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. But the speaker was in fact doing something unusual. The handwritten note at the top was added by his widow, Norma. 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. The ship reached a maximum speed of 40 knots, came to a complete stop in 58 seconds, and then travelled in reverse at 20knots. Archival radio material is from NBC Newsvia the Library of Congress, which you really should visit. Young: Once Lundeen was approached by Viereck, Lundeen was all in. So with the current anti-democracy campaign intended to NazifyAmerica (and you know which orange figureheadand faithless political party thisinvolves, as with RepublicanSenator Lundeen in 1940), Rachel Maddow's new podcast Ultra(which premiered today!) The letter reads: "May I be a senator after Wash [ington] and 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. Hart: His initial idea is that he's going to have a U.S. Addresses for each senator can be found on the senator's website or state's web page. Paul Lundeen is the Republican Colorado Senator for District 9. All eyes were briefly on Lundeen. Darcy always has the most informative and entertaining articles. The bill attracted support from liberals dissatisfied with the less generous and much less radical Wagner-Lewis bill (which became the Social Security Act). The Senate Republican caucus eagerly awaits the opportunity to help achieve solutions that will benefit all Coloradans. Amateurs were turning this stuff up, not the authorities. He was gonna need more Senators. It is almost unanimous, the people we represent, the whole people of Colorado, say they do NOT like polarized politics. He was something close to famous for his opposition to World War I. And some Americans didnt need much persuading. Thanks for sharing this interesting article about Norma Lundeen. Again, this was less than 48 hours after the crash that killed her husband. 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. Maddow: Norma Lundeen made her case, defending her husband passionately and directly to the public. He didn't just churn out propaganda and disinformation himself, although he did do plenty of that. These speeches would run as articles, under Lundeens byline, as if the senator had written them himself. Young: Norma Lundeen directed, upon her husband's death, to have given to her all the Viereck files. [11], "Senator Lundeen" redirects here. 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. Many of the members of Congress who have been involved with the Viereck scandal and tend towards the anti-interventionist, anti-Roosevelt side of the aisle find themselves as prominent figures in America First. She asked them to give her the Viereck files and she took them away with her. Senators died in relative obscurity in 1983 at the age of 87. Maddow: The Viereck files. No one wrote my husband's speeches. 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 Viereck would arrange for speeches that he wrote for Lundeen to be printed in major American magazines and newspapers. Lundeen was adamantly opposed to the United States involvement in World War I and campaigned on that stance. So, though in many cases, misguided policies have created or exacerbated the problems of today, I am optimistic that when we more fully embrace the principles and values that have made this country and this state exceptional we change our future for the better. 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. Main Sections. Norma Lundeen: A pair of columnists had written that two Department of Justice agents were on the plane with my husband when it crashed, that they had been assigned to watch him. To the majority caucus: We will make honest and sincere efforts to work with you. From both parties. It was direct documentary evidence that the Senator had been colluding with a Nazi agent. A paid agent of Hitler's government ramps up a targeted propaganda effort aimed at weakening democracy and supporting the fascist cause in America. Sen. Ernest Lundeen is listed as passenger 15. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 states. Senator Smith. We are The Senator Group Senator Products Go to senator.online Allermuir Products Go to allermuir.com Discover What we offer _All Services Environments Global Reach Sustainability Services Learn more about our workplace consultancy. You got to pick your priority, said Lundeen. 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. In politics unexpected losses bless you with focused thoughts. Hart: So what Viereck has done is he's realized that there's a way to game the American Congressional system against itself. 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. We inspire possibilities for people to change the world in a million different ways, big and small, local and global, every day. Bold. He graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1901 and then studied law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Former Minnesota senator Ernest Lundeens story of suspected sedition is back in the headlines thanks to a new podcast. I warn the American people that we cannot defend America by defending old, decadent, and dying empires. According to the secretary, Ive gone too far to turn back, was about all Lundeen said. senador. 