Maddow: Senator Lundeen had built his career on being outspoken against the US joining foreign wars. It is a tradition in this building to claim that this policy or that piece of legislation is bi-partisan. And as soon as he was assigned to this new job by the Attorney General, Maloney began putting the pieces together, starting with Ernest Lundeen and George Sylvester Viereck and what sure seemed to be an improper relationship there. He was. And she knew that she herself had just hidden away the evidence that would prove it. But when she turned up at his office, she wasnt there to comfort his staff, or to speak with his colleagues, or collect his personal effects. And George Sylvester Viereck was the top German agent in charge of executing that mission in the United States. What we do: We create products for those who want to make their mark. All accusations of this nature are emphatically denied in the letters of the Attorney General Jackson and J. Edgar Hoover. This is the man, who after the grave had closed on him, and he could no longer defend his good name, has been ruthlessly slandered by repeatedly suggesting that Senator Lundeen was not a loyal American. These speeches would run as articles, under Lundeens byline, as if the senator had written them himself. Legislature Home > Senate >. We found correspondence from a Vice President at NBC telling Norma Lundeen that he personally had intervened to delete mentions of Senator Lundeen from two different broadcasts. The bill attracted support from liberals dissatisfied with the less generous and much less radical Wagner-Lewis bill (which became the Social Security Act). A paid agent of Hitler's government ramps up a targeted propaganda effort aimed at weakening democracy and supporting the fascist cause in America. It wasnt surprising, therefore, thatTIME Magazine, in a particularly vicious swipe at the late lawmaker,referred to Norma Lundeen shortly before the primary as the 46-year-old widow of British-hating, German-loving Senator Ernest Lundeen.. Photo of Minnesota Sen. Ernest Lundeen, April 1940. senator noun. Young: Republicans are just feeling very defeated as if theres nothing that they can do to stop Roosevelt. Senator with a quite literal German agent of influence sitting in his office, writing speeches for him, writing pieces that are paid pieces. Senator spreading Nazi propaganda or anti-war propaganda on the floor of the Senate. They asserted that Lundeens speeches were bitterly anti-British and vigorously against American preparedness. Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about Private activist groups operating outside law enforcement were tracing stolen U.S. military weapons and complex, violent plots involving homegrown violent fascists with help and financing from Berlin. Maddow: Viereck told Lundeen that he had a plan by which they could make some pretty serious cash. So at that point, they had two options: fess up, give up the game, cooperate with the investigation; or, try to burn the whole thing down. The letter reads: "May I be a senator after Wash[ington] and Lincoln and under God (always for our America.)". Maddow: The Viereck files. Radio Announcer: Youre about to hear an address delivered before a meeting of the America First Committee in Madison Square Garden in New York City. And then it was Moran and his chapter of the Christian Front that so energetically distributed it. Hed spent years at the U.S. Attorneys office in the Southern District of New York handling high-profile federal cases of fraud and corruption. I have been asked, can a team of twelve, the minority caucus in this august chamber make a difference? 2. in ancient Rome, the chief legislative and administrative body. There are challenges. Bradley Hart: His initial idea is that he's going to have a US Senator spreading Nazi propaganda on the floor of the Senate. We care about your safety and that of your children. That's Viereck's portfolio from Germany. To the People of Colorado: We care about your familys ability to get aheadnot just survive. Rachel Maddow: A mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. Kinda sounds like melodramatic radio-age hyperbole, I know. senado. Just as she failed to find justice in the courtroom, the soft-spoken and attractive Lundeen found little fondness and impartiality for her husbands memory at the ballot box as Benson, still enormously popular among Farmer-Laborites in the Twin Cities and with miners on Minnesotas Iron Range, easily captured the partys U.S. Senate nomination, garnering 66,051 votes to Lundeens 24,019 and 17,163 for Arens. Initially, his Communist sympathies remained strong: in 1936, then Senator-elect Lundeen addressed a meeting of the "Friends of the Soviet Union" at Madison Square Garden as Tovarishchi ("Comrades"). The thick-lipped Viereck, who reportedly earned more than $100,000 singing the praises of Adolf Hitler while