Harold Froehlich | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chief Judge of the 8th district ofWisconsin Circuit Courts | |
| In office August 1, 1988 – July 31, 1994 | |
| Preceded by | William J. Duffy |
| Succeeded by | Philip Kirk |
| Wisconsin Circuit Judge for theOutagamie Circuit, Branch 4 | |
| In office August 14, 1981 – April 8, 2011 | |
| Appointed by | Lee S. Dreyfus |
| Preceded by | Thomas Cane |
| Succeeded by | Gregory Gill |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's8th district | |
| In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975 | |
| Preceded by | John W. Byrnes |
| Succeeded by | Robert John Cornell |
| Minority Leader of theWisconsin State Assembly | |
| In office January 4, 1971 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Robert T. Huber |
| Succeeded by | John C. Shabaz |
| 66thSpeaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly | |
| In office January 11, 1967 – January 4, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Robert T. Huber |
| Succeeded by | Robert T. Huber |
| Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from theOutagamie 1st district | |
| In office January 1, 1963 – January 1, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Kenneth E. Priebe |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Harold Vernon Froehlich (1932-05-12)May 12, 1932 (age 93) Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Wisconsin, Madison (BBA,LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1951–1955 |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
Harold Vernon Froehlich (born May 12, 1932) is a retired American politician and judge. He served one term in theU.S. House of Representatives, representingWisconsin's 8th congressional district during the93rd Congress (1973–1974). ARepublican, he broke with his party to vote for theimpeachment of President Richard M. Nixon.
After leaving Congress, he served thirty years—from 1981 to 2011—as aWisconsin circuit court judge inOutagamie County. Earlier in his career, he served ten years in theWisconsin State Assembly and was the 66thspeaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly. His final public office was on theWisconsin Government Accountability Board, where he served until its dissolution in 2015.[1]
Born inAppleton, Wisconsin, Froehlich served in theUnited States Navy during theKorean War after graduating fromAppleton Senior High School in 1950. In 1959, Froehlich graduated from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison and then received his law degree in 1962. That same year, he was elected to his first term in theWisconsin State Assembly. He would ultimately serve ten years in the Assembly, and was chosen as Speaker during the 1967–1968 and 1969–1970 sessions.[2][3][4][5] He has been married to Sharon Ross since 1970, and they have two children.[6][7]
Besides being involved with politics he is also acertified public accountant and real estate broker.[7] He is a former treasurer for the Black Creek Improvement Corp and former president of 322 Investment, Ltd.[7]
He was narrowly elected to the93rd United States Congress in1972 to the replacing the retiring incumbentJohn W. Byrnes inWisconsin's 8th congressional district. He lost his reelection bid toDemocratRobert John Cornell in the wave election of1974, following the resignation of PresidentRichard Nixon. Froehlich had voted for theimpeachment of President Nixon as a member of theHouse Judiciary Committee. During his term in Congress, he hired future Wisconsin Supreme Court JusticeDavid Prosser, Jr., as a legislative aide.
GovernorLee S. Dreyfus appointed Froehlich to theWisconsin Circuit Court in Outagamie County in 1981. He was elected to a full term on the court in 1982 and was subsequently re-elected in 1988, 1994, 2000, and 2006. TheWisconsin Supreme Court selected Judge Froehlich as Chief Judge for the 8th Judicial Administrative for the maximum 3 two-year terms from 1988 to 1994. He retired from the court on April 8, 2011.
In 2013, GovernorScott Walker appointed Judge Froehlich to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. Judge Froehlich served as vice chair of the board in 2014.[1] The Government Accountability Board was abolished by legislation signed by Governor Walker in 2015.
