Lundeens secretary arrived at the senators office on that fateful morning and found Lundeen slumped over on his desk: Hes got his head down on his desk, his head is Together we must find balance in our discussions and a willingness to look to that far horizon. The wreckage of the Pennsylvania Central Airlines plane, which crashed during a violent thunderstorm near Lovettsville on August 31, 1940. To reach that kind of scale, he needed more speeches. [10] Within the year after the tragedy, the story that Lundeen's speeches have been written by Viereck had been reported by several journalists. Senate. When Norma Lundeen took to the airwaves that Sunday in May 1941, she and her family were very much still in the throes of grief. This is a deliberate falsehood designed to mislead. Copyright 2022 Colorado Senate Republicans.All Rights Reserved. That's a charitable way of putting it. Maddow: Norma Lundeen made her case, defending her husband passionately and directly to the public. The answer rings clear. Current Membership: Each Senator represents 931,349 Californians. We hope that the majority will listen to our ideas and incorporate the best of them in what we ultimately together offer the people of Colorado. 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. 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. All of them, Maloney now realized, apparent participants in this operation funded and run by the Hitler government to disseminate Nazi propaganda to the American people. Hart: His initial idea is that he's going to have a U.S. 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. His father, C. H. Lundeen, was an early pioneer who was credited with the naming of Brooklyn Township as well as with helping to establish the school and other institutions located there. Senators died in relative obscurity in 1983 at the age of 87. Leadership Position. It is those who love the dead, and who all the years of their lives will bear his name with pride, they are the ones who feel the force of the dagger driven into the back of the dead. The study explained that Berlin had charged German agents in the U.S. with finding these kernels of disturbance, which were described as, "racial controversies, economic inequalities, petty jealousies in public life, differences of opinion which divide political parties and minority groups. Even the "frustrated ambitions of discarded politicians." Each state in the US elects two senators who serve six-year terms in Washington, DC, where they pass laws and vote on policies. House of Representatives. President, Mr. Maddow: William Power Maloney arrested and indicted George Sylvester Viereck. A senator is someone who is elected in the central legislative body of a state (usually it concerns the upper, more prominent chamber of Parliament), by voters of a region or other territorial district, and fulfills this governing mandate for a number of years, according to the law. Norma Lundeen: I am the widow of Ernest Lundeen, United States senator from Minnesota, who was killed in an airplane crash on August 31, 1940. Sitting members of Congress, and the America First movement, take part in an elaborate scheme to subvert democracy. Filter members by last name, committee, district number, or party (type (D) (R) for party): Home Page. January 17, 2023 at 11:16 a.m. Below are the remarks as delivered by Gov. They asserted that Lundeens speeches were bitterly anti-British and vigorously against American preparedness. Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about Our Technical Director is Bryson Barnes. Nazis in America: FDR 1940 and the 'Trump Era' He said a lot of aspirational things about making Colorado better," said Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen. Republican State Senator Paul Lundeen could be the next President of the State Senate if Republicans take the majority. What was Hitler trying to do? [3] They funneled millions and millions of dollars through him and his various U.S. efforts on behalf of the German government. How many members of Congress were in on this thing? She did not want the photos of his kids off his desk. DENVER Below is the transcript of Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeens (R-Monument) speech on the opening day of the First Regular Session of the 74th General Assembly. DENVER Below is the transcript of Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeens (R-Monument) speech on the opening day of the First Regular Session of the 74th General Assembly. I realize you have precious little time to read another item at this moment, so its more of a placeholder for a conversation. No, the thing that Norma was really set on denying first and foremost was the allegation that someone other than her husband had been writing his speeches. In part because everyone who choosesand most politicians chooseown a broadcast channel. All of us face something completely unexpected in Coloradoempty store shelvesand runaway UNaffordability when we do find the products and services we seek. 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. Young: Norma Lundeen is going all spouse-proud and, "My husband was not a Nazi," saying things like that to the press. That's when he had first gotten to know Viereck. Maddow: George Sylvester Viereck was an agent working on behalf of the fascist government in Germany. senate. On their own, together, in teams, or as organisations. His excellent, excellent book is called Hitler's American Friends: The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States. Highest recommendation, 12 stars out of ten! But Norma Lundeen was just getting warmed up. He wanted this propaganda effort to have a broader reach. Services Learn more about Sustain. Many of the issues fought over in this past election are not solved, they are still with us. Maddow: Do you remember Francis Moran, the leader of the Christian Front in Boston? Declaring her candidacy shortly before the states filing deadline, Lundeens last-minute entry created a three-way race for the Farmer-Labor Partys U.S. Senate nomination, forcing former Gov. Bill Information. Much broader. For most of our customisable plastic, metal writing instruments and drinkware, the enitre value chain - from design and production, including tool manufacture through to assembly, printing and logistics - is located in-house. This promises to be good. It is almost unanimous, the people we represent, the whole people of Colorado, say they do NOT like polarized politics. Nove~IBER 19, Federal Government Chapter Eight Chapter Eight, Knute Nelson. I had not read about her or her husband before. But historians who've studied this have made the very obvious point, how could she have not known his connection to Viereck and the Nazis? senado. And the old-fashioned idea behind it is that members of Congress should easily be able to communicate with their voters back home about what theyre doing in Washington. The agent sent this letter to Lundeen, telling him not to worry about the press being onto them, and that the whole thing was a \"witch hunt.