Burton Kendall Wheeler was an attorney and an American politician of the Democratic Party in Montana; he served as a United States senator from 1923 until 1947. He returned to his law practice and lived in Washington, D.C., for his remaining years.
Wheeler was an independent Democrat who initially represented the left wing of the party, receiving support from Montana's labor unions. In 1923, he played a crucial role in exposing the Harding administration's unwillingness to prosecute people involved in the Teapot Dome scandal. He ran for vice president in 1924 on the Progressive Party ticket headed by Wisconsin Republican Robert La Follette Sr.. An ardent New Deal liberal until 1937, he broke with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the issue of packing the United States Supreme Court. In foreign policy from 1938 to 1941 he became a leader of the non-interventionist wing of the party, fighting against entry into World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor.