Schwellenbach entered service during
World War I as a
Private in the
12th Infantry Regiment of the
United States Army in 1918 until his discharge as a
corporal in 1919. He was admitted to the bar and practiced in
Seattle,
Washington from 1919 to 1935. Schwellenbach served as state commander of the
American Legion and president of the University of Washington's alumni association, and was a delegate to numerous county and state conventions. His prominence as a result of these leadership roles caused the Democratic Party to consider him for state offices including attorney general and governor. He was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for
Governor of Washington in 1932.
Congressional service standard-bearers, 1934.
(L-R): Marion Zioncheck, Lewis Schwellenbach,
Warren Magnuson. Schwellenbach was elected as a
Democrat to the
United States Senate and served from January 3, 1935, to December 16, 1940, when he resigned. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1940, having been appointed to the federal bench. He was a delegate to the
Inter-Parliamentary Union at
The Hague,
Netherlands in 1938. He was interred in
Washelli Cemetery in Seattle. During Schwellenbach's tenure as Secretary, fear of post-war unemployment brought the
United States Congress to pass the
Employment Act of 1946, which made promotion of maximum employment the Nation's top priority. Schwellenbach promoted abolition of wartime wage and price controls. He had to deal with a post-war wave of strikes. The
Republican 80th United States Congress passed the
Taft–Hartley Act. Staff cuts were made at the
United States Department of Labor. The
U.S. Conciliation Service was removed from the Department of Labor and established as the independent
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). During his term, the Department's international work was institutionalized; the Office of International Labor Affairs (now the
Bureau of International Labor Affairs) was established as a unit in the Office of the Secretary. ==Personal life and death==