\". senado. A recession appears to be at our shared doorstep and the government continues to grow faster than family budgets. [10] Norma tried to prevent that narrative by claiming that "no one wrote [her] husband's speeches" and threatening to sue one of the journalists who was reporting on it. Armed with that information, William Maloney took action. And then in the run-up to World War II, he was basically the poster child in the Senate for leaving Germany alone to just do its thing. She was looking for something very specific. 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. Norma then proceeded to falsely testify that she indeed took the Viereck files, but the files are gone due to a burglary that has taken place at their residence. It's really a scheme of genius in some ways, I think we would say evil genius. Post something that gets attention and likes and shares and viral explosion, or post something that informs, even if it informs people of something theyd prefer not to hear. But the woman behind the mic that day, she was someone who was in a unique and interesting situation. We cannot, nor should we ever, expect the people of Colorado to unwillingly surrender anything that is theirs, including their hard-earned money, their closely-held beliefs, their livelihoods or small businesses, or their basic rights as enshrined in the United States Constitution. Hart: We have a number of the biggest figures in American politics in this period, men who are truly household names, the biggest names really in Republican congressional politics, they all fall under the spell of this Nazi propaganda operation. The bill was narrowly voted out of the Labor Committee, but it was killed by House leadership, which wanted no competition for Wagner-Lewis. I was hoping to give a different, larger, not longer but larger, speech from a different location; about 15 feet back and about 7 feet higher. What we do: We create products for those who want to make their mark. Why? That's what they were expecting. Despite Norma's best efforts, the secret was getting out in the press and, soon, in court. [11] It was later discovered that the files were actually stored in the Lundeen family archives. In reality, a number of the most high-profile America First members of Congress were in cahoots with a paid agent of the Hitler government who was supplying them with propaganda intended not just to keep the U.S. out of World War II, but also to divide Americans along political lines, racial lines, religious lines, class lines, all in the interest of national demoralization." They were all being held in that D.C. apartment raided by William Maloney that day. He did manage to turn a sitting U.S. senator into a paid mouthpiece for a foreign fascist government. His work, his identity, it really wasnt a secret. 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. 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. She had a taste for flamboyant hats. He was trying to sow dissension among the American public about the war effort and about our own system of government, to spread misinformation that was favorable to Germany and disfavorable to us and our allies. Viereck supplied the Christian Front and other violent ultra-right groups around the country. You can find much more about this series you can see what we mean about Norma Lundeen's hat problem and that "just a bad angle" photo of her husband all at our website: MSNBC.com/ultra. The previous 12 months had shown that the federal government, time and again, was behind the eight ball when it came to this gathering threat at home from the ultra-right the plotting and planning of extremists in this country who were inclined towards violence and, in many cases, hooked up with the Hitler government. They were all in on the cause. The bill attracted support from liberals dissatisfied with the less generous and much less radical Wagner-Lewis bill (which became the Social Security Act). Maddow: This wasn't just pocket money, this was a whole new second stream of considerable income for the Senator. That evidence would not stay hidden forever. Maddow: And that right there, that is where Norma Lundeen slipped up. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. But the other members of Congress, that band of America Firsters who were all in on it, too, they were still flying under the radar. Again, this was less than 48 hours after the crash that killed her husband. [1] He then served as a Republican from Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives, from March 4, 1917, to March 3, 1919, in the 65th congress. From both parties. Envelopes bearing the names of Senators Rush Holt and Senator Burton Wheeler and Congressman Clare Hoffman, and all sorts of others. Options for Contacting Senators. The charming 46-year-old widow waged a relatively low-key campaign, quietly yet passionately defending her late husbands record and promising an all-out prosecution of the war, all the while presciently warning the voters of Minnesota that the internationalists including the Farmer-Labor Partys own Elmer Benson would keep American troops in Europe, Africa and Asia following the war, thereby making the United States the policemen of the world. No one wrote my husband's speeches. To the majority caucus: We will make honest and sincere efforts to work with you. A special thanks to historian Bradley Hart. WITNESS SAYS HILL USED LUNDEEN FRANK; Mrs. Spielman Testifies Viereck Wrote Speeches for Senator. These coming years will likely be tough on the people of Colorado, and only through bipartisan cooperation, and reasoned application of the best and