His real talent was recruiting sympathetic Americans to do the work for him; recruiting Americans sometimes with cash, but sometimes just with his charm, with his powers of persuasion. She complained to the radio stations who carried his reporting, trying to get him taken off the air; she threatened the sponsors who advertised on the broadcasts in which he appeared. Amateurs were turning this stuff up, not the authorities. What we can do is give space in every Coloradans life. But the woman behind the mic that day, she was someone who was in a unique and interesting situation. Global Reach Hart: This was a closely guarded sort of set of correspondence that Norma Lundeen did not want out in the wider world. 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. 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. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. And I think that for some, playing footsie with fascists was a good idea, they thought. The twelve Republican senators seated in this chamber were also elected by the hard-working people who call Colorado home. Viereck's plan was working. Maddow: The widow of Senator Ernest Lundeen. Don't believe your lying eyes. 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. 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. He served from January 3, 1937, in the 75th and 76th Congresses until his death. They were all being held in that D.C. apartment raided by William Maloney that day. He was criminally charged for his role in the scheme that he ran through Congress, which was a shot across the bow to all the members of Congress who had helped Viereck carry out the scheme. To reach that kind of scale, he needed more speeches. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. Senator McCrory is committed to strengthening neighborhoods through education, development and civic engagement. With additional sound from CBS News. But we are intent to do more than just talk. The election is behind us, and we honor the result. We insist to be full participants in the legislative process in this chamber, and will offer our best, constructive suggestions for making the future laws of this state better. ", 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. It is almost unanimous, the people we represent, the whole people of Colorado, say they do NOT like polarized politics. Our Associate Producer is Janmaris Perez. He needed to reach millions of Americans. 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 All of those members of Congress tied up in Vierecks scheme, all of them were associated with something called the America First movement. How far did it go? He served from January 3, 1937, in the 75th and 76th Congresses until his death. Maddow: In the year following the death of Senator Ernest Lundeen, newspaper and radio journalists began to figure out what exactly Lundeen had been up to with this German agent, George Viereck. Maddow: George Sylvester Viereck was an agent working on behalf of the fascist government in Germany. He sees Lundeen as an easy mark. Republican. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. Yet, in the face of haunting statistics about rising crime and exploding unaffordability, the people of this state get up every morning, unsure of what the day ahead holds, and work to build better lives for themselves and their families. Bold. Hart: We believe it's millions of Americans. She was looking for something very specific. Despite the persistent problems and challenges the people of Colorado face, I am optimistic about our future.because the people of Colorado are an optimistic people. This is a deliberate falsehood designed to mislead. 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. We must not use the resources and mechanisms of state government in a way that encumbers our grandchildren with a burden that cripples their future economy or saddles those precious souls with a debt they can never repay. In late 1940 and early 1941, the Ernest Lundeen story it started off bad, it took a hard right turn, but then it just kept getting worse and worse all the time with each new revelation. Bill Information. Senator Bob Rankin Announces his Resignation Dec 1, 2022 May 18, 1941, 11:30 to 11:45pm, the NBC Blue Network. Maddow: Norma contacted the news networks directly, demanding that they put a gag on any journalist who wanted to talk about her late husband. Filter members by last name, committee, district number, or party (type (D) (R) for party): Home Page. senador. A letter Sen. Ernest Lundeen wrote to himself on the eve before he was sworn in to the United States Senate. Viereck supplied the Christian Front and other violent ultra-right groups around the country. Hart: This is a man who is a fairly known quantity. senator. [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. The bill was narrowly voted out of the Labor Committee, but it was killed by House leadership, which wanted no competition for Wagner-Lewis. [2] Owing to the vote, he would lose renomination for the Republican primary in 1918 to the eventual winner, Walter Newton. But he remained isolationist and was later denounced by the party as a reactiona 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 races all are expected to die for the British Empire. in Episode one, features Senator Lundeen, the plane crash, and more. Inventory of Art in the Minnesota State Capitol March 2013, Politics Among Danish Americans in the Midwest, Ca. It was disbanded when Derrick was only six, after that grouchy old ultra-Libertarian Senator Timothy de Illy His base of operations the center of American democracy itself the United States Congress. Ernest Lundeen of the Minnesota Senate in the 76 congress. Our Senior Executive Producers are Cory Gnazzo and Laura Conaway. Jared Poliss office. Majority Leader, colleagues, families, guests here in the Capitol, and to the People of Colorado : Welcome. 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. But thats not exactly what Norma wanted to talk about when she stepped behind the mic that day. I think we would say evil genius. In that demand for the papers, there is what could be read as an acknowledgement of guilt. 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. Hart: It's really a scheme of, of genius in some ways. Norma Lundeen: A number of photographs of my husband were taken while he was speaking. The Justice Department had failed to convict the members of the Christian Front who tried to overthrow the government. Special Prosecutor William Power Maloney spoke of Viereck as one of the most serious menaces to this country. And so, newly appointed by the Attorney General, William Power Maloney decided to move quickly. Radio Reporter: George Sylvester Viereck, the man who has been prominent for several years as a Nazi propagandist. A copy of the Congressional Record from 1940, containing Sen. Ernest Lundeen's last speech on the floor of the Senate. States in the Senate Lists of all senators from each state and facts about each state's history in the U.S. 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. But it's almost something from a James Bond film. Occupation. The plane, a Douglas DC-3, flew into turbulence from a thunderstorm. 