CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Walt Minnick

American politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ446795 ↗
Source-derived summary

Walter Clifford Minnick (born September 20, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Idaho's 1st congressional district from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

The district is in the western part of the state, and includes roughly one-fourth of Boise and most of its suburbs, as well as Meridian and Nampa. It also includes the cities of Lewiston, Moscow and Coeur d'Alene.

In 2008, Minnick defeated incumbent Bill Sali to win his seat. In 2010, he was defeated by challenger Raúl Labrador in the general election. As of 2026, he is the most recent Democrat to represent Idaho in Congress.

Early life, education and career

Minnick was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and grew up on a wheat farm. In 1964 he received his bachelor's degree from Whitman College, where he was on the debate team, and was then accepted by Harvard Business School. After graduating with an MBA in 1966, he entered Harvard Law School, and graduated with a JD in 1969.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Walt Minnick” as american politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1942, 2009, 2011, 2008—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1942-09-20. The account is most persuasive where Walt, Minnick and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

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 Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q446795. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 2009, 2011 and 2008.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. 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
Verify next

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 “Walt Minnick”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Walt Minnick primary sources, Walt Minnick archive and Walt 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 “Walt Minnick”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Walt Minnick” 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.