The New York Times prints an article headlined, “Named By the President: Stanford Newell of Minnesota Nominated for Minister to the Netherlands.” It goes on to report that “Mr. Newell, appointed Minister to the Netherlands, is one of the prominent Republicans of Minnesota. He has never held public office, but has been connected with the Republican State Committee, and during some of the most important campaigns was its Chairman. His appointment is due to the request of the Republicans of Minnesota, without regard to faction.”

Stanford Newel is born to Stanford and Abby Lee Penniman Newel in Providence, Rhode Island. After moving to St. Paul he became an integral part of the city's development, serving on the St. Paul Parks Board, founding the Minnesota Club, and leading the Pioneer Press Company. He is best known, however, for his diplomatic work as the United States Minister to the Netherlands, 1897–1905.

Senator and former presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey appears as the "Man of the Week" on NBC's Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. The "Rat Pack" crooner turned comic introduces Humphrey as a "man who has spent a lifetime in politics with an unblemished record; he never took a bribe and never spied on his opponents; he never committed a crime; which is why he's here tonight and not in the White House."

In the summer of 1939, workers went on strike across the nation to protest budget cuts to the Works Progress Administration imposed by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. While they did not bring about the act’s repeal, they kept their jobs and were allowed to return to work after the strike. Minnesota was the only state in which strikers faced criminal charges for preventing people from working.

Minnesota’s farmers enjoyed an economic boom in the 1970s. Land values soared, United States exports of agricultural products grew, and farmers gained access to easy credit to expand their operations. When the 1980s brought a sharp decline in exports and land values, rising production costs, and higher interest rates on loans, many farmers found themselves in serious financial trouble. The farm crisis of the 1980s caused many farm foreclosures and bankruptcies—the worst economic conditions the agricultural sector had seen since the Great Depression.

The International Institute of Minnesota created the Festival of Nations in 1936 to celebrate the ethnicities and cultures of people living in Minnesota. Since then, the event has grown to reflect the increasing diversity of the state.

In 1981, AIDS was a mystery illness—a so-called “gay plague” because of its initial appearance among men who had sex with other men in large coastal cities like New York and San Francisco. Minnesotans breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they were far enough from the epidemic to be safe. But they were wrong.

Future Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Mr. Saito take on Baron Von Raschke and The Crusher in front of 18,000 fans at Chicago Stadium in an American Wrestling Association-sanctioned match-up. Ventura and Saito win by disqualification.

The 1918 influenza epidemic had a devastating effect on communities across Minnesota, including those in Cottonwood County. Over the course of five months (October 1918–February 1919), seventy-two residents of the county died from the virus or from pneumonia-related complications.

On the night of May 6, 1965, two F4 tornadoes cut through the northwest Twin Cities metro area. Known collectively as the Fridley tornado, these twisters were the worst cyclonic disaster to hit the Twin Cities to date.