Harold Stassen

Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was the 25th Governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. After service in World War II, from 1948 to 1953 he was president of the University of Pennsylvania. In popular culture his name has become most identified with his fame as a perennial candidate for other offices, most notably and frequently President of the United States.

Life and career

Birth to 1940

Stassen, the fourth of five children, was born in West St. Paul, Minnesota, to Elsie Emma (née Mueller) and William Andrew Stassen, a farmer and several times mayor of West St. Paul.^[1][2][3] He graduated from high school at age 14. At the University of Minnesota Stassen was an intercollegiate debater, captain of the champion university rifle team in 1927, and received bachelor's and law degrees in 1929. After opening a law office with Elmer J. Ryan in South St. Paul that year, he was elected District Attorney of Dakota County in 1930 and 1934, then elected Governor of Minnesota in 1938. Stassen was seen as an "up and comer" after delivering the keynote address at the 1940 Republican National Convention. There he worked to help Wendell Willkie win the Republican Party (GOP) nomination for the presidency.^[3]

World War II

Stassen, who was reelected in 1940 and 1942, supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policy and encouraged the state Republican Party to repudiate American isolationism before the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the 1942 campaign he announced that, if reelected, he would resign to serve on active duty with the United States Naval Reserve, which Stassen had joined with the rank of Lieutenant Commander the previous year.^[3][4] After being promoted to Commander, he joined the staff of Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander of the South Pacific Force and served for two years. He left active duty at the rank of Captain in November, 1945.^[4]

After the war

Stassen lost some of his political base while overseas, whereas Republican candidates such as Thomas E. Dewey had a chance to increase theirs. Stassen was a delegate at the San Francisco Conference that established the United Nations, and president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1953. His attempt to increase the prominence of the university football team was unpopular and soon abandoned.^[1] From 1953 to 1955 he was the director of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's short-lived Foreign Operations Administration.

Presidential candidate

Stassen was later best known for being a perennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, seeking it 12 times between 1944 and 2000 (1944, 1948, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000), but never winning it or, after 1952, even coming close. He did receive votes at the Republican National Convention as late as 1968 when he won two votes for president (one from Minnesota and the other from his nephew, an Ohio delegate). In 1992, the results of an experimental Presidential preference primary in Minnesota should have bound the state's Republican Party Convention to elect one delegate to the Republican National Convention who was pledged to vote for Stassen. Stassen's name was placed in nomination for a national delegate slot; however, he was defeated in the voting on the convention floor by Tim Holtz, a young pro-life activist whose candidacy was pushed by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. Holtz went to the national convention and cast his vote for incumbent George H.W. Bush, thus denying Stassen the opportunity to represent himself as a delegate or even to receive the single vote to which he was entitled.

Stassen also ran for:

• Dakota County District Attorney (he won in 1930 and 1934)
• Governor of Minnesota on four occasions (he won on his first three attempts in 1938, 1940, and 1942, but was unsuccessful in 1982)
• Governor of Pennsylvania twice
• United States Senate twice
• Mayor of Philadelphia once
• U.S. Representative (he was the Republican nominee against Bruce Vento of Minnesota in 1986)

Stassen's strongest bid for the presidential nomination was in 1948, when he won a series of upset victories in early primaries. Polls showed that he would beat Harry S Truman if nominated. He lost the nomination to Thomas Dewey, however, who went on to lose to Truman.

Stassen played a key role in the 1952 Republican contest when he released his delegates to Dwight D. Eisenhower. This helped Eisenhower to defeat Robert Taft on the first ballot. He served in the Eisenhower Administration, filling posts including director of the Mutual Security Administration (foreign aid) and Special Assistant to the President for Disarmament. During this period he held cabinet rank and led a quixotic effort (perhaps covertly encouraged by Eisenhower, who had serious reservations about Richard Nixon's qualifications for the presidency) to "dump Nixon" at the 1956 Republican Convention. When he left the Eisenhower Administration in 1958, he became a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania. His defeat in this race – which was not close – generally was seen as marking the end of his importance as a political figure, although he became a candidate on many occasions in the ensuing years. Though he maintained a successful law practice in Philadelphia and was a major figure of the World War II and immediate post-war eras, he nonetheless became the subject of jokes, even wearing a toupee in an apparent effort to look younger and hence presumably more electable. The humor was collective, with the 'Stop Stassen' movement often attracting more attention than Stassen's bid for the nomination.He made his last attempt at the presidency in 1992.

Religious life

Stassen gained a reputation as a liberal, particularly when, as president of the American Baptist Convention in 1963, he joined Martin Luther King in his march on Washington, D.C.^[1] 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.^[3] Baptists writing memorials remembered him as much as a church figure as a political candidate.^[5]

Death

On the death of Happy Chandler, Stassen became the oldest governor of any U.S. state still living. When he died, the title was passed to Charles Poletti, a former governor of New York State. Stassen died in 2001 in Bloomington, Minnesota at the age of 93 and is buried at the Acacia Park Cemetery in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Revenue headquarters near the State Capitol is named for him.

Cultural references

• In The Simpsons episode, Kill Gil, Volumes I & II, houseguest Gil Gunderson prepares breakfast for Bart and Lisa and asks, "Hey, who wants some eggs a la Harold Stassen? They're always running!"

• In a 1988 essay entitled "Last Train from Camelot" written by Hunter S. Thompson. "Others are not so lucky and are doomed, like Harold Stassen, to wallow for the rest of their lives in the backwaters of local politics, cheap crooks, and relentless humiliating failures."

• In episode 818 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Devil Doll, the Great Vorelli says to his dummy Hugo, "You'll never win. You'll always lose." Crow T. Robot quips, "You're Harold Stassen."

• In a Doonesbury comic strip of March 3, 1971, poker players compare their hands, one says his has the winning power of Richard Nixon, one says he has the challenging strength of Edmund Muskie, the last simply says Harold Stassen.

Electoral history

Records

In the Harold E. Stassen Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society, digital content is available for researcher use.^[25] Researchers will find content that includes, but is not limited to: 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.

Notes

Bibliography

• Pietrusza, David 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Changed America, Union Square Press, 2011.

References

• Minnesota Historical Society

External links

• Harold Stassen at Find a Grave
• Biographical information, gubernatorial records, and Finding Aid: Harold E. Stassen Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
• Booknotes interview with Stassen on Eisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace, October 14, 1990.