Title: Gerald D. Lorge Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1957-1980

Creator:

• Lorge, Gerald D.

Call Number: Green Bay Mss 111; PH Green Bay Mss 111

Quantity: 10.4 c.f. (9 record center cartons and 4 archives boxes) and 11 photographs

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers, mainly 1961-1980, of a Republican legislator from Outagamie County (Assembly, 1950-1954; Senate, 1954-1984), primarily consisting of correspondence and information from constituents, colleagues in the Legislature, governmental officials, and lobbyists concerning legislation considered during the period, 1961-1980. Also included are biographical information and Xeroxed clippings, a few press releases and speeches, some campaign information, photographs, and two constituent newsletters and questionnaires. Correspondence concerning electoral campaigns primarily dates from the period 1961-1964 and includes letters from Gordon Bubolz, Ody Fish, Harold Froehlich, Kirby Hendee, Claude Jasper, Warren Knowles, Talbot Peterson, and John Reynolds.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0111

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Gerald David Lorge, longtime Republican Party leader, was born at Bear Creek, Outagamie County on July 9, 1922, the sixth of seven children of Joseph J. Lorge and Anna Peterson Lorge. He attended local Catholic school and Appleton Vocational School, and in his spare time worked on his uncle's farm and assisted his father in the family blacksmith shop.

Immediately after the beginning of World War II, Lorge enlisted in the Marines. He served four years in the service (three years in the South Pacific), rising from private to technical sergeant. After leaving the military, he briefly enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1945 and in 1946 transferred to Marquette University. As part of the school's three-year program, Lorge was admitted to law school in 1948 and received his J.D. degree in 1952.

Even as an undergraduate, Lorge exhibited great interest in electoral politics. He began his career by heading the veterans' organization at Marquette that supported the senatorial candidacy of Joseph R. McCarthy and by running unsuccessfully for the Legislature himself in a heavily Democratic district. In 1948 he became Republican committeeman from Milwaukee's Fourth Ward. In 1950, while still in law school, he won election to the Assembly, and then took a leave to attend the 1951 session. Lorge was re-elected in 1952 and in 1954 was a successful candidate in the special election to fill the seat in the state Senate vacated by Gordon Bubolz.

In 1957 Lorge was one of several Republican candidates in the special election for Senator McCarthy's seat. Attempting to run as the senator's most logical successor, Lorge stressed his conservative philosophy and his record in the Marines. He also promised, if successful, to attempt to expunge the censure of McCarthy by the Senate. In subsequent years, Lorge repeatedly exhibited his ambition for higher elective office, and his name was mentioned in conjunction with runs for the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, and the lieutenant governorship, as well as leadership positions within the Wisconsin Senate. In 1974 he waged an unsuccessful campaign to become state attorney general. Despite such setbacks, however, Lorge was successfully reelected to his Senate seat, sometimes running without opposition.

Within the Senate, Lorge gradually won a reputation as a somewhat garrulous maverick, and his political views were difficult to define. Repeatedly appointed to the Senate Committee on Labor, Taxation, Insurance, and Banking, he served as chairman of that hard-working committee for several sessions. He also served on several special legislative study committees concerned with insurance, and his interest in that area was recognized by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, which he headed in 1974.

A complete list of Lorge's committee assignments and offices are listed in the biennial editions of the Blue Book. In addition to his legislative work, Lorge was a member of the American Legion, state and county bar associations, and the Outagamie Conservation Club.

Lorge was married to Christina Ziegler in 1958 and they are the parents of five children. After leaving the Legislature in 1984, Lorge resumed his Bear Creek law practice in which his son Robert was a partner.

This collection, although moderately-sized, only incompletely documents Gerald Lorge's long career in the Legislature. Entirely missing are papers dating from both his early and his later years in public office, with the bulk of the documentation present in the collection dating from the years 1965-1980. Also almost entirely missing are several types of files commonly found in legislative collections of the period: personal clipping scrapbooks, committee files, subject files, constituent case work files, and public relations materials such as newsletters. Although Lorge's name was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate and he actually ran for several high elective offices, there are virtually no campaign files in the collection. Most disappointing in this regard is the absence of files on the 1957 special election to fill Joseph R. McCarthy's seat in which Lorge ran as the logical “fighting marine,” conservative successor to the former senator. The collection contains only one piece of literature from this campaign.

The collection does contain a few incidental items of the above mentioned categories such as press releases, questionnaires (only from the years 1975 and 1984), and some subject and case work correspondence. These files are so limited that they have been arranged together as General Files. Also included here are biographical materials and resumes, a chronological file of all clippings found loose within the papers which referred to Lorge, and photographs. The photographs were made by Mercury Outboard Motor Company relating to a study group from the Wisconsin Legislature which included Lorge and was charged with studying the effects from the flood of the Wolf River during the spring of 1960. Images include views of flooded buildings, farmland, and members of the group.

The majority of the collection is comprised of Bill Files, i.e. correspondence concerning specific pieces of legislation for the years 1965-1980. As a result, the collection is of much greater value for research on the legislation of the period and the views of Lorge's constituents than it is for study of his personal influence within legislative and political circles. The bill files are arranged chronologically by session and then by bill or resolution number. Also included with the Senate files is information on appointments requiring the approval of that house. These files generally contain correspondence from constituents and colleagues, information from governmental agencies and legislative service bureaus, and material from lobbyists and advocacy groups.