most inherently sustainable ideas, will we be able to overcome the challenges all of us face. Disc 20612 Side A from Box T41-26. DENVER Below is the transcript of Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeens (R-Monument) speech on the opening day of the First Regular Session of the 74th General Assembly. Together we face some persistent problems and it is likely that new challenges will arise. near Lovettsville, Virginia and all 25 persons on board were killed, including Senator 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. Viereck was not some kind of code word. For it is in those commonsense and broadly acceptable solutions and the ability to crane our necks to see beyond today, even tomorrow, far beyond our time in this chamber that the optimism of the people of Colorado rests. He was gonna need more Senators. Hart: Many of these men begin sort of searching their own files, trying to find out what their legal exposure might be. So when federal agents raided the publicist's apartment that day, what they expected to find was a bunch of stuff involving Ernest Lundeen. The speech The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. Senator Ernest Lundeen: I have never heard a German, or a German born American, with the gall to ask that we help Germany, but red, yellow, brown, black and white Norma Lundeen: Only a few days after the husband and father we loved had been laid away, this storm of malice broke. In politics unexpected losses bless you with focused thoughts. Paul is a conservative fighter focused on protecting school choice, the 2nd amendment, and making Colorado more affordable. The twelve Republican senators seated in this chamber were also elected by the hard-working people who call Colorado home. They expected to find evidence of that scheme that they knew about: notes, documents, records of payments, other evidence linking this Nazi agent to Senator Lundeen. Kelsey Desiderio: How many Americans were actually receiving Nazi propaganda in their mailboxes as a result of this scheme? Her name was Norma. The series is Executive Produced by myself and Mike Yarvitz, and it's produced by Kelsey Desiderio. America First. That tight-little, patriotic-sounding populist slogan was both a don't-get-involved-in-the-war rallying cry, and a good, profile-boosting vehicle for members of congress who for whatever reason were opposed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was just an electoral juggernaut at the time. ", 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. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. The speech extolled the great contributions of German culture to American life, and argued that Americans had more in common with the fascist German government than it did with the democracies Germany was busy invading. Maddow: Millions of Americans. Senator Bob Rankin Announces his Resignation Dec 1, Minnesotas Norma Lundeen, widow of the Farmer-Labor Partys Ernest Lundeen, an isolationist who was later accused of being a Nazi sympathizer, unexpectedly entered the race for her late husbands U.S. Senate seat in July of 1942. Rachel Maddow: A mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. Kinda sounds like melodramatic radio-age hyperbole, I know. A paid agent of Hitler's government ramps up a targeted propaganda effort aimed at weakening democracy and supporting the fascist cause in America. And so the American taxpayer in this period is paying for well-meaning Americans to receive Nazi propaganda thats produced by George Sylvester Viereck and his allies, and being mailed through the U.S. Manifest for Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19 on August 31, 1940. Hart: This is a man who is a fairly known quantity. Young: Once Lundeen was approached by Viereck, Lundeen was all in. 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. Covering Third Parties and Independent Candidates Since 2008. On each Senator's Home Page you will find his/her contact information, Capitol and District addresses and phone numbers, a map of the district, the Member's biography, a list of all the legislation authored by that Senator, his/her committee memberships, press releases and other publications, district links, and more. That said, colleagues, I am grateful and honored for the opportunity to stand before you today and share with you some hopes going into this legislative session. Because what had really ticked her off was not just the reporting that her husband was being tailed by the FBI, or that he was under investigation for being in cahoots with a Nazi agent, or that he made a practice of standing under a big swastika banner. And Lundeen, from the archival record, seems to be making great use of what Viereck gives him. I think we would say evil genius. Our Associate Producer is Janmaris Perez. 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.. The handwritten note at the top was added by his widow, Norma. Washington, DC 20510. You will experience the difference in the way this body and the broader General Assembly takes on and talks about issues. His very, very well-funded mission in the United States was two-fold: to try to keep the United States from getting into World War II, but also to soften us up, to mess with us, to make us just less effective as a country, by finding and exploiting what the Germans called "kernels of disturbance" in the United States. But what prosecutor William Power Maloney actually found during that raid, it set him back on his heels. Lundeen was elected to the United States Senate in 1936 as a member of the Farmer-Labor Party. Hart: What Viereck does is he combines this incredible power of essentially unlimited copies of the congressional record printed at government expense, envelopes that are pre-franked, could be mailed a government expense. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives 191114. Senator Ernest Lundeen and George Sylvester Viereck were old friends. Despite the loud protests of the senators widow, Norma Lundeen, on the radio her threats to sue reporters into submission, her attempts to gaslight the American people that her husband wasnt really standing in front of the swastika despite all of that, the details of her husbands relationship with this Nazi agent, those details began to get out. 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