The History of Minnesota HIST 1450

DCTC HIST 1450 Test #3 Study Guide

Duluth Lynching

6 men charged with robbery and raping one; though no evidence, angry mob broke 3 loose and lynched them; no one charged; Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie lynched; memorial in Duluth

Clara Ueland

President of MWSA; women get to vote in 1919; leads the new league of womens voters

Farmers’ Nonpartisan League

Founded in North Dakota by Arthur C. Townley; Pro-farmer goals including state ownership of elevators, flour mills, etc.; moved to MN in 1917; David H. Evans under Farmer-Labor Party

Andrew Volstead

MN politician elected to US House in 1903; wrote legislation enforcing prohibition; included “as much alcohol as Congress would stand”

WLAG (WCCO)

End of 1922 WLAG is broadcasting; nearly 300,000 radios in MN by 1930; later Washburn Crosby Company (WCCO)

Floyd B. Olson

Attorney from Hennepin County; plainspoken politician; failed run for governor is 1924 and won in 1930; moderate reform policy; conservation, highways, and pensions

AAA (in MN)

Agricultural Adjustment Act 1933 helped farmers; raised prices on farm goods by telling them not to grow certain things; brought lots of money to MN

WPA (in MN)

Works Progress Administration 1935; jobs program that put Americans to work; many roads and building projects built in MN

Harold Stassen

Lawyer from South St Paul; transformed republican ideology to more progressive and forward-thinking; youngest governor in MN history

Sugar Beets

MN farmers turn to growing sugar beets; by 1942 MN supplies 325,000 tons; labor shortages means POWs harvest them

Military Intelligence Service Language School

Initially at Camp Savage; trained Japanese Americans and others to be Japanese language specialist; make important contributions in pacific theater

DFL

1944; Farmer Labor struggles with loss to Stassen; merge with democrats; fears losing its identity; might be the only way to beat the Republicans; FDR supported; unique to MN

G.I. Bill

Serviceman’s Readjustment Act 1944’ help prevent recession and ease veterans back into workforce; veterans received college, low interest loans, priority jobs

Elmer Benson

Governor 1937-1939; won and lost by large margins; shows farmer labor’s loss of popularity

Television (in MN)

Experiments in MN 1920s; on hold through WW2; Twin Cities Television Lab provided training in TV (1947); first TV station KSTP 1948;

Interstate Highways (in MN)

Eisenhower backs Federal Aid Highway Act (1956) to build interstate for national defence; mostly used for personal transport; popular in MN; first section opened in MN 1958 I-35

Hubert Humphrey

From South Dakota; moved to MN to got to school and later teach; leader in DFL creation; New Deal liberal leader; Minneapolis Mayor; US Senate; Vise President

Walter Mondale

Minneapolis lawyer; MN attorney general; Senator 1964-1972

Eugene McCarthy

College Professor; code breaker; 5 terms in US house; elected to senate in 1958; very liberal

Eugenie Anderson

Active in DFL from 1948; Ambassador to Denmark; first female US ambassador; US delegate

Coya Knutson

Farm wife from Oklee, MN; entered county politics in 1940s; US house 1951-1953; defined DFL, ran for US house and won (1954); worked to benefit her people, not DFL; Coya come home letter ruins career

Warren Burger

Corporate Lawyer and prominent republican; made chief justice by Nixon to make court more conservative

The Cold War (in MN)

Nuclear missile sites defend country in event of attack; several in MN; fallout shelters become common in new buildings; multipurpose food is high protein food created by General Mills

Dakota County Technical College

First classes held January 1971 in South St Paul; 4 original majors; moved to Rosemount 1973; Today 2500 students and 50 programs

Rose Mary Freeman

African American student at U of M; organized campus protests after assassination of MLK; wanted African American studies department; leader of takeover of Morrill Hall January 1969; barricaded in Morrill hall until department was created

Minneapolis Bussing

Plan to end segregation; white and minority schools paired; smooth transition to new schools; white citizens moving to suburbs makes desegregation difficult; segregation remains a problem

Amy Klobuchar

First MN woman elected to US Senate 2006

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

1988 made other gambling illegal on reservations

St Lawrence Seaway

Long time route from Atlantic to Lake Superior too shallow for modern shipping; US work began 1954; completed 1959; 19th port in US by tonnage

Taconite

Low grade iron ore discovered 1870s; seen as worthless by early Mesabi miners; Edward W Davis looks for way to extract iron from it; initially too expensive, decades later a practical way possible; taconite becomes dominant

Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Area of the Superior National Forest; est 1958 no motorized vehicles including airplanes; over 1m acres of wilderness; long time residents forced to move out; mining threat