excoriating the British, was later indicted by a grand jury shortly after the devastating sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and was subsequently convicted on charges that he had deliberately concealed information when he registered as an agent of a foreign government. Viereck's plan was working. Phone: (202) 224-2441. Maddow: This wasn't just pocket money, this was a whole new second stream of considerable income for the Senator. Lundeens husband, who had been tragically killed in a plane crash near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia two years earlier, was reportedly under investigation by the FBI at the time of his death. He was one of 50 representatives to vote against the declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917. All of us face a water shortage crisis that will desiccate our grandchildrens future unless we are serious about storing the precious resources to which we are legally entitled. By then, the Lundeen name had been too badlytarnished by revelations that her late husband had associated with some fairly seedy characters on the Far Right, the most damaging of which was his longtime association with George Sylvester Viereck, a controversial German-American poet and novelist who was then serving a two-to-six year prison sentence for having worked as a publicist and propagandist for the Nazis following Hitlers rise to power in Germany. But we are intent to do more than just talk. And that Viereck file that the Senator's wife was looking for and that she took away so soon after her husband died, that file contained more than a decade's-worth of correspondence between Lundeen and Viereck. And even beyond going after reporters, Norma denied what was inarguably clear to anyone with eyes. Images: Telephone; U.S. Constitution; Senate leaders Byrd & Baker; John Glenn receives medal; Appropriations Committee Contact Leadership & Officers Former Senators Qualifications & Terms of Service Facts & Milestones States On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington to, Detroit. Hed never lost a case. Among the crash victims were Nazi sympathizer Senator Ernest Lundeen (R-Minn; born August 4, 1878 Dakota Territory) and (reputedly) a couple of FBI agents, along with other passengers and crew members on the ill-fated flight that left that afternoon from Washington DC heading for Detroit. ", On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington, D.C. to Detroit. Leadership Position. Maddow: This was the early 1940s. Senator Lundeen gave this speech detailing the history of the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party on August 15, 1940 Lundeen served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War. He operated all over the country in the lead-up to America entering World War II. All of us face something completely unexpected in Coloradoempty store shelvesand runaway UNaffordability when we do find the products and services we seek. And so, newly appointed by the Attorney General, William Power Maloney decided to move quickly. Nazis in America: FDR 1940 and the 'Trump Era' ( sent) noun. The members or legislators of a senate are called senators. PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, Exhibit 1 62-CV-18-254 Filed in Second Judicial District Court 1/30/2018 2:53 PM Ramsey County, MN, A Guide to the Records of Minnesota's Public Lands, Sixty-Eighth Congress March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1925. Her name was Norma. In part because everyone who choosesand most politicians chooseown a broadcast channel. She had a taste for flamboyant hats. Together we must find balance in our discussions and a willingness to look to that far horizon. It helped him transform his scheme from a two-man band into a kind of assembly-line of Nazi propaganda being pumped out of the U.S. Captiol and into the mailboxes of unsuspecting Americans from coast-to-coast. Hart: We have a U.S. The series is Executive Produced by myself and Mike Yarvitz, and it's produced by Kelsey Desiderio. Young: Viereck would stand in Lundeen's office and use Lundeen's Senate phone to make phone calls to conduct their Nazi business in the United States, disseminating Nazi propaganda to unsuspecting Americans and it's not costing us, German Nazis, a single reichsmark. