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Benson, Elmer (1895–1985)

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Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson, c.1938.

Governor Elmer Benson, c.1938.

Elmer Benson was elected in 1936 as Minnesota’s second Farmer-Labor Party governor with over 58 percent of the vote. He was defeated only two years later by an even larger margin. An outspoken champion of Minnesota’s workers and family farmers, Benson lacked the political gifts of his charismatic predecessor, Floyd B. Olson. However, many of his proposals—at first considered radical—became law in the decades that followed.

Elmer Benson was born in Appleton, Minnesota, in 1895, and raised on a strong brew of Midwestern populism. His father, Tom, was a member of the Non-Partisan League and an early supporter of the Farmer-Labor Party, which by the early 1920s had overtaken the Democrats in Minnesota. His mother was a granddaughter of a signer of the Norwegian Declaration of Independence and an even bigger free-thinker than her husband.

After studying law at the St. Paul College of Law and serving in the U.S. Army during World War I, Benson returned to Appleton. There, he combined a career in banking with an avocation for progressive politics. He built a strong Farmer-Labor organization in Swift County and throughout the Seventh Congressional District.

In 1932, the party’s popular governor, Floyd B. Olson, appointed Benson as Commissioner of Securities. On April 30 of the following year, Olson moved Benson to the crucial post of Commissioner of Banking. The reforms Benson implemented rescued hundreds of embattled small town bankers.

With his devotion to Farmer-Labor principles and his growing support in rural Minnesota, Benson quickly emerged as a favorite among Party activists. In 1935, Governor Olson appointed Benson to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. When Olson died of stomach cancer the following year, FLP leaders chose Benson as the party’s candidate for governor.

As governor, Benson championed the most ambitious legislative agenda in Minnesota history. His platform combined support for the unemployed with New Deal-style social programs financed by increased taxes on big business and the wealthy.

Most of Benson’s proposals passed the Farmer-Labor-controlled House of Representatives. Only a few, however, survived the Republican-controlled Senate. One critic famously pointed out that although Floyd Olson had made radical statements in the past, “this SOB [Benson] actually means them!”

To an unprecedented degree, Benson used the power of his office to support the rights of labor. In the bitterly cold January of 1937, he ordered state officials to provide food and shelter to striking timber workers throughout northern Minnesota. That same year, he deployed the National Guard to protect the Newspaper Guild’s right to strike. He also refused to renew the notorious anti-labor Pinkerton Agency’s license in Minnesota. In perhaps the most dramatic intervention, Benson ordered Albert Lea’s anti-union sheriff to release striking workers from jail. He then personally took charge of talks between workers and a reluctant management.

Actions like these endeared Benson to many Farmer-Labor activists. They also created opposition. The governor’s support of the new Congress of Industrial Organizations angered leaders of the American Federation of Labor as the two groups competed for membership and power. The involvement of Communists in the CIO and the Benson administration more generally heightened this tension.

A bitter primary challenge from former Lieutenant Governor Hjalmer Petersen exposed these and other fissures within the FLP. In the 1938 general election, Benson was soundly defeated by Republican Harold Stassen. Stassen, a young reformer, promised a “middle path” between “rock-ribbed” Republican conservatism and alleged Farmer-Labor extremism.

From 1938 to 1944, Benson remained the FLP’s most prominent leader. However, the Party, though still out-pacing Minnesota’s Democrats, failed to compete successfully with the Republicans. In 1944, Benson reluctantly supported the merger of the Farmer-Labor and Democratic Parties, creating the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL).

In 1948, Benson broke with the Democrats to support the presidential campaign of Henry Wallace, a liberal opponent of the Cold War policies of Harry Truman. An epic struggle for the future direction of Minnesota progressivism ensued. Democrats, led by Hubert Humphrey and future DFL governor Orville Freeman, delivered a decisive defeat to Benson’s Farmer-Laborites.

After Wallace’s landslide loss to Truman in 1948, Benson served as national chair of the Progressive Party, leading opposition to the emerging nuclear arms race and U.S. intervention in Korea. In August, 1951, suffering from encephalitis and under strict doctor’s orders, he retired to his home in Appleton. He remained out of the public eye until his death in 1985.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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A1.O52
Records of Floyd B. Olson, Hjalmar Petersen and Elmer A. Benson, 1932–1938
Governor of Minnesota
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr00063.xml
Description: Correspondence and files of three Minnesota Governors.

