Bottolfsen entered the
U.S. Army on June 27, 1918, and served until four months after the Armistice and was discharged in March 1919. After the War, he took a leading part in the organization of the
American Legion and served as State Commander in 1934. Bottolfsen served in the
Idaho House of Representatives beginning in 1921; he was reelected in 1922, 1926, 1928 and 1930. From 1925 to 1927, he was the House's chief clerk,
speaker in 1931, and start
party chairman from 1936 to 1938. He was the first of two in Idaho history to serve non-consecutive terms as governor (
Cecil Andrus). Early in his first term in 1939, Bottolfsen signed the bill creating the
Idaho State Police. While governor in 1944, Bottolfsen was the Republican nominee for the
United States Senate, but was defeated by Democrat
Glen Taylor in the general election. : He ran for another term as governor in
1946, but lost to
C. A. Robins in the June primary. In his later years, Bottolfsen served as chief clerk of the Idaho House and on the staff of U.S. Senator
Herman Welker. He was elected to the
state senate in 1958 and 1960, but declined to seek reelection in 1962 due to poor health. ==Death and legacy==