he narrowly defeated his Republican opponent, C.A. Bottolfsen, with 51% of the vote.
RELATED | How a journalist from Arco became the first Idaho governor to serve nonconsecutive terms
The first professional actor ever elected to Congress used his performance skills to get elected.
Taylor’s son, Arod, recalls his father’s unusual campaign style in Brown’s book.
“We bought a small boat,” Arod says, and “put it on top of our old Ford, put our luggage in the boat and covered it with a canvass and sat on it when we were singing. I entertained them, daddy spoke to them, and mother collected the money. We did that about five or six times a day.”
After the election, Taylor continued strumming his guitar for crowds during a cross-country trip to Washington on horseback.
“Upon his arrival in Washington, D.C., Taylor rode his horse, Nugget, up the steps of the U.S. Capitol building,” one article reports. “The housing shortage caused by World War II was still in full swing and so he and his family had a difficult time finding a place to live. In response, Taylor stood outside the building and sang, ‘O give us a home, near the Capitol dome, with a yard for two children to play.’”
The performance was successful in attracting attention from renters.
The Red Scare and life after politics
Taylor’s efforts in standing up to what Brown calls “McCarthyite hysteria” in the early 1950s made him a political target.
His political opponent, Republican Herman Welker, lumped Taylor into a group of “87 communists in Idaho … and radicals and stooges and crackpots who consistently follow the party line and play right into the communist cause.”
Taylor failed to secure a re-election bid. He ran again in 1956, but lost the primary to Democrat Frank Church, who went on to serve in the U.S. Senate for 24 years.
RELATED | The story of Idaho’s 18th governor and the political statement that denied him a second term
Taylor and his wife moved to Milbrae, California and started making hairpieces. He started wearing toupees as a stage performer years earlier.
“There isn’t much demand for bald juvenile leading men, and I tried everything – sheep dip, what have you – and that just made it fall out faster,” Taylor once said.
When he first ran for public office, he wasn’t wearing a hairpiece. He concluded that voters “didn’t have much use for bald politicians” but that “I ran the fourth time with it and won.”
Taylor earned a patent for his product and his handmade hairpieces became a popular business venture called Taylor Topper Inc. Today, it’s called Taylormade Hair Replacements. It’s owned by Taylor’s son, Greg.
His bio also lists several acting credits in his later years. According to IMDB, he appeared in an episode of “Death Valley Days” in 1960 and 10 episodes of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett.”
Taylor passed away in 1984 at age 80 from Alzheimer’s.
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The May 19 primary election will have a big impact on Idaho’s Legislature, with moderate and hardline Republicans facing off across the state.
Over the past two months, Idaho EdNews profiled 14 of the most significant races for education policy. Here they are in one place.
Follow our coverage on election night, with real-time results and breaking news updates. Click here for information on how to vote and find your sample ballot.
North Idaho
- Who is running: Three-term Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, faces a fourth primary election against Scott Herndon.
- Why it matters: This matchup is one of the most expensive primaries this year. Woodward is a “middle of the road” Republican who sits on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Herndon is a more hardline Republican who wants to eliminate property taxes.
- Who is running: Two-term Rep. Elaine Price, R-Coeur d’Alene, faces Christa Hazel for District 4 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: This race is a proxy fight in the war between the hardline Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (Price) and the moderate North Idaho Republicans (Hazel).
- Who is running: Three-term Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, faces Rep. Lori McCann, a Lewiston Republican who has left her seat in the House for a Senate run.
- Why it matters: Foreman is a hardline Republican who faced criticism from the right this year for holding in committee a bill to rein in teachers’ unions. McCann said she’s challenging him over his refusal to collaborate and communicate.
West Idaho
- Who is running: Four-term legislator Sen. Christy Zito faces a three-way primary with two former legislators in the district: former House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma and five-term Rep. Terry Gestrin.
- Why it matters: Zito is a member of the hardline Gang of Eight and sits on the Senate Education committee. Republicans in the House ousted Blanksma from leadership in 2024. She says Zito isn’t representing her district. Gestrin said he wants to get back into the Statehouse to solve problems for folks in the large, rural district.
- Who is running: First-term Sen. Camille Blaylock faces a rematch with retired Marine and former legislator Chris Trakel.
- Why it matters: Blaylock sponsored a $5 million high-needs fund for special education this year. Trakel sued the Idaho Home Learning Academy in 2025, claiming the virtual school discriminated against his constitutional right to free exercise of religion. A judge dismissed the suit.
- Who is running: Two young Democrats with backgrounds in education are running for the wide-open District 16 House Seat A. Megan Woller leads the Idaho Head Start Association and Jeffrey Watkins is a West Ada public school teacher and union rep.
- Why it matters: Watkins and Woller are running to replace Rep. Soñia Galaviz, a public school teacher and House Education member, in the reliably blue district. Woller said she has the diplomacy and negotiation skills to be a legislator. Watkins said Democrats need to be “incredibly vocal” in opposition to bills that harm Idahoans.
