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Shipstead, Henrik (1881‒1960)

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Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead

Official portrait of Senator Shipstead, ca. 1925.

Henrik Shipstead forged an independent path through Minnesota politics as a mayor, state representative, gubernatorial candidate, and four-term US senator. Serious yet personable, he opposed big business and was one of the staunchest non-interventionists in Senate history, vigorously criticizing American militarism as well as entry into the League of Nations, World Court, and United Nations.

Born in rural Kandiyohi County in January 1881, Shipstead was the eighth of twelve children in the Norwegian immigrant family of Saave and Christine Shipstead. He grew up listening to his politically minded father criticize big business, consumerism, and modernity while extolling the virtues of simple farmers. As a young man he was encouraged by a friend to apply to Northwestern University Dental School, from which he graduated in 1903.

Later that year, Shipstead returned to western Minnesota and set up a practice in Glenwood. In 1910, at age twenty-nine, he was recruited by both of Glenwood’s rival political factions to run for mayor. He was twice elected, without opposition, to one-year terms. After refusing a third term in order to return full-time to dentistry, he was nominated and elected to the state House of Representatives in 1916.

In 1917, during Shipstead’s term as a state representative, some Glenwood residents decided to form a chapter of the Nonpartisan League (NPL)—an association of progressive farmers and workers. When conservative town residents balked at giving the farmers a space to organize, Shipstead rented them a hall in his own name. His actions on behalf of the NPL endeared him to many but nonetheless made him a more controversial figure.

In 1920, Shipstead unsuccessfully sought the governorship as an NPL-endorsed independent. Two years later, he was nominated by the new Farmer‒Labor Party to run against incumbent Republican US Senator Frank B. Kellogg. Enjoying added name recognition from his previous statewide campaign, he easily won the three-way contest with 47 percent of the vote, including large majorities in western and northern Minnesota as well as working-class wards in the Twin Cities.

In the Senate, Shipstead emerged as a progressive advocate for farmers, workers, and small-business owners. He pursued agricultural and labor reform, natural resource preservation, inland waterway navigability, non-interventionism, rural electrification, and banking reform. His most lasting legislative accomplishments included a nine-foot shipping channel on the Mississippi River, federal protection of the sacred Pipestone Quarry, and the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act. Passed in 1930, the act protected what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from damming and logging.

During the 1934 campaign, as Shipstead was facing a left-wing primary challenge from Congressman Francis Shoemaker, a raucous state convention of the Farmer‒Labor Party adopted a stridently left-wing platform that explicitly called for an end to capitalism. While Shipstead had serious reservations about capitalism and had long supported cooperative business ventures, the new platform contained proposals that he viewed as the result of creeping socialist and communist influence.

In 1940, six years after winning reelection on the platform he now criticized, Shipstead upended the Minnesota political world by leaving the Farmer‒Labor Party and returning to the Republicans. In announcing his switch, Shipstead stressed that it was the Farmer‒Labor Party—not he—that had changed.

After rejoining the GOP he reaffiliated with the left-wing of the party, alongside figures including Senators Lynn Frazier and Hiram Johnson. He remained adamantly opposed to war and belligerent internationalism even as other Minnesota Republican leaders, including Harold Stassen and Joseph Ball, worked to shift the party in that direction.

When World War II came, Shipstead vigorously opposed American entry. Though he voted in favor of declaring war on Japan after Pearl Harbor, he would argue for the rest of his career that the war had been the fault of Western elites. He was one of only two senators to vote against the United Nations Charter, which he saw as an attempt by powerful countries to control less powerful ones.

After failing to win reelection to a fifth term, Shipstead retired to his farm in western Minnesota in 1947. Falling short in the GOP primary for the seat he had held for the last twenty-four years was a spectacular ending for a man who had spent most of his career as “the most popular and enduring public figure in the State.”

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Primary

Newspapers

“CLU Cancels Shipstead Bid.” Minneapolis Star, August 4, 1940.

Davis, Maxine. “Shipsteads Interest Washington.” Capital News, March 1928 or 1929.

“Dr. Shipstead Elected Over F. B. Kellogg.” Daily People’s Press, November 9, 1922.

“La Follette to Speak Tonight.” New Ulm Review, November 1, 1922.

“Minnesotas Nye Senator: Henrik Shipstead.” Minneapolis Tidende, November 16, 1922.

N. N. R. “Senator Henrik Shipstead.” The Friend, July 1930.

“Shipstead’s Sweep Polls Many Votes for Johnson.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, November 9, 1922.

“Shipstead Files Under GOP.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

“Shipstead Tells Why He Shifted Party Allegiance.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

Trussell, C. P. “UNO Bill Approved By Senate, 65 to 7, With One Change.” New York Times, December 4, 1945. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1204.html.

Pamphlets

Farmer‒Labor Party. “Farmer‒Labor Platform of Minnesota: Adopted by the 1934 Convention.” August 1934.

Johnson, Kenneth L., Sec. Let’s Nominate in September a Leader Who Can Win in November: Let’s Nominate and Re-Elect Senator Shipstead. St. Paul: Republican State Committee for Shipstead, 1940.

Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee. Leaders in the Senate Join in Praise of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead: Senior Senator from Minnesota. Minneapolis: Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee, 1934.

Personal papers

Petersen, Hjalmar. “Speech over WCCO.” April 22, 1946.