During his career, Judge Froehlich served as president of the Wisconsin Trial Judges Association and was a delegate to the National Conference of State Trial Judges.[8] Judge Froehlich was named "Judge of the Year" in 1999 by the Bench Bar committee of theState Bar of Wisconsin.[4] In 2013, the state bar honored him with a Lifetime Jurist Achievement Award, where he was praised by his former legislative aide, Justice David Prosser, Jr.[8][5] The American Judges Association created the "Harold Froehlich Award for Judicial Courage" in 2013, to "recognize the highest level of judicial courage in the service of justice."[9]
Froehlich represented a district in which thepaper industry is a major employer. Prompted by concern from the industry, on December 11, 1973, Froehlich issued a press release declaring, "The U.S. may face a shortage oftoilet paper within a few months," and alluded to rationing as a possible solution.[10] The release made it into major newspapers and toJohnny Carson. On December 19, Carson told his audience of tens of millions in hisTonight Show monologue that there was a shortage of toilet paper. Primed by recent shortages of other kinds of paper along with gasoline and meat, consumers went out the next day and hoarded toilet paper, emptying store shelves.[11] The run on toilet paper continued for three weeks, until consumers saw that stores were being restocked and that there was therefore no shortage. The incident was the subject of a short film released in early 2020 by documentary filmmaker Brian Gersten,The Great Toilet Paper Scare.[12] Ironically, agenuine scarcity of toilet paper occurred later that year due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
| Year | Type | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962[13] | General | November 6 | Harold V. Froehlich | Republican | 12,453 | 76.15% | Robert W. Swanson | Dem. | 3,901 | 23.85% | 16,354 | 8,552 |
| 1964[14] | General | November 3 | Harold V. Froehlich (inc.) | Republican | 9,405 | 71.27% | Maurice J. Stack | Dem. | 3,791 | 28.73% | 13,196 | 5,614 |
| 1966[15] | Primary | September 13 | Harold V. Froehlich (inc.) | Republican | 3,314 | 78.40% | Charles E. Wussow | Rep. | 913 | 21.60% | 4,227 | 2,401 |
| General | November 8 | Harold V. Froehlich (inc.) | Republican | 8,386 | 78.82% | Ronald H. Steward | Dem. | 2,254 | 21.18% | 10,640 | 6,132 | |
| 1968[16] | General | November 5 | Harold V. Froehlich (inc.) | Republican | 10,038 | 74.96% | Juanita M. Sanders | Dem. | 3,353 | 25.04% | 13,391 | 6,685 |
| 1970[17] | General | November 5 | Harold V. Froehlich (inc.) | Republican | 6,101 | 57.43% | Glenn W. Thompson | Dem. | 4,522 | 42.57% | 10,623 | 1,579 |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican Primary, September 12, 1972 | |||||
| Republican | Harold V. Froehlich | 20,355 | 38.82% | ||
| Republican | James R. Long | 15,095 | 28.79% | ||
| Republican | Myron P. Lotto | 14,862 | 28.35% | ||
| Republican | Frederick O. Kile | 2,118 | 4.04% | ||
| Plurality | 5,260 | 10.03% | |||
| Total votes | 52,430 | 100.0% | |||
| General Election, November 7, 1972 | |||||
| Republican | Harold V. Froehlich | 101,634 | 50.41% | −5.10% | |
| Democratic | Robert John Cornell | 97,795 | 48.50% | +4.94% | |
| American | Clyde Bunker | 2,192 | 1.09% | +0.16% | |
| Plurality | 3,839 | 1.91% | -10.05% | ||
| Total votes | 201,621 | 100.0% | +45.55% | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, November 5, 1974 | |||||
| Democratic | Robert John Cornell | 79,923 | 54.44% | +5.93% | |
| Republican | Harold V. Froehlich (incumbent) | 66,889 | 45.56% | −4.85% | |
| Plurality | 13,034 | 8.88% | +7.21% | ||
| Total votes | 146,812 | 100.0% | -27.18% | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, April 6, 1982 | |||||
| Nonpartisan | Harold V. Froehlich (incumbent) | 13,915 | 57.65% | ||
| Nonpartisan | Patrick Mares | 10,222 | 42.35% | ||
| Plurality | 3,693 | 15.30% | |||
| Total votes | 24,137 | 100.0% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, April 5, 1988 | |||||
| Nonpartisan | Harold V. Froehlich (incumbent) | 29,298 | 100.0% | ||
| Total votes | 29,298 | 100.0% | +21.38% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, February 6, 1996 | |||||
| Nonpartisan | N. Patrick Crooks | 84,223 | 27.03 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Ralph Adam Fine | 50,801 | 16.31 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Ted E. Wedemeyer Jr. | 44,988 | 14.44 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Lawrence J. Bugge | 44,020 | 14.13 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Harold Vernon Froehlich | 34,632 | 11.12 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Stanley A. Miller | 28,047 | 9.00 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Charles B. Schudson | 24,853 | 7.98 | ||
| Total votes | 311,564 | 100 | |||
| General Election, March 19, 1996 | |||||
| Nonpartisan | N. Patrick Crooks | 520,594 | 59.07 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Ralph Adam Fine | 360,686 | 40.93 | ||
| Total votes | 881,280 | 100 | -6.12 | ||
| Wisconsin State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly 1967–1971 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minority Leader of theWisconsin State Assembly 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's 8th congressional district 1973–1975 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