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. American tax payers were paying for Nazi propaganda with American tax dollars. The full episode transcript for Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra | Episode 4: A Bad Angle. Kelsey Desiderio: How many Americans were actually receiving Nazi propaganda in their mailboxes as a result of this scheme? He needed more pre-paid envelopes. Have you visited? Radio Reporter: George Sylvester Viereck, well-known publicist, has been indicted by a grand jury which pictures him as using congressional franks to send-out his material. And members of Congress, importantly, were able to do that for free. And then it was Moran and his chapter of the Christian Front that so energetically distributed it. 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. If they could advance their career by playing footsie with Nazis, and if that meant winnowing away the strength of American democracy, then so be it. The term "senator" derives from Ancient Rome, where the Senate depicted the 'elders' assembly' ("senex" means A copy of the Congressional Record from 1940, containing Sen. Ernest Lundeen's last speech on the floor of the Senate. He was under federal investigation for, effectively, colluding with a hostile foreign power. 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. 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"). And in more ways than one. The work on these practical matters is pressing in on us even now. Senator Ernest Lundeen in a mysterious plane crash in 1940 left a series of questions that lead to revealing threats to American democracy. Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said that businesses are already passing over Colorado for their expansion plans and conferences because they think its too much like California. 2003, Olga Gardner Galvin, The Alphabet Challenge, Page 31. The truth is its not really a broadcast channel, its a narrowcast channel and you and I are increasingly rewarded with dopamine hitswe get the hits when we get more likes or shares than the with the previous postand we tend to get more hits when we post things that tickle the fancy of one edge, or the other, of politics. Coloradans remain optimistic. 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. Its meaning is derived from a very ancient form of social organization, in which advisory or decision-making powers are reserved for the eldest men. Norma Lundeen: Innuendos have been made that a certain individual wrote my husbands speeches. ", 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. 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! Because George Sylvester Viereck was not the kind of a person who ought to have been a long-standing close friend and work-collaborator with a sitting U.S. Maddow: Millions of Americans. In the United States, senators are elected by voters to represent them in a state or federal senate. 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? 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. Daten ber Ihr Gert und Ihre Internetverbindung, wie Ihre IP-Adresse, Browsing- und Suchaktivitten bei der Nutzung von Yahoo Websites und -Apps. This was Vierecks life's work. Mr. 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. 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.. Young: This group of people, if they were anything first, it was their own political success and careers first. And even beyond going after reporters, Norma denied what was inarguably clear to anyone with eyes. Senator Ernest Lundeen, a scandalous story had begun to unspool about how the Senator was tangled up with a Nazi agent. Maddow: After the plane crash that killed her husband, Norma Lundeen traveled to Washington D.C. Im entitled to a little justice., During and following the trial, the mainstream media playing to the war hysteria that swept the country after Pearl Harbor delighted in dragging the Lundeen name through the mud at every opportunity. They were all being held in that D.C. apartment raided by William Maloney that day. People are thinking my husband is on trial, she pleaded in an anguished voice. In part because everyone who choosesand most politicians chooseown a broadcast channel. How many members of Congress were in on this thing? He supplied high-profile and low-profile members of the America First movement coast-to-coast. What she was there to do really was, as she put it, something unprecedented in radio broadcasting. You will experience the difference in the way this body and the broader General Assembly takes on and talks about issues. Remember the thousands and thousands of Nazi propaganda books and leaflets and pamphlets that he disseminated all over Boston and the Northeast? Senator Bob Rankin Announces his Resignation Dec 1, And he was a high profile person. He operated all over the country in the lead-up to America entering World War II. 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. Ernest Lundeen (August 4, 1878 August 31, 1940) was an American lawyer and politician. The book on your desk has the subtitle of talking politics without the noise. It offers each side of the aisle the ability, at least in some small way, to seek first to understand before seeking to be understood. Together we must find balance in our discussions and a willingness to look to that far horizon. Her name was Norma. Program for the funeral service of Sen. Ernest Lundeen on September 4, 1940, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [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. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. Hart: America First becomes a grab bag of everything, anti-Roosevelt. The biggest names really in Republican congressional politics, they all fall under the spell of this sort of Nazi propaganda operation. Maddow: The deal that Viereck was offering to Senator Lundeen, it was a lucrative one. But besides their connection to this German foreign agent, they did all have one other thing in common. Probably too big a lift but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And she knew that she herself had just hidden away the evidence that would prove it. Hart: This was a closely guarded sort of set of correspondence that Norma Lundeen did not want out in the wider world. Looking around the publicist's apartment that day in Washington, William Power Maloney took in the sight of hundreds of documents and envelopes bearing the names of all sorts of members of Congress: Republican Congressman Stephen Day of Illinois, Democratic Congressman Martin L. Sweeney of Ohio, Democratic Senator David Worth Clark of Idaho, Republican Congressman George Tinkham of Massachusetts, Republican Congressman Jacob Thorkelson of Montana, Republican Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota. 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. Hart: This is a man who is a fairly known quantity. He served from January 3, 1937, in the 75th and 76th Congresses, until his death. 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"). We care about the quality and flexibility of your childs education that is so important to their future success. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. Young: Lundeen was someone who was maybe hurting a bit for money and open to questionable sources of financial support. This is a deliberate falsehood designed to mislead. May 18, 1941, 11:30 to 11:45pm, the NBC Blue Network. Maddow: Senator Lundeen had built his career on being outspoken against the US joining foreign wars. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, there was no news on TV. Library of Congress Engineer: Cut B-4 sounds like a dynamite record. [10] Viereck's defense called her as a witness during his trial. He had begun to identify those who had been involved in the scheme. Armed with that information, William Maloney took action. 2. in ancient Rome, the chief legislative and administrative body. When this war is over, she asserted on the campaign trail, we must insist that our sons be returned to America. If the internationalists prevailed, she cautioned repeatedly, the United States would soon find itself entangled in continuous intrigue around the globe, one in which the American people would eventually lose control of their own country and find their own children pushed out of their cradle of liberty.. Lundeen cited a 2022 bill Polis signed that, he said, allowed for restrictive environmental building codes that raise housing costs. Meaning of senator in English. 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. 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. So when federal agents raided the publicist's apartment that day, what they expected to find was a bunch of stuff involving Ernest Lundeen. Speech before Congress by US Senator Ernest Lundeen, (Farmer-Labor, Minnesota) Senator Lundeen gave this speech detailing the history of the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party on His speech lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes and touched on a broad range of topics, from climate change to affordable housing, water to public safety. 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. No one in the public knew that they too had been aiding and abetting this paid agent of Hitlers government. I have beside me four photographs proving the truth of my statement. She threatened to sue one radio journalist who had reported a story about her late husband. senado. The members of Congress who were working with this Nazi agent, they were members of both the Senate and the House. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is a production of MSNBC and NBC News. Welcome. (CROWD CHEERING AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN). She later made a dramatic The Colorado Senate is just three seats away from a conservative check on the out-of-control Democrat agenda. These difficult conversations can be noisy. That picture of Ernest Lundeen, standing under that giant swastika? Maddow: This turbocharged Viercks operation. 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. He served from January 3, 1937, in the 75th and 76th Congresses until his death. 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. In his time in the Senate, was accused of demanding kickbacks from his employees. [8], In 2022 Rachel Maddow released a podcast series titled Ultra, which explored Lundeen's complicity in Nazi Germany's intelligence and propaganda operations in the U.S. during the 12 to 18 months immediately preceding America's entry into World War II. 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. Because not only did she know for a fact that that allegation was true, that in fact an agent from Hitler's government really had been writing speeches for her Senator husband, she knew that it was true. Maddow: Once George Viereck was arrested, the members of Congress who had participated in this scheme, they knew that prosecutors were onto them. She said it was a big misunderstanding. At the time of his death, the FBI was investigating Lundeen's ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a top Nazi spy working in the US to spread pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic propaganda. Laws & Agency Rules. Lundeen was born and raised on his father's homestead in Brooklyn Township of Lincoln County near Beresford in the Dakota Territory. 