- Who is running: First-term legislator Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, faces a rematch with Melissa Durrant for District 23 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: School choice groups like the American Federation for Children are focusing on this race, supporting Bruce and opposing Durrant. Bruce believes state funding should follow the child whether they attend public, private or home schools. Durrant opposed an early version of the Parental Choice Tax Credit because there was no priority for lower income families.
Magic Valley
- Who is running: Two-term Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls, faces Twin Falls County Commissioner Brent Reinke.
- Why it matters: Zuiderveld is a prominent member of the hardline Gang of Eight and routinely opposes budget enhancements, including additional funding for the College of Southern Idaho. Reinke has decades of experience as a public servant and says Zuiderveld isn’t representing the district.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls, faces attorney Alexandra Caval for District 24 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: In his first week as a legislator, Hostetler in 2025 introduced a $250 million private school tax credit bill. Caval said she hopes the primary election will be a “course correction” for the Magic Valley after Hostetler won two years ago.
East Idaho
- Who is running: Two-term Rep. Rick Cheatum faces a three-way rematch with day trader James Lamborn and Air Force veteran Mike Saville for District 28 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: Cheatum last year voted against the $50 million Parental Choice Tax Credit. Lamborn, a strong school choice supporter, said District 28 deserves a conservative, constitutional, Christian Republican. Saville has run for office as a Democrat, an independent and a Republican. He said he supports the country first, not the party.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Ben Fuhriman faces a rematch with former legislator Julianne Young for District 30 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: Fuhriman sponsored the $5 million high-needs special education fund bill this year and opposed a bill to rein in teachers’ unions. Young is a social conservative who has worked on culture war bills, such as defining genders and prohibiting public funds for gender transition procedures.
- Who is running: Four-term Rep. Rod Furniss faces former legislator Karey Hanks for District 31 House Seat B.
- Why it matters: Furniss has worked on legislation to make it easier for districts to pass bonds and find funding to build schools. Hanks, a school bus driver, wants to get back into the Statehouse to protect children from the “woke” agenda. The two share similar views on social issues and support the transgender bathroom bill.
- Who is running: Four-term Rep. Barbara Ehardt faces a challenge from firefighter Connor Cook.
- Why it matters: Ehardt is a staunch social conservative who said the transgender community started the culture war, not the Idaho Legislature. Cook, a union member, says Idaho has “gone rogue” and is using social issues as a distraction from the budget.
- Who is running: First-term Rep. Mike Veile faces former legislator Chad Christensen in District 35 House Seat A.
- Why it matters: Veile, a former Soda Springs trustee, sits on the House Education Committee. He opposes private school tax credits and said Idaho doesn’t have enough funding to support multiple education systems. Christensen supports school choice and would like to explore school district consolidation.
A recent Idaho law could slow the process for some child custody disputes and even adoption cases, the Idaho Supreme Court found in a ruling this week.
The law, created in 2025 through Senate Bill 1181, means some Idaho parents who can’t afford legal representation won’t have state-provided defense attorneys in cases that could risk them permanently losing their kids, the court found.
In the opinion, the court alluded to an essentially unenforceable right to public defense in some parental rights termination cases brought by private parties, rather than the state Department of Health and Welfare. That’s because courts can’t require the state’s public defenders to represent parents in those privately brought cases, the Idaho Supreme Court found.
“This gap created by Senate Bill 1181 is vitally important matter that needs to be addressed by the Idaho Legislature. If constitutionally required representation cannot be provided in private termination cases, it will likely result in serious delays or even dismissals of cases affecting Idaho’s children and parents,” Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan wrote in the opinion published Tuesday. “It may mean that children awaiting adoption cannot be adopted.”
The decision comes more than a year after the Legislature passed the bill over the objections of child welfare attorneys, who warned about the bill’s impact on parents’ right to legal counsel. The bill was pitched as a way to control the workload of public defenders as the state overhauled its public defense system.
Attorney says this is the ‘conundrum’ she warned Idaho Legislature about
There are two ways parental rights termination cases can be brought: By the state — often initiated by a state Department of Health and Welfare, or by a private party, such as one parent wanting to end the rights of another parent.
For over 60 years, Idaho law gave parents deemed legally indigent — essentially those who can’t pay legal bills — and who were facing parental rights’ termination cases “with a categorical right to an attorney at public expense,” Bevan explained in the opinion.
But in 2025, he wrote all of that changed when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1181.
The bill was meant to control the workloads of public defenders as the state consolidated public defense from counties into one statewide office. But at the time, two child welfare attorneys warned the law might inadvertently end the right to legal counsel in privately brought parental right termination cases, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
One of the attorneys who testified on the bill, Mary Shea from Pocatello, said in an interview that the court described “exactly the conundrum” that she was trying to warn the Legislature about.
“It’s an invitation to the Legislature to fix this, and to provide some kind of a funding mechanism so that those private terminations and adoptions can continue to proceed,” she said. “Because we do have a shortage of attorneys in this state. It is very difficult for us to provide the low-income and pro bono needs for the entire state.”
