Photo provided by Boise State's Albertsons Library Archive

Frank Forrester Church III served as a United States Senator, representing Idaho, from 1957 to 1981. He was an important political leader known for his influence on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his “Church Committee” that investigated misconduct of United States intelligence agencies. This Senate committee was created specifically in response to the abuse of intelligence agencies involving Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

Frank Church was raised in Boise and attended Boise High, where he became student body president. After graduation he continued his education at Stanford University, receiving a bachelor’s and law degree. After college, Church returned to Boise to practice law.

In 1956, after winning a competitive primary, Church ran for the U.S. Senate. He defeated Republican incumbent Herman Welker, and at the age of 32, became the fifth youngest man to serve on the U.S. Senate. He would continue to serve Idaho as a member of the Senate until 1981. He is the only Democrat candidate that has been re-elected to the U.S. Senate from Idaho.

Not only did Frank Church deal with government scandals, but he also had a key role in the creation of many wilderness areas. A few you may have heard of include the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (Oregon-Idaho border), the Sawtooth Wilderness and National Recreation Area (Central Idaho) and the River of No Return Wilderness(in between McCall and Salmon), which is the second largest wilderness area in the continental U.S. after Death Valley.

In his last few years of being a Senator, he decided to run for President. He began the nomination process with great success in Idaho’s neighboring states, but decided to withdraw due to the support Jimmy Carter was receiving. By winning primaries in some nearby states, Frank Church has gained the reputation of being the only Idahoan to win a major-party presidential primary election.

Frank Church died three years after retiring from the Senate. He died at his home in Bethesda, Maryland on April 7, 1984 from a pancreatic tumor. He was only 59.