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Daniel F. Steck

American politician (1881-1950)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ5217102
Source-derived summary

Daniel Frederic Steck (December 16, 1881 – December 31, 1950), was an American politician who served as the only Iowa Democrat in the United States Senate between the American Civil War and the Great Depression. He was sworn in as senator only after an extraordinary election challenge, in which his apparent defeat at the polls by a Progressive Party ally running as a Republican was reversed by a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate over seventeen months later.

Personal background

Steck was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in Wapello County. He attended Ottumwa schools. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1906, was admitted to the bar the same year, and commenced private practice in Ottumwa. He served as Wapello County Attorney for four years. During the First World War, he served in France as a captain of the Company C outpost signal company of the Iowa National Guard's Third Infantry, then resumed the practice of law in Ottumwa.

He was married to Lucile Oehler of Iowa City, Iowa. They had one infant daughter, Edith Margaret born April 4, 1909, and who died April 5, 1909. The couple had no other children.

Editorial summary

“Daniel F. Steck” enters the record as american politician (1881-1950). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Daniel, Steck and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1881, 1950, 1906, 1909—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1881-12-16. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Daniel, Steck and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Daniel F. Steck” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Daniel, Steck and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5217102. VIAF identifies the subject as 68737032. The Library of Congress control number is no2008051299. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1881, 1950, 1906 and 1909.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Daniel F. Steck”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Daniel F. Steck primary sources, Daniel F. Steck archive and Daniel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Daniel F. Steck”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Daniel F. Steck” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.