Correspondence concerning electoral politics is primarily concentrated within the General Files in documentation dating from the period 1961-1965. This small group of material, which is listed as general correspondence, appears to have been extensively weeded in Lorge's office prior to transfer to the Historical Society. Although much of the remaining material is merely congratulatory in nature, there are a few items from political leaders of the era such as Gordon Bubolz, Ody Fish, Harold Froehlich, Kirby Hendee, Claude Jasper, Warren Knowles, Talbot Peterson, and John Reynolds.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Gerald D. Lorge, Bear Creek, Wisconsin, 1961-1982. Accession Number: M61-17 (not found), M65-95; M68-384, M69-17; M70-1, 105, 348; M71-369; M72-476; M73-6; M77-31, 86, 157, 469; M80-230; M81-264; M82-338

Processing Information

Processed by William Beaudreau and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1987.

Green Bay Mss 111	Series: General Files
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical data, resumes, 1957-1976
Box   12 Folder   8-11	Biographical clippings, 1960-1979, undated
Box   13 Folder   1	Biographical information and clippings
Box   1 Folder   2	Speeches, 1972, 1976
Box   1 Folder   3-4	Attorney general campaign, 1974
Box   1 Folder   5-8	Press releases, 1956-1976
	Newsletter/questionnaire
Box   1 Folder   9-11	Sampled responses, 1975
Box   1 Folder   11A	, 1984 newsletter (Contains questionnaire results)
PH Green Bay Mss 111	Photographs
Green Bay Mss 111	General correspondence
Box   1 Folder   12-22	1960-1977
Box   13 Folder   2-4	1961-1965
Box   1 Folder   23-25	Constituent case correspondence, 1962-1974
	Subject correspondence
Box   2 Folder   1	Air Wisconsin dehyphenation case, 1972-1973
Box   2 Folder   2-5	Insurance Law Revision Committee, 1973
Box   2 Folder   6	Jobs, Senate Republican Task Force on, 1976
Box   2 Folder   6A	Lawyers professional liability insurance, 1956-1969
Box   2 Folder   7	Legislative Compensation Council, 1970
Box   2 Folder   8	Legislative Council Interim Labor Committee, 1970
Box   2 Folder   9	Local Affairs and Development, Department of, 1976
Box   2 Folder   10	Miscellany, 1968-1976
Box   2 Folder   16	Motor Vehicles Division, 1972
Box   2 Folder   11	Public Instruction, Department of, 1975-1976
Box   2 Folder   12	Revenue, Department of, 1976
Box   2 Folder   13	State Affairs Committee, 1974
Box   2 Folder   14	Water Resources Committee, 1960
Box   2 Folder   15	Welfare reform, 1970-1976
	Series: Bill Files	⇧
Box   2 Folder   17	1963-1964
	1965-1966
Box   2 Folder   18	Senate bills
Box   2 Folder   19	Assembly bills
Box   2 Folder   20	AB 360
	1967-1968
	Senate
Box   2 Folder   21-34	1-558
Box   2 Folder   35	Joint resolutions
	Assembly
Box   2 Folder   36-39	1-385
Box   3 Folder   1-7	401-1109
Box   3 Folder   8	Joint resolutions
	1969-1970
	Senate
Box   3 Folder   9-24	1-782
Box   3 Folder   25-26	Joint resolutions 4-69
Box   3 Folder   27	Appointments
	Assembly
Box   3 Folder   28-32	20-859
Box   4 Folder   1	882-1108
Box   4 Folder   2	Joint resolutions
	1971-1972
	Senate
Box   4 Folder   3-19	1-918
Box   4 Folder   20-23	Joint resolutions 8-87
Box   4 Folder   24-25	Appointments
	Assembly
Box   4 Folder   26-31	8-373
Box   5 Folder   1-5	414-1610
Box   5 Folder   6	Joint resolutions
	1973-1974
	Senate
Box   5 Folder   7-26	2-700
Box   6 Folder   1-3	708-921
Box   6 Folder   4	Joint resolutions 1-99
Box   6 Folder   5-6	Special sessions bills
Box   6 Folder   7	Appointments
	Assembly
Box   6 Folder   8-23	1-1016
Box   7 Folder   1-4	1023-1575
Box   7 Folder   5-10	Joint resolutions 10104
Box   7 Folder   11-12	Special session bills
	1975-1976
	Senate
Box   7 Folder   13-29	3-837
Box   8 Folder   1	Joint resolutions
Box   8 Folder   2-6	Special session bills
Box   8 Folder   7	Veto session bills
Box   8 Folder   8	Appointments
	Assembly
Box   8 Folder   9-35	31-1387
Box   8 Folder   36	Joint resolutions
Box   8 Folder   37	Special session bills
Box   8 Folder   38	Veto session bills
	1977-1978
	Senate
Box   9 Folder   1-19	2-720
Box   9 Folder   20	Joint resolutions
Box   9 Folder   21	Veto session bills
Box   9 Folder   22	Appointments
	Assembly
Box   9 Folder   24-33	15-1230
Box   9 Folder   34	Joint resolutions 6-52
	1979-1980
	Senate
Box   9 Folder   35	1
Box   10	2-330
Box   11 Folder   1-4	338-586
Box   11 Folder   5	Joint resolutions
	Assembly
Box   11 Folder   6-11	6-443
Box   12 Folder   1-6	453-1221
Box   12 Folder   7	Joint resolutions