Shipstead, Henrik. “Address of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead Over the Columbia Broadcasting System at Minneapolis.” July 19, 1941.

———. “Conduct of Foreign Affairs.” C.R. March 22, 1924.

———. “Indtryk fra Norge.” In Jul i Vesterheimen. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1932.

———. “Letter to Miss Leona Rupp.” April 26, 1939.

———. “Letter to Mr. Charles Coy.” June 29, 1935.

———. “Letter to William Knudsen.” December 19, 1940.

———. “Senator Shipstead Discusses ‘Neutrality’ over CBS.” Radio address. May 16, 1939.

———. “Speech in the Senate Dealing with Appropriations for the Works Progress Administration for the Balance of the Fiscal Year.” July 1, 1939.

———. “Speech Given over WCCO.” August 19, (1942?).

———. “The United Nations Charter.” Speech in the United States Senate. Undated.

———. “We Must Reduce Interest Rates.” Speech in the Senate of the United States. Congressional Record, 73 Congress, 2 Session. February 8, 1934.

Smith, Paul J. “Radio Address by Paul J. Smith, Personal Representative of President William Green of the American Federation of Labor in Behalf of the Candidacy of Senator Henrik Shipstead for Reelection Over Station KSTP.” October 26, 1934.

Secondary

Lorenz, Mary René. “Henrik Shipstead: Minnesota Independent.” Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1963.

Ross, Martin. Shipstead of Minnesota. Chicago: Packard, 1940.

Shearer, William K. “Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party.” 32 vols. California Statesman (March 1997–November 1999).

Stuhler, Barbara. Ten Men of Minnesota and American Foreign Policy. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1973.

Wittenberg, Erlin. “The Political Career of Henrik Shipstead.” Master’s thesis, Mankato State College, 1961.

Web

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Fifth, 1940.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1940. St. Paul, 1941.

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Seventh, 1922.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1923. St. Paul: Harrison & Smith Co., 1923.

Pipestone Indian Shrine Association. “Background to Establishment of Pipestone National Monument.” A History of Pipestone National Monument Minnesota. 1965; updated 4 February 2005.
http://npshistory.com/publications/pipe/history/sec7.htm.

Related Images

Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
 Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
 Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Henrik Shipstead delivering a radio address on KSTP
Henrik Shipstead delivering a radio address on KSTP
Portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead’s house in Alexandria
Henrik Shipstead’s house in Alexandria
 Lula Shipstead
 Lula Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead with Magnus Johnson
Henrik Shipstead with Magnus Johnson
Henrik Shipstead campaign meeting
Henrik Shipstead campaign meeting
Henrik Shipstead with Floyd B. Olson
Henrik Shipstead with Floyd B. Olson
Henrik Shipstead, Wendell Willkie, and Harold Stassen
Henrik Shipstead, Wendell Willkie, and Harold Stassen
Luncheon at Bald Eagle Lake
Luncheon at Bald Eagle Lake
Floyd B. Olson’s funeral.
Floyd B. Olson’s funeral.
America First Committee meeting
America First Committee meeting
Minnesota Farmer-Labor meeting
Minnesota Farmer-Labor meeting
Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead
Henrik Shipstead in Washington
Henrik Shipstead in Washington

Turning Point

In 1922, Shipstead is elected to the US Senate as a member of the Farmer‒Labor Party, beginning a two-and-a-half decade career representing Minnesota in Washington, DC.

Chronology

1881

Shipstead is born on January 8th in Kandiyohi County.

1903

Shipstead graduates from dental school in Chicago and returns to Minnesota. He chooses to settle in Glenwood, where he sets up a dental practice.

1910

Shipstead is elected mayor of Glenwood, beginning his political career. He is the consensus choice of two rival political factions.

1916

After retiring from local politics and returning to dentistry, Shipstead is asked by local supporters to run for state representative. He loses his first race in 1912 but wins in 1916 and serves one term.

1920

Shipstead runs for governor as an independent, endorsed by the Nonpartisan League. He surprises the state by coming in second, with 35 percent of the vote.

1922

Enjoying added name recognition from his run for governor in 1920, Shipstead is elected to the US Senate, defeating incumbent Senator Frank Kellogg. He takes his seat as the only third-party member of the Senate.

1930

Shipstead succeeds in passing a bill protecting the future Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from logging and hydropower projects.

1934

Shipstead faces an intraparty primary fight from Francis Shoemaker, a member of the Farmer‒Labor Party’s left wing. Shipstead prevails, but the Farmer‒Labor convention shifts the party further to the left, beginning his estrangement from the party.

1939

| A combination of efforts to aid the Allies in the conflict emerging in Europe and his decision to run for a third term causes Shipstead to abandon support for President Roosevelt, of whom he had once been an ally.

1940

Shipstead shocks the Minnesota political world by announcing, on the last day of filing, that he will leave the Farmer‒Labor Party and run for reelection as a Republican.

1941

In spite of his fervent opposition to American intervention in foreign conflicts, Shipstead votes in favor of war with Japan after Pearl Harbor.

1945

In perhaps the most controversial move of his career, Shipstead votes with only one other senator in opposition to adoption of the United Nations Charter. Later in the year he joins six others in voting against American participation in the organization.

1946

Shipstead is defeated for reelection to a fifth term by internationalist Republican and Governor Edward John Thye, ending his twenty-four-year career in the upper house of Congress.

1960

Henrik Shipstead dies in Alexandria, Minnesota, on June 26th, age seventy-nine.