Harold Stassen | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byHarris & Ewing, 1940 | |
| Director of theUnited States Foreign Operations Administration | |
| In office August 3, 1953 – March 19, 1955 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Director of theMutual Security Agency | |
| In office January 28, 1953 – August 1, 1953 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | W. Averell Harriman |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| 3rd President of the University of Pennsylvania | |
| In office September 17, 1948 – January 19, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | George William McClelland |
| Succeeded by | William Hagan DuBarry (acting) |
| Chair of theNational Governors Association | |
| In office January 7, 1941 – June 21, 1942 | |
| Preceded by | William Henry Vanderbilt III |
| Succeeded by | Herbert O'Conor |
| 25th Governor of Minnesota | |
| In office January 2, 1939 – April 27, 1943 | |
| Lieutenant | C. Elmer Anderson Edward John Thye |
| Preceded by | Elmer Austin Benson |
| Succeeded by | Edward John Thye |
| County Attorney ofDakota County, Minnesota | |
| In office January 5, 1931 – January 2, 1939 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Harold Edward Stassen (1907-04-13)April 13, 1907 West St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 2001(2001-03-04) (aged 93) Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Education | University of Minnesota (BA,LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Legion of Merit |
Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was an AmericanRepublican Party politician, military officer, and attorney who was the25th governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. He was a leading candidate for theRepublican nomination for president of the United States in 1948. Though he was considered for a time to be the front-runner, he lost the nomination toNew York governorThomas E. Dewey. He thereafter regularly continued to run for the presidency and other offices, such that his name became most identified with his status as aperennial candidate.
Born inWest St. Paul, Minnesota, Stassen was elected as the county attorney ofDakota County, Minnesota after graduating from theUniversity of Minnesota. He won election as Governor of Minnesota in 1938. Stassen is the youngest person elected to that office.[1] He gave the keynote address at the1940 Republican National Convention. He resigned as governor to serve in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II, becoming an aide to AdmiralWilliam Halsey Jr. After the war, he became president of theUniversity of Pennsylvania, holding that position from 1948 to 1953. Stassen sought the presidential nomination at the1948 Republican National Convention, winning a significant share of the delegates on the first two ballots of the convention. During the Republican primaries preceding the convention, he engaged in theDewey–Stassen debate, the first debate between presidential candidates for whichan audio recording was made.
Stassen sought the presidential nomination again at the1952 Republican National Convention, and helpedDwight D. Eisenhower win the nomination by shifting his support to Eisenhower. After serving in the Eisenhower administration, Stassen sought various offices. Between 1958 and 1990, he campaigned unsuccessfully for the positions ofGovernor of Pennsylvania,Mayor of Philadelphia, United States Senator, Governor of Minnesota, and United States Representative. He further sought the Republican nomination for president in1964,1968,1976,1980,1984,1988, and1992.
Stassen, the third of five children, was born inWest St. Paul, Minnesota, to Elsie Emma (née Mueller) and William Andrew Stassen, a farmer and several times mayor of West St. Paul. His mother was German. His father was born in Minnesota to a German father and a Czech mother (fromKozojedy).[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] At the age of 11 Stassen graduated from elementary school and four years later graduated from high school.[13] At theUniversity of Minnesota, Stassen was an intercollegiate debater and orator,[14] and captain of the champion universityrifle team in 1927.[15] He received hisB.A. degree in 1927,[16] and hisLL.B. degree from theUniversity of Minnesota Law School in 1929.[17][18]
In 1930, after opening a law office withElmer J. Ryan inSouth St. Paul, Stassen defeated Alfred Joyce, the incumbent county attorney of Dakota County, and took office on January 5, 1931, months after Joyce wassuspended from practicing law.[19] Three years after taking office Stassen was elected president of the Minnesota County Attorneys' association.[20][5]
In 1935, Stassen participated in the creation of theYoung Republicans committee in Minnesota and was one of three elected to be temporary members of the state committee to carry on pre-convention work and would be elected its chairman later that year.[21][22] In 1936 Stassen led an effort by the Young Republicans that demanded greater representation for them at county conventions and for their inclusion in state leadership before his tenure as chairman ended later that year.[23][24]
Stassen was a delegate to the1936 Republican National Convention. On April 24, 1937, he gave the keynote address at the Minnesota Republican state convention.[25][26] In October he announced his intention to run for governor in1938, and formally started his campaign in November. Despite being a member of theparty's executive committee Stassen seconded a motion preventing a gubernatorial endorsement at the convention in December.[27][28]