Haynes, John Earl. Dubious Alliance: The Making of Minnesota’s DFL Party. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.

Shields, James. Mr. Progressive: a Biography of Elmer Austin Benson. Minneapolis: TS Dennison, 1971.

Related Images

Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson, c.1938.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson, c.1938.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson at his desk, c.1934. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson at his desk, c.1934. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of Elmer A. Benson during his tenure as state banking commissioner, c.1934. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of Elmer A. Benson during his tenure as state banking commissioner, c.1934. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson waving from a campaign train, c.1936.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson waving from a campaign train, c.1936.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson giving a speech, c.1937.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson giving a speech, c.1937.
Black and white photograph of the inauguration of Elmer Benson as governor of Minnesota,1937. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of the inauguration of Elmer Benson as governor of Minnesota,1937. Photographed by the St. Paul Daily News.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson eating breakfast with his family at their cabin on the North shore of Lake Superior, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson eating breakfast with his family at their cabin on the North shore of Lake Superior, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson (center right) at a conference with American Gas Machine Company strike representatives in Albert Lea, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson (center right) at a conference with American Gas Machine Company strike representatives in Albert Lea, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson by a lake, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Elmer Benson by a lake, 1937.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson speaking at a Farmer-Labor state convention in Duluth, 1938.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson speaking at a Farmer-Labor state convention in Duluth, 1938.
Black and white photograph of a spontaneous demonstration for Governor Elmer Benson at Duluth Convention, 1938.
Black and white photograph of a spontaneous demonstration for Governor Elmer Benson at Duluth Convention, 1938.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson with Vice President Henry Wallace, c.1939.
Black and white photograph of Governor Elmer Benson with Vice President Henry Wallace, c.1939.

Turning Point

In 1938, Harold Stassen, a Republican reform candidate, wins a landslide victory over Governor Benson. Benson and the Farmer-Labor Party will never recover from the defeat.

Chronology

September 22, 1895

Benson is born in Appleton, Minnesota, to a family and region steeped in a progressive version of rural populism.

1922

Benson begins his banking career in Appleton, developing a strong understanding of rural banking and the needs of farmers and small-town business people.

1920s

Benson distinguishes himself as an effective leader of the Farmer-Labor organization in Swift County.

1932

Farmer-Labor governor Floyd Olson appoints Benson as Commissioner of Securities. Benson builds a reputation as an effective cabinet member and a strong advocate for rural concerns.

1935

In December, Olson appoints Benson to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Republican Thomas D. Schall.

Summer 1936

After the death of popular Governor Floyd B. Olson, the Farmer-Labor Party nominates Elmer Benson to succeed him.

November 1936

Benson wins the governorship in a landslide. Farmer-Laborites win six Congressional seats, a working majority in the state legislature, and all of the state constitutional offices. The state senate remains in Republican hands.

January 5, 1937

In his inaugural address, Benson proposes the most extensive progressive reform agenda in state history. It includes increased support for the unemployed, struggling farmers, public education, and labor, all funded through progressive taxation.

April 5, 1937

Benson addresses the People’s Lobby, a protest group that had occupied the state capital to pressure reluctant Republican senators to support the governor’s agenda. The press charges Benson with encouraging disruptive and intimidating behavior.

Winter–Spring, 1937 and 1938

Benson’s strong support for the emerging CIO and battles in the Farmer-Labor Association over patronage and Communist participation put a strain on FLP unity.

Summer 1938

Hjalmar Peterson, who served briefly as governor following Olson’s death, challenges Benson in the Farmer-Labor primary. Benson wins by a narrow margin but is badly weakened.

November 8, 1938

Taking advantage of FLP division, Republican Harold Stassen defeats Benson in a campaign that combines a mild reform agenda with charges of communist influence and government patronage. The Republican Party recaptures its dominance in Minnesota politics.

1944

In April, following continued defeats by the Republican Party, and committed to the re-election of Franklin Roosevelt, Benson leads the FLP into a merger with the still-smaller Democrats, forming the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party.

Spring–Fall, 1948

The DFL splits over a contest between the Cold War policies of Harry Truman and his challenger, Henry Wallace. The Democrats win a decisive victory that ends the influence (and visibility) of Benson’s Farmer-Laborites.

Fall 1948

As national chair of the Progressive Party, Benson remains an outspoken opponent of Truman’s foreign and domestic policies.

1951

Benson is forced to retire from public life following complications from encephalitis.