Early years Burt was born on a farm in
Coles County,
Illinois, on September 16, 1890, to Zenas Wesley Burt and Cora May Hall. His family moved to
Kansas when Roy was 9 years old. Later they left the farm to move to a mining community in the Southeastern part of the state. Burt remained active in the church throughout his life as a
Christian socialist. From 1928 to 1933, Burt was connected with the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, studying and investigating social and economic problems. Burt was a member of the
Retail Clerks Union and the
American Federation of Teachers during his working career. He was also one of the Socialist Party of America's nominees in
that year's election for trustees of the
University of Illinois. Roy Burt took over for
Norman Thomas protégé
Clarence O. Senior as Executive Secretary of the
Socialist Party of America effective December 15, 1936. He was replaced at the April 15–17, 1939 session of the National Executive Committee by
Travers Clement of
Los Gatos, California, himself a member of the NEC.
Later years, death and legacy After leaving the post of Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party, Burt accepted the post of associate pastor of the Wesley Methodist Church in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. He died on April 14, 1967, in
Topeka, Kansas. ==Footnotes==