Sen. Todd Lakey, a Nampa Republican who was the bill’s original sponsor, said in an interview that the Legislature could take up clarifications next year.
“I personally am reluctant to have the taxpayers fund legal costs in a private party termination,” Lakey said on Wednesday. “That said, I recognize that there is a certain situation where it’s constitutionally required, and I want to make sure we’re limiting the burden on the taxpayers to only those situations, where it’s fundamentally required constitutionally. I think as the court noted, that’s kind of a case by case basis, depending on the circumstances.”
Rep. Dustin Manwaring, a Pocatello Republican who also cosponsored the bill, said in an interview that he already has ideas for legislation to address that issue flagged in the ruling.
“When representation is appointed and is constitutionally required, then we need to clarify who’s picking up the tab for that. So, we will do that. And I will personally commit to taking that on and making sure we get that done,” he said.
How the Idaho Supreme Court ruled
The bill, Bevan wrote, requires the State Public Defender’s Office only to represent parents deemed legally indigent in parental rights’ termination cases brought by the state — not by private parties.
“That begs the question: if representation is constitutionally required in a private termination case, who would provide it?” Bevan asked.
Parents in private parental termination cases sometimes still have due process rights to public defense counsel, Bevan wrote, pointing to precedent in the U.S. Supreme Court. But since Idaho courts can no longer order the State Public Defender’s Office or counties to pay for that defense, he wrote that the courts effectively can’t appoint public legal representation in those cases.
“If neither the (State Public Defender’s Office) nor the counties can be required to provide representation, a private termination proceeding may fail to comply with the requirements of due process,” Bevan wrote. “The legislature has eliminated the options available to courts for appointment of counsel at public expense.”
Some parents who are entitled to representation won’t get it, he wrote.
“We have little doubt that, so long as the representation gap created by Senate Bill 1181 exists, at least some indigent parents who constitutionally require representation will not get it,” Bevan wrote.
Idaho State Public Defender Office spokesperson Patrick Orr said in a statement that the agency hasn’t been assigned any private termination cases since the court took up the case in October.
“Our view is the same now as it was last year. Our office provides indigent defense representation – and representation for parents in Child Protective Act cases where the state seeks to interfere with a parent-child relationship,” he said. But, he added, “we can’t provide legal representation in a private termination case.”
Copyright 2026 KMVT. All rights reserved.
From artisan jewelry to cowboy boot spurs, women silversmiths in Idaho turn raw metal into works of art. As part of a special Expressive Idaho series, we are revisiting a gathering of Idaho artisans called the “Cowgirl Congress.”
This story was made to be heard. Click or tap the ‘Listen’ button above for the full audio.
Transcript:
CERISE: I wanted every piece to be hand forged and individual and unique. It’s very rare that I make two pieces that are exactly the same. My name is Mary Cerise and I am the owner of Hanging Moon Silver, which is a silver company. I make fine and very wearable art out of sterling and fine silver. I am not originally from Salmon, but it’s been my home for 16 years and I really enjoy that little kind of nook of the world that is off the beaten path. And it is definitely a destination.
Arlie Sommer
/
Idaho Commission on the Arts
WANGSGARD: I’m Annie Wangsgard and I live in Milad, Idaho. And I’m a silversmith and I’ve been silversmithing for 12 years, I think, right around there. My favorite part about probably the whole process of anything that I make is the design, you know, the design process, and trying to come up with something that has never been done before, I guess I rate my success on whether I’m able to take the image in my brain and the idea and then bring it to life. And if I can do that, then it’s success.
CERISE: I use a lot of opals and turquoise. I’m very particular about my sourcing of stones, so I use very ethically sourced, I know all of my miners and my lapidary cutters, and that’s very important to me that I’m buying right from the guys who dig it out of the ground.
WANGSGARD: When I first got started, I was really drawn to rings. I, a little bit got branded as a ring maker, you know, a western ring maker, which is great, I’ll make lots of different things. I’ve made spurs. And I’ve made a bit. And um, it’s definitely a lot different than just silversmithing. Working with steel is a lot dirtier than working with silver.
Arlie Sommer
/
Idaho Commission on the Arts
CERISE: This Idaho Cowgirl Congress. And there’s something about being with other makers, even if they’re not silversmiths, maybe they’re not metal workers, they’re leather workers or fiber artists, fine artists. We travel along the same path a lot. I love the opportunity for collaboration, and I just want to continually learn. That’s my definition of success, is continually striving to learn more and push harder. Some of the hardest days give me the best pieces of work because usually those are the most beautiful times. We have similar difficulties with or challenges that we face, right? Having these businesses and being an artist. And we also have big successes, and those are the people that celebrate your successes. So I would say, it feels like coming home.
This Expressive Idaho episode was produced by Lauren Paterson, with interviews recorded by Arlie Sommer and edited by Sáša Woodruff. Music by Lobo Loco.
The web article was written and edited by Katie Kloppenburg and Lacey Daley.
Expressive Idaho is made in partnership with the Idaho Commission on the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program. This program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
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