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. The wreckage of the Pennsylvania Central Airlines plane, which crashed during a violent thunderstorm near Lovettsville on August 31, 1940. Norma Lundeen: Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you on a mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. Young: Republicans are just feeling very defeated as if theres nothing that they can do to stop Roosevelt. Senator Paul Lundeen is a longtime defender of individual liberties, including those protected by the Second Amendment. She did not want the photos of his kids off his desk. 513 Hart Senate Office Building. These allegations were being reported by crusading journalists, some of them with national reach. They knew that William Power Maloney was very likely hot on their trail. How far did it go? 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. We can ratchet up the noise of politics or we can elevate the level of debate. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. Young: Norma Lundeen is going all spouse-proud and, "My husband was not a Nazi," saying things like that to the press. The speech Senator. Viereck's plan was working. All these sitting members of Congress. 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. Our Associate Producer is Janmaris Perez. She also went right after the journalists who she said were responsible for the smears against him. The word senator has been used 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 I realize you have precious little time to read another item at this moment, so its more of a placeholder for a conversation. House of Representatives. That's when he had first gotten to know Viereck. His employees would get paid a salary by the Senate, but he would then demand that they hand over a portion of that salary back to him. Manifest for Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19 on August 31, 1940. 1937 in the 75th and 76th congresses, until his death. Majority Leader, colleagues, families, guests here in the Capitol, and to the People of Colorado : Welcome. 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. "[5], On June 14, 1939, Lundeen joined a civilian and press delegation aboard USS Hammann for its sea trials off Fire Island. 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. Senate Stories Presented to enlighten, amuse, and inform, our new Senate history blog explores the forces, events, and personalities that have shaped the modern Senate. To do that, within 2 days after the crash she travelled to his office in the Capitol to retrieve the "Viereck files". Rachel Maddow: A mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. Kinda sounds like melodramatic radio-age hyperbole, I know. They asserted that Lundeens speeches were bitterly anti-British and vigorously against American preparedness. Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about 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. 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. 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.. Leadership Position. The senator would not say why. The letter reads: "May I be a senator after Wash[ington] and Lincoln and under God (always for our America.)". 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. Maddow: It was just a bad angle. IE 11 is not supported. 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. Jared Poliss office. , By Darcy G. Richardson on February 2, 2022 2:05 AM. Many were Communists, including Party chairman Earl Browder. 1. a lawmaking body, especially the upper house of the parliament in some countries. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. Senate probe Environments We help to create collaborative learning spaces. Hart: What we know is true is that Viereck is receiving much of the material for these speeches from the German embassy itself. It was disbanded when Derrick was only six, after that grouchy old ultra-Libertarian Senator Timothy de Illy And after about eight months of reading these reports about her deceased husband in the papers, hearing about them on the radio news, Norma Lundeen decided that shed had enough. 1. WITNESS SAYS HILL USED LUNDEEN FRANK; Mrs. Spielman Testifies Viereck Wrote Speeches for Senator. He served as a Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party member in the House from March 4, 1933, to January3, 1937, in the 73rd and 74th Congresses. Modern-day photo of the field in Lovettsville, Virginia where Trip 19 crashed in 1940, killing all 25 passengers on board. 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. My Republican colleagues elected me as Senate Republican Minority Whip to ensure that Republican ideals like freedom and independence will not be cancelled in the culture war we But we are intent to do more than just talk. He was very good at it. This was in no way a secret and Lundeen must have known the man he was dealing with was at least pro-German, if not actively working on behalf of the German government. Requests for Senator Lundeen's speech "Six Germany's agents operating in the U.S. were tasked with finding those things and exploiting them here, in the interest of "national demoralization.. And we have a responsibility to represent our constituents, as well as the principles of individual freedom, the wisdom of crowds, or said another way, market forces, and a constrained government that animates creativity among the people, and of course we have a burden to hear and amplify the voices of people from every corner of Colorado. 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. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. From Jan 1937 to Aug 1940, Lundeen missed 76 of 416 roll call votes, which is 18.3%. Maddow: And that right there, that is where Norma Lundeen slipped up. But it's almost something from a James Bond film. Nove~IBER 19, Federal Government Chapter Eight Chapter Eight, Knute Nelson. And I think that for some, playing footsie with fascists was a good idea, they thought. In the immediate wake of her husbands death, Norma Lundeen had a good reason for wanting that correspondence to never see the light of day. 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. Viereck would then order Lundeens staff to print off gazillions of copies of those speeches, which would then be sent in pre-paid government envelopes to unwitting members of the public. He 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. 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. He wanted this propaganda effort to have a broader reach. 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 series is Executive Produced by myself and Mike Yarvitz, and it's produced by Kelsey Desiderio. His work, his identity, it really wasnt a secret. We wont be able to fix every problem this state faces during these next 119 days. A - Agriculture. It immediately led them to start wondering: Were they next? She had a taste for flamboyant hats. He starts asking for huge numbers of these speeches to be printed which are printed at government expense, of course then he actually adds to this and begins asking staffers to provide him with franked envelopes, which can be mailed through the U.S. postal service for free. Ernest Lundeen of the Minnesota Senate in the 76 congress. [8][9], After the plane crash, Lundeen's wife, Norma Lundeen tried to clear his name by covering up[10] his involvement with the Nazi regime. Hart: Many of these men begin sort of searching their own files, trying to find out what their legal exposure might be. The history books remember the senators widow as a tall, confident, well-spoken woman. Holman, who served on the Senate Military Affairs Committee with Lundeens late husband, had been narrowly defeated in a bid for a second term a few months earlier, losing a bitterly-contested Republican primary to the blunt-mannered and outspoken Wayne Morse. On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington to, Detroit. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. It was all the correspondence between him and a man named George Sylvester Viereck. 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. 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. 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. Lundeen served in the United States Army during the SpanishAmerican War. Young: The relationship that the two of them come up with is that Viereck will function as speech writer for Lundeen. Maddow: The widow of Senator Ernest Lundeen. Viereck needed to reach large numbers of Americans, to start turning the tide of public opinion away from U.S. interests and towards Germany. 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. They had failed to act on advance warning of explosions at American munitions plants, planned as sabotage. Business card from Ernest Lundeen's campaign for Congress. Norma Lundeen: The dead cannot be hurt by vilification. near Lovettsville, Virginia and all 25 persons on board were killed, including Senator Lundeen. 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. View all links. Senators The Constitution prescribes that the Senate be composed of two senators from each State (therefore, the Senate currently has 100 Members) and that a senator must be at least thirty years of age, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years, and, when elected, be a resident of the State from which he or she is chosen. 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. 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. 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. Yes! But no. To Senators Pelton (Byron and Rod), [] 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. Norma Lundeen: A number of photographs of my husband were taken while he was speaking. But his biggest, boldest, most successful operation, is the one he ran from the seat of American democracy itself. Now, that was unusual because she did not work for NBC. Hours: M-F 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Senate in session) 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Senate out of session) Get Directions. Much broader. His work ethic, persistence, and principled defense of gun-rights makes this endorsement simple. Senator Patricia Billie Miller Senator Miller represents Darien and Stamford. 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. In fact, to conclude that all the solutions lie in government action is false on its face and the highest order of misguided hubris. It is a tradition in this building to claim that this policy or that piece of legislation is bi-partisan. But for this scheme to be truly successful, Viereck needed his propaganda to go beyond Senator Lundeens reach with his constituents in Minnesota. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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. President, Mr. senate. Maddow: So Viereck would get pro-German speeches from the Hitler government, from the German embassy. Send any friend a story. Each state in the US elects two senators who serve six-year terms in Washington, DC, where they pass laws and vote on policies. Other countries have senators as well, either elected or appointed. And so, newly appointed by the Attorney General, William Power Maloney decided to move quickly. There were newspapers, the radio, newsreels at the movies, and then there was the mail. Special Prosecutor William Power Maloney spoke of Viereck as one of the most serious menaces to this country. 