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. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern. 25 people were killed, including Minnesota Sen. Ernest Lundeen. Viereck wrote Lundeen's speeches. All of us face a public school system that is hemorrhaging quality teachers and failing to meet the needs of far too many students unless we fund and focus on students instead of the system. Coloradans remain optimistic. And while he was doing that, he was also wheedling his way into the heart of American power. The plane crashed near Lovettsville, Virginia, and all 25 persons on board were killed. He operated all over the country in the lead-up to America entering World War II. 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." Maddow: By 1940, George Sylvester Viereck and Senator Ernest Lundeen were a well-oiled, two-man propaganda machine. And all of us face a future where energy is unreliable and unaffordable unless we wisely use the best carbon transition fuels we have and explore alternative energy options, like nuclear. He was fully capable of writing his own, and he wrote his own. But the speaker was in fact doing something unusual. Senator Ernest Lundeen and George Sylvester Viereck were old friends. Young: Wheeler used his position as a sitting member of the United States Senate to lobby the Justice Department to fire Maloney. 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. [10] Viereck's defense called her as a witness during his trial. As representative, he was one of 50 Congressman to vote, against the declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917.v He served as a Party member in, the House from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1937 in the 73rd and 74th congresses. She told the staff that she wanted the Viereck files. This is on par with the median of 17.7% among the lifetime records of senators serving He should write books or something! Other countries have senators as well, either elected or appointed. 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. Maddow: Viereck told Lundeen that he had a plan by which they could make some pretty serious cash. The German agent would provide speeches to Senator Lundeen, Lundeen would then deliver on the Senate floor, theyd get tons of copies made, then the publicist would run logistics on getting those copies mailed out to the public. Lundeen was elected to the United States Senate in 1936 as a member of the Farmer-Labor Party. 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. Thanks for sharing this interesting article about Norma Lundeen. Well that material was supplied to Francis Moran by George Sylvester Viereck. Welcome. From both parties. We can ratchet up the noise of politics or we can elevate the level of debate. Norma Lundeen: Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you on a mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. What George Sylvester Viereck figured out was that he could weaponize that against the American people. Have you visited? Each state in the US elects two senators who serve six-year terms in Washington, DC, where they pass laws and vote on policies. Senator spreading Nazi propaganda or anti-war propaganda on the floor of the Senate. But Norma Lundeen was just getting warmed up. Young: Once Lundeen was approached by Viereck, Lundeen was all in. Phone numbers are available on each state's page or on your senator's website. This promises to be good. Ernest Lundeen (August 4, 1878 August 31, 1940) was an American lawyer and politician. 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. 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. Testifying as a witness for the defense in Vierecks trial, Norma Lundeen said that she had never heard Viereck utter a single un-American remark. The Colorado Senate is just three seats away from a conservative check on the out-of-control Democrat agenda. Why? 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. That picture of Ernest Lundeen, standing under that giant swastika? A special thanks to historian Bradley Hart. A senator is a person who works in the government. (CROWD CHEERING AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN). Lundeen served in the United States Army during the SpanishAmerican War. 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? Viereck would supply this material, supply these speeches to Lundeen, Lundeen would take them and read them verbatim on the floor of the Senate. Please include your return postal mailing address when corresponding with a Senate office. 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. Maddow: This wasn't just pocket money, this was a whole new second stream of considerable income for the Senator. [10] Within the year after the tragedy, the story that Lundeen's speeches have been written by Viereck had been reported by several journalists. No one wrote my husband's speeches. 1. a lawmaking body, especially the upper house of the parliament in some countries. All of us face something completely unexpected in Coloradoempty store shelvesand runaway UNaffordability when we do find the products and services we seek. Like the charter airplane accident that killed DFL Sen. Wellstone, his wife and daughter and four others near Eveleth, Minn., Oct. 25, 2002, the accident that took the life of the 62-year-old Lundeen changed the course of Minnesota and perhaps even American political history. In 1906 he was admitted to the bar. 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. 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. Just a misunderstanding. I warn the American people that we cannot defend America by defending old, decadent, and dying empires. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States . When wheat is fed into the thresher the chaff blows away. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. They were mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats. He was gonna need more Senators. We wont be able to fix every problem this state faces during these next 119 days. 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. Maddow: Millions of Americans. It immediately led them to start wondering: Were they next? Young: Norma Lundeen directed, upon her husband's death, to have given to her all the Viereck files. Thanks to that raid on that D.C. apartment, he now had names and literal receipts of the other members of Congress who had been involved. Washington, DC 20510. Senator Paul Lundeen is a longtime defender of individual liberties, including those protected by the Second Amendment. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington to, Detroit. 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"). Hart: America First becomes a grab bag of everything, anti-Roosevelt. He had close ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a leading Nazi agent in the U.S. Viereck often used Lundeen's office, and "sometimes dictated speeches for Lundeen, openly using the Senator's telephones to obtain material from Hans Thomsen at the [German] embassy. 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