On January 2, 1939, Stassen was inaugurated by Chief JusticeHenry M. Gallagher. His first action was to order an audit of expenditures in every state department. He later signed into law Minnesota's first civil service law.[29] In September 1939 he organized a farm problems conference, attended by the governors of South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, North Dakota, and Illinois or their representatives. World War Two's effect on agriculture was the main issue considered.[30] When New York District Attorney and future GovernorThomas E. Dewey traveled to Minneapolis during the1940 presidential campaign he was introduced by Stassen.[31] By the end of 1939 Stassen's approval rating was over 80% and he had the support of over 80% of bothDemocrats andFarmer-Laborers.[32] Despite the fact that Stassen was thenconstitutionally ineligible for the presidency because of the requirement for the president to be at least 35 years of age, some Republicans supported his involvement in presidential politics and Secretary of the InteriorHarold L. Ickes commented that Stassen was a political upcomer and was more serious than Dewey.[33] During his governorship, Stassen created the Interracial Commission, the first civil rights organization of Minnesota and appointed African-American World War I veteranSamuel Ransom as his military aide.[34]
| Year | Approve | Disapprove |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 81% | 19% |
| 1943 | 91% | 5%[35] |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Stassen onEisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace, October 14, 1990,C-SPAN |
Stassen, who was reelected as governor of Minnesota in1940 and1942, supported PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policy and encouraged the state Republican Party to repudiateAmerican isolationism before theattack on Pearl Harbor. During the 1942 campaign, he announced that, if re-elected, he would resign to serve on active duty with theUnited States Naval Reserve, which Stassen had joined with the rank of lieutenant commander earlier that year.[5][36]
Stassen was re-elected governor in November 1942 and, true to his campaign promise, resigned as governor on April 23, 1943, prior to reporting for active duty with the Navy. Although he would run in 13 more elections in his life, this was the last time he would hold an elected office.[citation needed]
After being promoted to the rank of commander, he joined the staff ofAdmiralWilliam F. Halsey, Commander of theThird Fleet in thePacific Theater. He was awarded theLegion of Merit for meritorious service in this position. After almost two and a half years of service, he was promoted to the rank of captain on September 27, 1945, and was released from active duty in November of the same year.[36]
Stassen lost some of his political base while overseas, whereas Republican candidates such asThomas E. Dewey had a chance to increase theirs. Stassen was a delegate at the San FranciscoConference that established the United Nations and was one of the US signatories of theUnited Nations Charter. He served as president of theUniversity of Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1953. His attempt to increase the prominence of theuniversity football team was unpopular and soon abandoned.[3] From 1953 to 1955, he was the director of PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower's short-livedForeign Operations Administration.[37]
Stassen was later best known for being aperennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, seeking it nine times between 1944 and 1992 (1944,1948,1952,1964,1968,1980,1984,1988, and1992). He never won the Republican nomination, much less the presidency; in fact, after 1952, he never even came close, but continued to campaign actively and seriously for president until just a year before his death.
Due to his victory in the gubernatorial race, status as America's youngest governor and overwhelming approval rating Stassen was touted as a possible future Republican presidential nominee starting in1940 despite the fact that he would not beconstitutionally eligible to serve until 1942 due to the requirement that a President be at least 35 years of age.[38]
Stassen's strongest bid for the Republican presidential nomination was in 1948 when he won a series of upset victories in earlyprimaries.[citation needed] His challenge to the front runner, New York Governor and1944 G.O.P. presidential nomineeThomas E. Dewey, was serious enough that Dewey challenged Stassen to a debate on the night before the Oregon Republican primary. The May 17Dewey–Stassen debate was the first recorded moderndebate between presidential candidates to take place in the United States. The debate, which concerned the criminalization of theCommunist Party of the United States, was broadcast over the radio throughout the nation.
At theconvention inPhiladelphia,Osro Cobb, the then Republican state chairman inArkansas, made a seconding speech for Stassen, having been motivated by Stassen's promise if nominated to campaign actively in theSouth. Cobb described the South as "the last frontier to which we can turn for substantial gains for our party – gains that can be held in the years to come. There is a definite affinity between the southern farmer and the grassroots Midwestern Republicans. …Our party simply cannot indulge the luxury of aSolid South, handed on a silver platter to the opposition every four years...."[39]
In the first two rounds of balloting, Stassen finished third behind Dewey, the front runner, and Robert Taft. After the second round, Stassen and Taft bowed out and Dewey was selected unanimously as the nominee on the next ballot. In all Republican conventions since 1948, the nominee has been selected on the first ballot.
