Catalog
Ramsey County History Fall 2024
John W. Diers, Jim McCartney, Adam BledsoeRamsey County History Fall 2024 Volume 59, No. 4: Fall 2024 John W. Diers, Jim McCartney, Adam Bledsoe Link to download PDF of full Ramsey County History Fall 2024 Articles in this issue: Growing Up on the Empire Builder Author: John W. Diers John W. Diers’…
Communist Clarence Hathaway and His Powerful Impact on Minnesota Politics
Jim McCartneyThe Communist Party played an influential role in Farmer-Labor Party politics in the 1930s and early ’40s, thanks, in part, to relationships that Minnesota-born Clarence Hathaway developed with Gov. Floyd B. Olson and Gov. Elmer Benson. Hathaway image in Minneapolis Newspaper Photograph Collection, courtesy of Hennepin County Library; Olson/Benson images…
Clarence Hathaway and the 1934 Riot at Madison Square Garden
Jim McCartneyBy Jim McCartney How did Minnesota native Clarence Hathaway find himself bruised, beaten, and dangling from a railing in front of a packed house at Madison Square Garden in New York City? The year was 1934. The poverty and social unrest from the Great Depression had warmed many citizens in America…
The Everyday Activism of the North Central Voters League in St. Paul
Adam BledsoeNorth Central Voters League President Raymond Hill did not mince words when it came to addressing disparities in St. Paul’s Black community. The NCVL first met at the Gopher Elks Lodge at 559 Carroll Avenue before moving to a building on Iglehart. Photograph by Dwight Miller, in Minneapolis Star, December…
March of the Governors: Mark Dayton
Tom Beer and Paul NelsonMark Dayton, Minnesota’s fortieth governor, was the oldest to assume that office for the first time at sixty-three. He stepped into the role with vast political experience. In the 1970s, he served as legislative aide and Minnesota Economic Development commissioner and later worked four years as state auditor and six…
March of the Governors: Arne Carlson
Paul Nelson and Tom BeerArne Carlson, Minnesota’s thirty-seventh governor, was a Swede and a progressive Republican, like several before him, but unlike them, too. He grew up poor in New York City and had no connection to the dominant Harold Stassen political lineage. Carlson came to Minnesota for graduate school—then won election after election:…
March of the Governors, Governor #36: Rudy Perpich Part II
Paul Nelson and Anne FieldPart II: Following his gubernatorial defeat in 1978, Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) spent a few years in Vienna, Austria, working as a trade representative for Control Data Corporation, but it wasn’t long before he began planning another run for the state’s highest role. Voters remembered him fondly and ushered him back…
March of the Governors: Rudy Perpich
Paul Nelson and Anne FieldMarch of the Governors, Governor #34 Rudy Perpich (Series Podcast #37) Part I: Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) served as Minnesota’s thirty-fourth governor in the years 1977 and 1978. He got there by succession when Wendell Anderson resigned. Perpich then appointed Anderson…
March of the Governors: Karl Fritjof Rolvaag
Tom Beer, Paul NelsonMarch of the Governors, Governor #31 Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (Series Podcast #34) Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (1913-1990) grew up in Northfield, the son of acclaimed novelist Ole Rolvaag. Upon his father’s untimely death in 1931, Rolvaag roamed the West for five years, working…