|
Edward J. Thye
|
|
|
|
United States Senator
from Minnesota
|
In office
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959
|
|
Preceded by
|
Henrik Shipstead
|
|
Succeeded by
|
Eugene McCarthy
|
|
26th Governor of Minnesota
|
In office
April 27, 1943 – January 8, 1947
|
|
Lieutenant
|
C. Elmer Anderson
Archie H. Miller
|
|
Preceded by
|
Harold Stassen
|
|
Succeeded by
|
Luther Youngdahl
|
|
31st Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota
|
In office
January 4, 1943 – April 27, 1943
|
|
Governor
|
Harold Stassen
|
|
Preceded by
|
C. Elmer Anderson
|
|
Succeeded by
|
Archie H. Miller
|
|
Personal details
|
|
Born
|
(1896-04-26)April 26, 1896
Frederick, South Dakota
|
|
Died
|
August 28, 1969(1969-08-28) (aged 73)
Northfield, Minnesota
|
|
Political party
|
Republican
|
|
Spouse(s)
|
Hazel Ramage (1921), Myrtle Ennor Oliver (1942)
|
|
Profession
|
politician
|
|
Religion
|
Lutheranism
|
Edward John Thye (April 26, 1896 – August 28, 1969) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 26th Governor of Minnesota (1943–1947) before serving as a United States Senator from 1947 to 1959.
Contents
-
Early life and education 1
-
Early career 2
-
Governor of Minnesota 3
-
U.S. Senate 4
-
Death 5
-
Papers 6
-
References 7
-
External links 8
Early life and education
Edward Thye was born on a farm near Frederick, South Dakota.[1] One of nine children, he was the son of Andrew John and Bertha (née Wangan) Thye.[2] His father, a farmer, was born in Norway and immigrated to the United States in 1872.[3] His brother was Ted Thye, who became a professional wrestler in the Pacific Northwest.[4]
In 1904, Thye and his family moved to Northfield, Minnesota, where he received his early education at local public schools.[5] He took courses at the Tractor and Internal Combustion School in Minneapolis in 1913, and graduated from the American Business College in 1916.[2] Following the entry of the United States into World War I, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army Air Corps in 1917.[1] He served overseas in France, and was eventually promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.[3]
Early career
Following his military service, Thye returned to Minnesota in 1919 and was employed as a tractor expert with the Deere & Webber Company in Minneapolis, becoming a salesman in 1920.[5] He married Hazel Ramage in 1921, and the couple remained married until her death in 1936; they had one daughter, Jean Roberta.[3] He continued to work for Deere until 1922, when he became manager and owner of a dairy farm near Northfield.[6]
In 1925, Thye was elected to the town council of Sciota.[7] He later served a number of years on the Sciota school board.[7] He was president of the Dakota County Farm Bureau (1929–1931), director of Twin City Milk Producers Association (1933), and appraiser for the Federal Land Bank of Minnesota (1933–1934).[6] He became friends with Harold Stassen, and actively supported his successful campaign for Governor of Minnesota in 1938.[6] He subsequently served as the Dairy and Food Commissioner of Minnesota and deputy commissioner of agriculture (1939–1942).[1]
Governor of Minnesota
Thye was elected the 31st Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota in November 1942.[1] That same month, he was remarried to Myrtle Ennor Oliver; the couple remained married until his death.[2] On April 27, 1943, Governor Stassen resigned to serve in the United States Navy and Thye succeeded him as the 26th Governor of Minnesota.[7] He was elected governor in his own right in November 1944, receiving the largest majority ever won by a gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.[4]
Thye in the 1944 presidential election joined U.S. Senator Henrik Shipstead, an isolationist in foreign policy in supporting Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey, the governor of New York, However, Minnesota's other Republican senator at the time, Joseph H. Ball, later defeated by Hubert H. Humphrey, refused to support Dewey on foreign policy and crossed party lines to back Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won Minnesota's eleven electoral votes.[8]
During his state administration, Thye established the Department of Aeronautics, the Iron Range Rehabilitation Commission, a post-war planning commission, and a human rights commission.[5] He also increased spending for highway construction and unemployment compensation.[5]
U.S. Senate
Thye was elected as a 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 84th, and 85th Congresses. He lost his reelection bid in 1958 to Eugene McCarthy.
Death
He died on August 28, 1969 in Northfield, Minnesota, aged 73.[4] He was buried at the Oaklawn Cemetery in Northfield.
Papers
Edward J. Thye papers including correspondence, speeches, background materials, bills and reports, clippings, campaign literature, and related materials reflecting Thye's public and official activities as U.S. senator (Republican) from Minnesota, 1947-1958, are available for research use.
References
-
^ a b c d
-
^ a b c
-
^ a b c
-
^ a b c
-
^ a b c d
-
^ a b c
-
^ a b c
-
^ David M. Jordan, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Blomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2011), pp. 276-277) ISBN 978-0-253-35683-3
External links
-
A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Edward J Thye" is available for free download at the Internet Archive
|
|
|
|
Select Committee
(1950–1981)
|
|
|
|
|
Full Committee
(1981–)
|
|
|
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.