Luther Youngdahl
Luther W. Youngdahl | |
---|---|
Edward John Thye | |
Succeeded by | C. Elmer Anderson |
Personal details | |
Born | Luther Wallace Youngdahl May 29, 1896 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Died | June 21, 1978 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 82)
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Political party | Republican |
Relatives | Oscar Youngdahl (brother) |
Education | Gustavus Adolphus College (B.A.) Mitchell Hamline School of Law (LL.B.) |
Luther Wallace Youngdahl (May 29, 1896 – June 21, 1978) was an American judge and politician who served as the 27th governor of Minnesota and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Education and career
Born on May 29, 1896, in
As governor, one of Youngdahl's biggest concerns was mental health, and he made reforms to Minnesota's mental health care system. In October 1949, Youngdahl personally burned more than 300 straitjackets and restraints. He also increased funding for public education, expanded public housing, increased benefits for war veterans, created activities to improve the health of young people, desegregated the state's National Guard, passed anti-discrimination laws in employment, and banned slot machines and strengthened anti-liquor laws, despite the legislature's opposition.[2]
Federal judicial service
Youngdahl was a popular governor who won reelection easily in 1950, but as early as 1949 he expressed to a friend his desire to return to the judiciary, this time at the federal level. Believing that Youngdahl would be the strongest candidate the Republicans could run against him when he sought reelection in 1954, upon learning of Judge Thomas Alan Goldsborough's death from a heart attack, Minnesota's junior U.S. senator, Hubert Humphrey, proposed nominating Youngdahl to Goldsborough's now-vacant seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a meeting with President Harry S. Truman on July 2, 1951. Noting that Youngdahl was the only governor who had written a letter commending him for his recent decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur, Truman agreed to the suggestion.[3]
After meeting with Youngdahl on July 5, Truman appointed him the next day to the vacancy on the D.C. district court. The United States Senate confirmed Youngdahl on August 28, 1951, and he received his commission the next day. He assumed senior status on May 29, 1966.[1]
As a senior judge, Youngdahl advocated education and job training for incarcerated criminals and less crowded programs to rehabilitate drug users, believing that harsh punishments failed to reduce crime.[4]
His service ended on June 21, 1978, upon his death in Washington, D.C.[5] He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Youngdahl, Luther Wallace – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
- ^ "Gov. Luther Wallace Youngdahl".
- ISBN 0-393-01806-7.
- ^ LIFE; June 30, 1972
- ^ "Judge Luther Youngdahl, Ex-Governor of Minnesota, Dies", The Washington Post, June 22, 1978
- ^ ANC Explorer
Further reading
- Esbjornson, Robert A Christian in Politics: Luther W. Youngdahl (1955)[ISBN missing]
- Luther W. Youngdahl papers