Val Bjornson

Kristjan Valdimar "Val" Bjornson (August 29, 1906-March 3, 1987) was a Minnesota writer, newspaper editor, and politician who served as state treasurer for more than two decades.[1]

He was born in Minneota, Minnesota of Icelandic descent.[2] In World War II, he served in Navy intelligence, stationed in Iceland.[3] He was able to speak Icelandic, Finnish, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian.[4]

He was part owner of the Minneota Mascot newspaper and an associate editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.[5]

As the Republican candidate in the United States Senate elections, 1954, he lost to Hubert Humphrey, with whom he sometimes shared a car to travel the state.[6]

He died in Minneapolis.[7] The University of Minnesota, his alma mater, and the University of Iceland have a student exchange scholarship named in his honor.[8]

Bibliography

Bjornson, Val (1969). The History of Minnesota. West Palm Beach, Florida: Lewis Historical Publishing. 

Notes

  1. ^ "Val Bjornson". The New York Times. March 12, 1987. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/12/obituaries/val-bjornson.html?sec=&spon=. Retrieved May 27, 2010. 
  2. ^ CQ Weekly Report, Volume 12, page 1040. Congressional Quarterly, 1954
  3. ^ http://www.icelandminnesota.com/scholarship.htm
  4. ^ "National Affairs: Who Won". Time. September 27, 1954. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820302,00.html. Retrieved May 27, 2010. 
  5. ^ http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/500519.html?nav=5015
  6. ^ http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/7666/
  7. ^ http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bismarck-bjorseth.html#RLJ0XYUMN
  8. ^ http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2005/UR_47605_REGION1.html
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