Fred R. Zimmerman
Fred R. Zimmerman | |
---|---|
Elmer S. Hall | |
Succeeded by | Theodore Dammann |
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Milwaukee 8th district | |
In office January 1, 1909 – January 1, 1911 | |
Preceded by | Simon Kander |
Succeeded by | James H. Vint |
Personal details | |
Born | Frederick Robert[citation needed] Zimmerman November 20, 1880 Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Died | December 14, 1954 Milwaukee, Wisconsin | (aged 74)
Resting place | Forest Home Cemetery Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Political party | Republican |
Spouses |
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Children |
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Frederick Robert[
Background and early career
Zimmerman was born in Milwaukee, son of Charles E. Zimmerman and Augusta Fiesenhauser Zimmerman. He was a grandson of German-American
Elective office
Legislature
Zimmerman was elected to the
Secretary of State
In 1922, Zimmerman (by then an industrial relations manager for Nash Motors) had moved to the Town of Lake and served two years on the Town Board. He received the Republican nomination and election as Wisconsin Secretary of State in 1922 (with 77.7% of the vote in a four-way race)[4] and re-election in 1924 in a five-way race, earning a then-record 509,771 votes statewide.[5] During this period he remained closely identified with the Progressive faction of the Republican Party.
Governor
When the Progressives refused to endorse him in the gubernatorial election in 1926 (because of his failure to support the 1924 presidential candidacy of Robert M. La Follette Sr.),[6] Zimmerman ran in the Republican primary election as an "independent" against both Progressive (Herman Ekern) and Stalwart (Charles B. Perry) candidates, as well as another "independent". Zimmerman won the Republican nomination and was elected by an absolute majority, outpolling Perry (who came in second, running as an independent), as well as the Democratic, Socialist, Prohibitionist and Socialist Labor candidates combined, with 350,927 votes out of 552,921.[7] In 1928 he was defeated for re-nomination, running a poor third to Stalwart Walter J. Kohler Sr., and Progressive Congressman Joseph D. Beck.[8]
Thereafter he went into a political decline for several years, briefly holding a position in the Beverage Tax Commission in 1936.
Secretary of State once more
Zimmerman was nominated and elected Secretary of State on the Republican ticket in 1938 and served until his death, polling a larger vote at each subsequent election and in 1952 again received the highest total ever given any candidate for any office in the state.
Private life
Zimmerman was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1916, 1920, 1924, 1940, and 1944. He was attacked as a member of America First, but he denied membership therein, although he generally followed isolationist positions. He died in Milwaukee in 1954 just after again winning re-election as Secretary of State.
References
- ^ Zimmerman biodata
- ^ Beck, J. D., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1909; pp. 529, 1130.
- ^ Beck, J. D., Ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1911; p. 347
- ^ The Wisconsin blue book, 1923 Madison: The State Printing Board, 1923; pp. 567, 603
- ^ Holmes, Fred L., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1925; Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1925; pp. 484, 566, 640-641
- ^ "POLITICAL NOTES: In Wisconsin", Time Sept. 6, 1926
- ^ Holmes, Fred L., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1927. Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1927; pp. 494, 573.
- ^ Anderson, William J.; Anderson, William A., eds. The Wisconsin blue book, 1929 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1929; p. 736