Stassen was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1949.[40] Stassen attended "the notorious State Department Policy Conference of October 1949"[41] which although initially not designated secret was given that moniker which Stassen objected to and insisted his contributions were recorded, which was granted.[42] In later Senate testimony he claimed there was a prevailing bias in opposition to his own view on Asiatic policy and ultimately that they, includingPhilip Caryl Jessup,Owen Lattimore andLawrence Kaelter Rosinger, were undermining the free-world by pursuing the communist line.[43]
His home-state delegation played a key role in the 1952 Republican contest when, over his objection, his delegates were released toDwight D. Eisenhower. This swing helped Eisenhower to defeatRobert A. Taft on the first ballot.[44] Stassen served in the Eisenhower Administration, filling posts including director of the Mutual Security Administration (foreign aid) and Special Assistant to the President for Disarmament.[37] During this period, he held cabinet rank and led a quixotic effort (perhaps covertly encouraged by Eisenhower, who had reservations aboutRichard Nixon's maturity for the presidency)[45] to "dump Nixon" at the1956 Republican National Convention.[37]
Stassen also ran for:[citation needed]
After leaving the Eisenhower Administration, Stassen campaigned unsuccessfully for governor of Pennsylvania (1958 and 1966) and for mayor of Philadelphia (1959). In 1978, Stassen moved back to Minnesota and ran a campaign for the U.S. Senate. In 1982, he campaigned for the Minnesota governorship and in 1986 for the fourth district congressional seat. He campaigned for the Republican Party presidential nomination in every election except 1956, 1960, and 1972.[47] He was on the ballot in the 1988 New Hampshire Republican primary and received 130 votes, and also received 1 vote in the Democratic primary.
On the death ofHappy Chandler in 1991, Stassen became the earliest serving governor of any U.S. state still living. When he died, the title was passed toCharles Poletti, a former governor ofNew York State. Stassen died of natural causes in 2001 inBloomington, Minnesota, at the age of 93 and is buried at theAcacia Park Cemetery inMendota Heights, Minnesota. TheMinnesota Department of Revenue headquarters near theState Capitol is named for him.
Raised as a Baptist, Stassen was active with regional Baptist associations as well as many other religious organizations. During the 1960s, he gained a reputation as aliberal, particularly when, as president of theAmerican Baptist Convention in 1963, he joinedMartin Luther King Jr. in hisMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[3] Much of Stassen's political thought came from his religious beliefs. He held important positions in his denomination and in local and national councils of churches.[5] In the latter 1960s and early 1970s, Stassen also participated with the U.S. Inter-religious Committee on Peace, which sponsored a series of conferences on religion and peace.[47] Baptists writing memorials remembered him as much as a church figure as a political candidate.[48] His sonGlen Stassen was a prominent Baptist theologian.
Throughout his life, Stassen was aliberal Republican and challenged the more conservative elements of the Republican Party such as when he opposed SenatorRobert A. Taft,favorite son and a leader of theconservative coalition, in Taft's home state of Ohio during the1948 Republican primary. He was seen as breaching political etiquette and was defeated.[49] During the primaries, Taft attacked Stassen's liberalism, believing that he was a disguisedNew Dealer.[50]
During the 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign Stassen ran against the imposition of a sales tax and later in life supported a form ofuniversal basic income in which unemployed mothers of two or more children would be given $115 per month.[51][52] At a speech for 900 people at theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel, Stassen expressed support for low tariffs, believing that the Republican Party's support of high tariffs were no longer beneficial to the American people.
Having established good relationships with both labor unions and business during his time as governor of Minnesota, Stassen had reservations with theTaft-Hartley Act, opposing the law that required union officers to sign affidavits that attested that they were not communists.[53]
In his 1947 bookWhere I Stand!, Stassen favored a federal-state government health insurance program that paid only the heaviest hospital and medical bills. Every person under Social Security would have been provided with insurance while those not insured by Social Security could have enrolled in the program through payment of an annual fixed fee.[54]
In his failed 1992 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Stassen proposed expanding theMedicare program for pregnant women and children under 10.[55]
Throughout his life, Stassen was a staunch supporter of civil rights for African-Americans, having appointed World War I African-American veteranSamuel Ransom to the staff of theMinnesota National Guard during his time as governor of the state, believing that it was the right thing to do. In his earlier years at theUniversity of Minnesota, Stassen participated in a debate squad, where he also was important in integrating it, by acceptingEarl Wilkins, the younger brother ofNAACP leaderRoy Wilkins.
