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34th Vice President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | Joseph W. Martin Jr. |
| Successor | Glen H. Taylor |
| President | Robert Taft |
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U.S. Senator from Minnesota | |
| Predecessor | Edward J. Thye |
| Successor | Hubert Humphrey III |
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Governor of Minnesota | |
| Predecessor | Elmer Austin Benson |
| Successor | Hubert Horatio Humphrey Sr. |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Predecessor | Edward Murphy |
| Successor | Edward Murphy |
| Born | April 13th, 1907 West St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Died | March 4th, 2001 Bloomington, Minnesota |
| Spouse | Whitney Stewart |
| Political Party | Republican |
| Religion | Baptist |
Harold Edward Stassen (1907-2001) was an American Politician who served as Vice President of the United States from 1945 until 1949 and then became Deputy President Pro Tempore from 1951 until 1981. He is most remembered for his time as the last Republican elected into high office and being the last Republican presidential candidate to win electoral votes.
Early Life[]
Stassen was born in West St. Paul, Minnesota. At the age of 11 Stassen graduated from elementary school and four years later graduated from high school. At the University of Minnesota, Stassen was an intercollegiate debater and orator, and captain of the champion university rifle team in 1927. He received his B.A. degree in 1927, and his LL.B. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1929. That year, he married his wife, the former Esther Glewwe.
Stassen’s official Chair of the NGA portrait
Stassen was elected to represent Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional district as a Republican in 1936 where he proved himself to the GOP high command as a man in line with party politics and a great speaker. However instead of staying in Congress Stassen ran for Governor of Minnesota and won handily. Stassen was briefly in the running to be Robert Taft’s Vice Presidential candidate in 1940 but eventually lost to House Speaker Joseph Martin however the year wouldn’t be all that bad as Harold was re-elected to the Governor’s mansion and again in 1942. In 1943 Stassen would be named Chair of the National Governors Association.
Vice Presidency[]
Since America’s entrance into the Second World War relations between President Taft and Vice President Smith had soured which eventually boiled into Smith’s resignation from the 1944 Republican ticket. Stassen was now a well liked politician by Governors of both parties, a good orator and gifted with a picture-perfect family. Harold was officially nominated at the convention, but his victory was known well prior to it. Stassen’s time in office was spent mostly backing the wartime President Taft which eventually led to his downfall as he failed to carve out a separate identity but he still sought the Presidency. The rising Progressive Party however had similar policies and a much more charismatic and established candidate, Robert Wagner Jr. of New York. Stassen ran on the platform that things were fine as is refusing to address the large unrest years prior and the polls kept Stassen in a clear lead prompting Stassen to campaign marginally less rather focusing his funds on street campaigns in larger cities. Stassen was nominated by the Republicans at Convention Hall, Pennsylvania alongside Congressman Thomas Dewey which became a fatal choice as Wagner, being a New York native had the place under lock. It was around mid-September that Stassen became unsure of his dominance and started an East Coast Campaign but come Election Day one of the largest upsets in American history as Wagner claimed the White House and Stassen got bronze getting 15 million popular votes and 7 electoral as he carried 2 states becoming the last Republican to do so.
Senate Revival and later years[]
Stassen's political career would not end just because of a failed presidential bid. He would launch a bid to challenge incumbent Senator Edward J. Thye for the Senate seat of Minnesota in 1952. Thye had already launched a Presidential campaign and was thus unable to run for re-election which lead to Stassen winning the Republican primary. Stassen's main rival was Democrat William Carlson but he would be no match as Stassen would claim victory with 61% of the votes.
Stassen would enter the 83rd Congress as a member of the slowly dying Republican party but one with great respect having served under President Robert Taft, a man who would help Stassen to control the rest of the Republicans and become a real power player as he once was. Stassen would be a major thorn in the side of President Douglas MacArthur and filibustered most of his and his allies proposal. A notable incident occurred during a foreign policy meeting with President MacArthur in 1955 when Stassen stormed out of the meeting hall but not before shouting "You sir are no Caesar", in reference to MacArthur's alleged view of himself as the American Julius Caesar.
Stassen would be re-elected four times and on two occasions (1964 and 1976) he would not face opposition. He entertained the idea of running for the Presidency in 1964, 1968 and in 1972 but felt that he would not achieve anything of note. Although he would remain a lifelong Republican the same would not be said about the nations voters as when he left the senate upon the conclusion of the 97th congress the Republican party had been firmly confined to a status as a third party in national politics. He would live for another 18 years before dying on March 4th, 2001, aged 95 from complications due to old age. He is buried at a family cemetery near West St. Paul.