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. To commemorate the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, and recognize the service of the first female senator in 1922, learn about the Women of the Senate. In 1896, Lundeen and his family moved to Harcourt, Iowa, and then to Minnesota. The senator would not say why. Paul Lundeen is the Republican Colorado Senator for District 9. Norma Lundeen: Only a few days after the husband and father we loved had been laid away, this storm of malice broke. Together we face some persistent problems and it is likely that new challenges will arise. Here are historians Nancy Beck Young and Bradley Hart. In an echo of Coveys encouragement for to us to seek first to understand then to be understood, lets start from the perspective that every material amendment offeredis a friendly amendment. Our Web Producer is Will Femia. From Jan 1937 to Aug 1940, Lundeen missed 76 of 416 roll call votes, which is 18.3%. The Senate Republican caucus eagerly awaits the opportunity to help achieve solutions that will benefit all Coloradans. Long forgotten, Norman Lundeen Holman the wife of two U.S. His base of operations the center of American democracy itself the United States Congress. Addresses for each senator can be found on the senator's website or state's web page. If any media outlet requires photographs of any of our Senators, they are invited to use anything contained on our Flickr account with attribution to Colorado Senate Republicans.. Sen. Ernest Lundeen sent these pamphlets to his constituents, and asked them to indicate whether or not they supported the United States declaring war on Germany. A letter Sen. Ernest Lundeen wrote to himself on the eve before he was sworn in to the United States Senate. He needed more pre-paid envelopes. When ore is blasted by the heat of the crucible it is refined into something precious. Pitted against the popular Benson and ex-Farmer-Labor congressman Henry M. Arens, a 70-year-old former lieutenant governor with deep ties to the states farm cooperative movement, many observers believed that the Lundeen name still possessed some magic in Minnesota Farmer-Labor circles, especially among the states large German-American population. And in more ways than one. Sitting members of Congress, and the America First movement, take part in an elaborate scheme to subvert democracy. Senator Ernest Lundeen would then deliver those speeches on the floor of the Senate, enter them into the Congressional Record. When Senator Lundeen boarded that doomed Pennsylvania Central Airlines plane in August 1940, remember that his final destination was back home in Minnesota, where he was slated to deliver a speech on Labor Day weekend. That speech was also a speech against America getting into the war. Moving forward we propose the marker that gives honest purchase to the claim of bipartisanship should be: the tone, tenor and discernable principles and meaningful details folded into the legislation. View all links. Toward that end, Ive put a fully amendment 41 compliant gift on each of your desks today. Senator McCrory is committed to strengthening neighborhoods through education, development and civic engagement. 513 Hart Senate Office Building. Our Senior Executive Producers are Cory Gnazzo and Laura Conaway. We wont be able to fix every problem this state faces during these next 119 days. I warn the American people that we cannot defend America by defending old, decadent, and dying empires. For the Colorado State Senate member, see, Districts 910 and statewide general ticket (obsolete), List of United States Congress members who died in office (190049), Ernest Lundeen, Minnesota Legislative Reference Library-Minnesota Legislators Past and Present, "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra | an MSNBC original podcast", "Editorial: Minnesota's pro-Hitler senator", "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra - Episode 4: A Bad Angle", "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra - Episode 5: Shut It Down", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Third party officeholders in the United States, Notable third party performances in United States elections, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernest_Lundeen&oldid=1134089249, American military personnel of the SpanishAmerican War, Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives, University of Minnesota Law School alumni, FarmerLabor Party United States senators, Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota, FarmerLabor Party members of the United States House of Representatives, Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1940, Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Company B-12th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment, This page was last edited on 16 January 2023, at 23:45. Paul is a conservative fighter focused on protecting school choice, the 2nd amendment, and making Colorado more affordable. Like the people of Colorado do every day, we must all lean forward and strain toward the prize of a better Colorado for ourselves, our children and our posterity. This was Vierecks life's work. Education. Armed with that information, William Maloney took action. All of us face a season of rising crime that will continue to expand unless we commit to a culture that honors law and law enforcement. Because apparently it wasn't just this one Senator, this one recently-deceased Senator Ernest Lundeen who had been involved. The members of Congress who were working with this Nazi agent, they were members of both the Senate and the House. Remember the thousands and thousands of Nazi propaganda books and leaflets and pamphlets that he disseminated all over Boston and the Northeast? 