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. Young: Viereck is a spy for the German government, part of his responsibility being cozying up to those in power in U.S. politics to gather as much information as possible and to try to get them to do things that will forestall U.S. entry into the war. She later made a dramatic plea for justice for her late husbands memory, but was denied an When ore is blasted by the heat of the crucible it is refined into something precious. She was looking for something very specific. The plane crashed near Lovettsville, Virginia, and all 25 persons on board were killed. He served from January 3, 1937, in the 75th and 76th Congresses until his death. It is our duty that the voices of people who find themselves in the minority in this season of Colorados history be heard and shared. 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. He needed to reach millions of Americans. Committee Assignments. 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. We face challenges too big to ignore and opportunities too important to fumble. He basically operated in plain sight in the United States for years. The Justice Department had failed to convict the members of the Christian Front who tried to overthrow the government. Just a misunderstanding. Maddow: William Power Maloney arrested and indicted George Sylvester Viereck. All of us face something completely unexpected in Coloradoempty store shelvesand runaway UNaffordability when we do find the products and services we seek. But thats not exactly what Norma wanted to talk about when she stepped behind the mic that day. Legislative Council. With additional sound from CBS News. Current Membership: Each Senator represents 931,349 Californians. Maddow: This wasn't just pocket money, this was a whole new second stream of considerable income for the Senator. I mentioned the Republican caucus in this chamber can, and I believe will, make a fundamental difference in the way this body takes on and talks about issues. As far as prosecutors could tell, this D.C. publicist, and Senator Ernest Lundeen, and Viereck the Nazi agent, theyd all been involved together in a scheme to secretly disseminate pro-Nazi disinformation and propaganda. That's Viereck's portfolio from Germany. 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. ICPSR #5839 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. senator ( plural senators ) A member, normally elected, in the house or chamber of a legislature called a senate, as, for instance, the legislatures of the United States and Canada. [4], His isolationist views led him to be sympathetic to Nazi Germany. On their own, together, in teams, or as organisations. Hart: This is a moment of great political danger, I think for these men. An IPR Editorial January 6, 2021 Our John Brown Moment? [3] But he remained isolationist and was later denounced by the party as a reactiona States in the Senate Lists of all senators from each state and facts about each state's history in the U.S. Senate. If you were trying to reach Americans in their homes, if you were trying to influence Americans opinions and political leanings, and fundraise, and all the rest of it, you sent them mail. Radio Reporter: Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, a leader of the America First Committee, has threatened to demand a Congressional investigation of the way the Justice Department has been handling the prosecution of Nazi sympathizers. Note that he may make real-time changes to some of the exact language. He was. Millions of Americans receive pro-Nazi, anti-interventionist content in this period. What we do: We create products for those who want to make their mark. 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. Viereck was not some kind of code word. The cause of the mysterious crash was never America First Committee. They represented a bunch of different states, up and down the political spectrum. Young: Wheeler used his position as a sitting member of the United States Senate to lobby the Justice Department to fire Maloney. Senator Bob Rankin Announces his Resignation Dec 1, 2022 The Latin word senator was adopted into English with no change in spelling. 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. Lundeens candidacy had as much or more to do with clearing her husbands name than in actually winning his Senate seat. We care about your safety and that of your children. box 4, folder 4-5. He was one of 50 representatives to vote against the declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917. Here at Senator we create products that set the stage for people to do amazing things. Hart: We believe it's millions of Americans. Failure to address these issues risks leaving our grandchildren to face a parched, unlivable, ignorant existence. And theyd get paid for it. May God bless you and your families today and your future generations. Phone numbers are available on each state's page or on your senator's website. That evidence would not stay hidden forever. She had essentially just been handed the airwaves at NBC, at the National Broadcasting Company, set loose to say whatever she wanted. 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. I have been asked, can a team of twelve, the minority caucus in this august chamber make a difference? 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. 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. Join our email list to receive press releases and other important news about legislation delivered straight to your inbox. 