Bernice F. Sisk

B. F. Sisk
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 15th district
In office
January 3, 1975  January 3, 1979
Preceded by John J. McFall
Succeeded by Tony Coelho
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 16th district
In office
January 3, 1963  January 3, 1975
Preceded by Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr.
Succeeded by Burt L. Talcott
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 12th district
In office
January 3, 1955  January 3, 1963
Preceded by Allan O. Hunter
Succeeded by Burt L. Talcott
Personal details
Born Bernice Frederic Sisk
(1910-12-14)December 14, 1910
Montague, Texas
Died October 25, 1995(1995-10-25) (aged 84)
Fresno, California
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Abilene Christian College

Bernice Frederic Sisk (December 14, 1910 October 25, 1995), usually known as B. F. Sisk or Bernie Sisk, was an American politician who served as a Congressman from California from 1955 to 1979. He was a Democrat.

Sisk was born in Montague, Texas in 1910. He was elected to the House in 1954, representing a district that included Fresno, Merced and Modesto. He defeated Republican incumbent Allan Hunter in one of the major upsets of the 1954 midterm Congressional elections. The district had been in Republican hands for all but ten years since its creation in 1913, but Sisk went on to hold the seat for 12 terms.

He was a long-time member of the House Rules Committee and the Agriculture Committee, and served as Chairman of the Cotton Subcommittee, where he helped heal the long-standing rift between southern and western cotton producers. A proponent of production inducements rather than direct farm subsidies, he backed legislation to aid the dairy, wine, sugar, fig and raisin industries. Sisk was also a major political force in the United States Congress for the creation of the Central Valley Project that eventually developed into a $37 billion water system that continues to serve California's 400-mile-long Central Valley.

Sisk retired from Congress in 1978. He was succeeded by his former chief of staff, Tony Coelho.

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Allan O. Hunter
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 12th congressional district

1955–1963
Succeeded by
Burt L. Talcott
Preceded by
Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 16th congressional district

1963–1975
Succeeded by
Burt L. Talcott
Preceded by
John J. McFall
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 15th congressional district

1975–1979
Succeeded by
Tony Coelho
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