During his time as President of theUniversity of Pennsylvania, Stassen had a hand in integrating African-Americans into the university's football team, and also fought for blacks to be integrated into the faculty of the university, as well as for the university to search for black medical students, having learned out that there had never been a black person at the medical school until he became president.
Stassen later participated in theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, and as president of theAmerican Baptist Convention supervised the raising of funds to supportMartin Luther King Jr.'s activities.[56]
Despite having called for the banning of the Communist Party in the United States, Stassen differed from the majority of conservatives with his stances against theembargo on Cuba and military intervention inVietnam, instead favoring both North and South Vietnam joining the United Nations, where their problems could be settled.[57][58] In 1995, Stassen described the Vietnam War as a "tragic mistake" and was frustrated at being unable to convinceLyndon B. Johnson to open up negotiations that would have allowed North and South Vietnam to join the United Nations.[59]
Stassen was one of the founders of the United Nations and supported it throughout his life. When he died on March 4, 2001, aged 93, he was the last living signer of the United Nations Charter.[citation needed]
Commander Harold E. Stassen, United States Navy, is awarded the Legion of Merit forexceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Assistant Chief of Staff, Administration, and Aide and Flag Secretary on the staff of Commander, THIRD Fleet, from 15 June 1944 to 26 January 1945.[60]
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 337 (April 1945) & No. 363 (May 1947)
Action Date: June 15, 1944 – January 26, 1945
In his political career, Stassen ran many campaigns for public office. He was elected governor of Minnesota three times, in1938,1940, and1942.
Stassen ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992. As then-Governor of Minnesota, his 1940 bid was just as a favorite-son candidate and after delivering the keynote address, he endorsed the eventual nominee,Wendell Willkie. His 1948 and 1952 campaigns saw him run competitively, whilst his later candidacies never approached viability and wereperennial candidate operations.
| Year | Primary vote percentage | Convention votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 | 3.0% | 0 |
| 1948 | 22.0% | 157 |
| 1952 | 11.3% | 20 |
| 1964 | 1.9% | 0 |
| 1968 | 0.7% | 2 |
| 1980 | 0.2% | 0 |
| 1984 | 0.2% | 0 |
| 1988 | 0.0% | 0 |
| 1992 | 0.1% | 0 |
Stassen would run many unsuccessful campaigns for other public offices. He ran unsuccessfully forLieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and twice ran unsuccessfully forGovernor of Pennsylvania, inRepublican primary for Governor of Pennsylvania, 1958 and1966. He ran unsuccessfully forMayor of Philadelphia in1959. He twice ran unsuccessfully forUnited States Senate fromMinnesota, in1978 and1994. He ran unsuccessfully for theMinnesota's 4th district in theUnited States House of Representatives in 1986.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)In the Harold E. Stassen Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society, digital content is available for researcher use ("Harold E. Stassen: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society". Mnhs.org. RetrievedOctober 6, 2014.), including speech files, handwritten notes, memoranda, annotated briefings, correspondence, war diaries, working papers, and draft charters for the United Nations.The entire Harold E. Stassen collection includes campaign and political, naval service, United Nations, Eisenhower administration, and organizational membership files of the Minnesota Governor (1938–1943), Naval Officer (1943–1945), United Nations delegate (April–June 1945), Presidential contender (1948), and Eisenhower cabinet member and Director of the Mutual Security Agency (1953–1958), documenting most aspects of Stassen's six-decade career, including all of his public offices, campaigns, and Republican Party and other non-official activities.Digital selections from this manuscript collection were made based on user and researcher interest, historic significance, and copyright status.
Media related toHarold Stassen at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Minnesota 1938,1940,1942 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theRepublican National Convention 1940 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Minnesota 1939–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Governors Association 1941–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of the University of Pennsylvania 1948–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Director of theMutual Security Agency 1953 | Position abolished |
| New office | Director of theUnited States Foreign Operations Administration 1953–1955 | |