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. Viereck, who had actively supported Robert M. La Follettes insurgent candidacy for the presidency in 1924, had cultivated friendships with several leading isolationist lawmakers, including New Yorks Hamilton Fish, Jr., but Senator Lundeen was arguably his closest ally in Congress. President, Mr. It went on for years, right up until the day Lundeen died with one of Vierecks speeches in his pocket. Senator have been manufacturing at our technology plant in Gro-Bieberau for 100 years. With Lundeen's help, a subcommittee of the Labor Committee heard testimony from 80 witnesses on the benefits of the bill and the suffering of the unemployed. They were mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats. In the bestselling Seven Habits of highly effective people, Steven Covey suggested we make more headway and create more good in life when we first seek to understand, and then to be understood. What George Sylvester Viereck figured out was that he could weaponize that against the American people. Maddow: The America First Committee started up in 1940 as a pressure group, to try to stop the United States from getting involved in the Second World War. Shortly before Sen. Ernest Lundeen's death, a newspaper called P.M. published a report that exposed Lundeen's scheme with a paid Nazi agent to distribute German propaganda throughout the United States. Why? Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. Maddow: Do you remember Francis Moran, the leader of the Christian Front in Boston? 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. Well that material was supplied to Francis Moran by George Sylvester Viereck. Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. A senator is a person who works in the government. January 17, 2023 at 11:16 a.m. Below are the remarks as delivered by Gov. He was kind of their top banana here. The bill was narrowly voted out of the Labor Committee, but it was killed by House leadership, which wanted no competition for Wagner-Lewis. Norma Lundeen: Only a few days after the husband and father we loved had been laid away, this storm of malice broke. In 1941 in New York, a big academic study was done of Germany's propaganda efforts here to try to figure out why the Hitler government was putting so much effort, so much money, into propaganda targeting americans. When these speeches are published, he's actually splitting the profits with this German agent of influence. That was all she asked for. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. They were all in on the cause. The application of one, or sometimes two members names, from the second party has been the accepted measure of that claim. He not only votes the right way but he fights for other pro-gun leaders to be elected to defend the Second Amendment. Radio Announcer: Youre about to hear an address delivered before a meeting of the America First Committee. Those of us charged with the burden of representing the peoples interests face a dilemma. The plane crashed. May God bless the work we undertake today with wisdom and a spirit of joy and understanding. 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. senator noun. 25 people were killed, including Minnesota Sen. Ernest Lundeen. Majority Leader, colleagues, families, guests here in the Capitol, and to the People of Colorado : Welcome. Dec 13, 2022 DENVER Today, Senator Paul Lundeen (R - Monument) announced committee assignments for the Senate Republican Caucus during the 74th General Assembly of the State of Colorado. The prosecutor who was appointed was named William Power Maloney. An IPR Political Analysis: The Seventh Realignment, Breaking News: Connor Nepomuceno Resigns from LNC. Our Web Producer is Will Femia. Maddow: The scale of this operation, it kind of takes your breath away. Material created by or approved by the Hitler government in Berlin, provided to viciously anti-Semitic groups, linked to both street violence against American Jews and also violent armed plots against the U.S. government; Viereck using kernels of disturbance here in American life to drive us apart from one another, to drive us apart from our allies, to destabilize life here at home, to scare us, to make fascism seem like it was on the march, and on its way here, and maybe we should welcome it. Senator Ernest Lundeen would then deliver those speeches on the floor of the Senate, enter them into the Congressional Record. In 1906 he was admitted to the bar. This list includes all current senators serving in the 118th United States Congress . noun [ C ] uk / sen..t r/ us / sen..t / (written abbreviation Sen.) a politician who has been elected to a Senate: Only two senators voted That's what they were expecting. And it was a hot story: the worst civilian air crash in U.S. history, a Senator killed, three members of the justice department on the plane with him, killed in the same crash, the cause of the crash totally unclear; the reporting on his ties to the Hitler government, which was soon bolstered by legitimately shocking photos that emerged of Senator Lundeen standing under a giant swastika banner. Space for freedom and opportunity, creativity and ingenuity, and access to support and connection to help when a season of life is so heavy as to overwhelm a fellow Coloradan. Maddow: Viereck told Lundeen that he had a plan by which they could make some pretty serious cash. Bill Information. Fax: (202) 228-2190. As a matter of fact, he was standing under the stars and stripes. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Don't believe your lying eyes. 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