Frank Bateman Keefe, who served six full terms as congressman from Wisconsin's Sixth District, was born in Winneconne, Winnebago County, on September 23, 1887. He graduated from Oshkosh State Teachers College in 1906, following which he taught briefly in the Viroqua schools. In 1910 Keefe graduated from the law school of the University of Michigan and opened a practice in Oshkosh. From 1922 to 1928 he was Winnebago County district attorney. In addition to his legal career Keefe was vice-president and director of the Oshkosh Building and Loan and president of Lake View Memorial Park.
In 1938 Keefe was elected to Congress as part of the Republican resurgence in Wisconsin. During 1945 and 1946 Keefe served on the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Although he voted with the Democratic majority which absolved President Franklin Roosevelt of any blame in the attack, Keefe appended additional views to the report which seemed to place him closer to the minority view. Keefe received national attention for his work on the Pearl Harbor committee, but it was his strong advocacy of federal support of medical research that was his greatest contribution. Keefe declined to run for reelection in 1950 because of ill health. He died of a heart attack on February 6, 1952.
Keefe was married to Mildred V. Steele. They had three children: a son Bateman and two daughters, Mrs. Charles F. Nolan and Mrs. J. Edwin Rosten.