1890-1914, Guide to a Microfilm Edition of the Alexander Ramsey Papers and Records, 2021 Directory of Licensed and Certified Health Care Facilities (PDF), CHAIRMEN of SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES [Table 5-3] 1789Present, Minnesota's Scandinavian Political Legacy, Knute Nelson and the Immigration Question, History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier.Pdf, CAPITOL AREA ARCHITECTURAL and PLANNING BOARD (CAAPB) and the MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Federal Government President of the United States, Farmer-Labor, Minnesota) Senator Lundeen Gave This Speech Detailing the History of the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party on August 15, 1940, Norse Centennial in America from Bemidji MNS Newspaper, The Pioneer Sunday, August 1 2004 Page B5, The Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota Politics: 1918-1948, CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. senate. I have beside me four photographs proving the truth of my statement. They asserted that Lundeens speeches were bitterly anti-British and vigorously against American preparedness. Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about to be exposed, whether G-men on the plane tangled with Lundeen on the flight, or whether it was an act of God and the weather may never be known, they declared. He did manage to turn a sitting U.S. senator into a paid mouthpiece for a foreign fascist government. Norma Lundeen: A number of photographs of my husband were taken while he was speaking. This is a deliberate falsehood designed to mislead. Maddow: When George Viereck was looking for a member of Congress to rope into his new scheme to have the Hitler government advance its work through the U.S. Congress, Senator Ernest Lundeen was perhaps an obvious first target for him. Viereck wrote Lundeen's speeches. Maddow: Despite her efforts to hide her husband's relationship with Viereck, her removing the documentary evidence from her husbands office right after his death. Senator Ernest Lundeen, a scandalous story had begun to unspool about how the Senator was tangled up with a Nazi agent. She said it was a big misunderstanding. Well that material was supplied to Francis Moran by George Sylvester Viereck. Initially, his Communist sympathies remained strong: in 1936, then Senator-elect Lundeen addressed a meeting of the "Friends of the Soviet Union" at Madison Square Garden as Tovarishchi ("Comrades"). Senator Paul Lundeen. And less than 48-hours after her husband had died, she in one of her memorable hats marched into his Senate office in the U.S. Capitol. Maddow: The widow of Senator Ernest Lundeen. It turned out that Viereck also helped write speeches for several isolationist congressmen, including ghostwriting at least six speeches for Lundeen all of which came out during his closely-watched trial in early 1942, seven months before the Minnesota primary. Maddow: By 1940, George Sylvester Viereck and Senator Ernest Lundeen were a well-oiled, two-man propaganda machine. Kindred Was a Very Rich Man, UNIVERSITY of MINNESOTA BOARD of REGENTS Alphabetical by Last Name, Evolution of the Superior National Forest, A Sesquicentennial Journey 20052008 Letter from the Commissioners, The Washburn - Nelson Senatorial Campaign of 1894-1895, Otnngrt51linnal Jtcnrd. But Senator Lundeen was also someone who always had money on the mind. Hart: What Viereck realizes is that members of Congress have unique privileges relating to the words that they speak on the floor of the House or Senate and to the Congressional Record itself. To do that, within 2 days after the crash she travelled to his office in the Capitol to retrieve the "Viereck files". So now we launch into 120 days of policy and politics. Contents 1 Party affiliation 2 Leadership 2.1 Presiding officers 2.2 Majority leadership 2.3 Minority leadership 3 List of senators 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References A copy of the Congressional Record from 1940, containing Sen. Ernest Lundeen's last speech on the floor of the Senate. We face some tough issues this session, those empty shelves I mentioned earlier, unaffordable goods and services, crime, a struggling education system, soaring energy costs. But besides their connection to this German foreign agent, they did all have one other thing in common. When wheat is fed into the thresher the chaff blows away. Sound design by Tarek Fouda. Maddow: Norma Lundeen made her case, defending her husband passionately and directly to the public. Madeleine Haeringer is our Head of Editorial. 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