Subseries: Frank Nikolay, 1986 September 9
Note: Access online.

INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
Scope and Content Note: Born in rural Marshfield in 1922. Lived on several farms until his father bought a combination bowling alley and speakeasy in Abbotsford in 1929. Shortly after, the business burned down on Black Friday, the day of the stock market crash. No insurance; completely wiped out. Very difficult times followed. Father got part-time jobs and mother took in laundry. Recalls having a pair of ladies' high button shoes, both for the same foot. Did get surplus commodities, which made him grateful for Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. Graduated from Abbotsford High School. Participated in sports and held part-time jobs. Joined the National Guard his junior year. Went to the University in Madison in 1939 and worked at a student rooming house. Called into active duty; returned to school in January 1942. Joined the Naval Air Force and completed a year and a half of pre-law studies and a summer of law school before returning to active duty.. Returned to civilian life in 1945. Completed law school in January 1948. Parents were not politically active, but were Democrats.

INFLUENCED POLITICALLY BY TWO HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
Scope and Content Note: Also influenced by his own experiences with poverty.

ALWAYS CONSIDERED HIMSELF A DEMOCRAT, THOUGH HE ADMIRED THE LA FOLLETTES

FIRST CONTACTS WITH THE DOC
Scope and Content Note: Travelled the country for several months after finishing law school. Returned to set up a legal practice in Abbotsford. Visited Bob Tehan to see if there were any other Democrats in Clark County. Tehan sent him to the editors of the Thorp Courier. They convinced him to run as an independent Democrat (since he had missed the filing date) for the office of district attorney in the fall of 1948. “I got whomped, incidently.”

MAKE-UP OF THE EARLY DOC IN CLARK COUNTY
Scope and Content Note: “We had a very difficult time finding the old Progressives.” Middle-of-the-road and conservative Progressives all went into the Republican Party. Two or three Polish, Catholic, Democratic townships near Thorp provided the nucleus for the Democratic Party in Clark County. A conversative wing of the Democratic Party, “as was Bob Tehan.... I'd never classified Bob Tehan as a liberal.”

BOB ELKINS OF THE THORP COURIER HAD “BOUNDLESS ENERGY”

FIRST DOC MEETING ATTENDED BY NIKOLAY
Scope and Content Note: Seventh District meeting in Eau Claire to elect a district chairman.

FOUNDING CONVENTION OF THE DOC IN 1949
Scope and Content Note: His first contact with people like Tom Fairchild, Jim Doyle, Gaylord Nelson, etc. Had been friends with John and Bill Duffy in law school.

NIKOLAY WAS NOT ACTIVE IN POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY

ISSUES OF MOST INTEREST TO CLARK COUNTY IN THE EARLY YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Parity for milk prices. Gilbert Rhode of the Farmers Union was from Clark County and had a standard speech for party activists which called for a milk price support of five dollars per hundredweight.

1950 DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL PRIMARY
Scope and Content Note: Nikolay supported Tom Fairchild. There was a lot of support in the Seventh District for Bill Sanderson because of his connection with Merlin Hull. Nikolay supported Fairchild because he was a lawyer and he knew his father as a good judge who had written some liberal decisions in the area of civil rights and civil liberties. “And I just felt more comfortable with the possibility of a lawyer being in the U.S. Senate than a farmer.”

IN 1951 NIKOLAY BECAME A LAWYER FOR THE OFFICE OF PRICE STABILIZATION IN GREEN BAY AND IN JANUARY 1952 HE BECAME AN ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY IN MADISON
Scope and Content Note: This curtailed his political activities since he was now under the Hatch Act. Became the U.S. Attorney when Fairchild resigned to run for the Senate in 1952.

ANECDOTE ABOUT A PARTY ORGANIZER REQUIRING HIM TO SIGN A PLEDGE CARD WHEN HE WAS IN GREEN BAY
Scope and Content Note: “I think, one percent of your annual salary at that time.” Cash contributions seemed to be the main concern of the Hatch Act rather than attending party meetings and the like.

END OF TAPE 74, SIDE 1

JACK NIKOLAY
Scope and Content Note: Was county district attorney in 1957-1958.

NIKOLAY TRAVELLED MUCH OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE TRYING TO ORGANIZE THE DOC DURING ITS FIRST TWO YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Largely at his own expense. Often only four or five people would show up for the meetings.

CONSIDERED RUNNING FOR CONGRESS WHEN MERLIN HULL DIED
Scope and Content Note: Would have had to resign his position as U.S. Attorney. Met with Lester Johnson and others. Thought he had struck a bargain that, if he did not run and Johnson went on to win, he would be Johnson's administrative assistant in Washington, D.C. He never became Johnson's administrative assistant.

1953 ELECTION OF LESTER JOHNSON TO CONGRESS
Scope and Content Note: Was not a landmark for the whole state. Johnson was identified with Merlin Hull's progressivism and attendance at Democratic meetings had been increasing gradually since 1948.

ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDACY IN 1954
Scope and Content Note: Relieved of his position as U.S. Attorney by the Republican administration, he returned to Abbotsford to set up a partnership with his brother and another man. Spent summer and fall campaigning for the office of Attorney General. Had no campaign fund. Felt the ticket needed someone from the northern part of the state. “I didn't need much convincing” to run. Young, single, carefree.

NASH-WILKIE CONTEST FOR THE PARTY CHAIRMANSHIP, 1955
Scope and Content Note: Nikolay backed Nash because he was from the northern area.

OUTSTATE DEMOCRATS
Scope and Content Note: Politically closer to the Milwaukee Democrats. More middle-of-the-road than the Madison Democrats.

ELECTED VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE PARTY IN THE MID-1950s AND BECAME LEGISLATIVE VICE-CHAIRMAN AFTER BEING ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE IN 1958
Scope and Content Note: These titles were useful when speaking around the state.

ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDACY IN 1956
Scope and Content Note: Robert La Follette Sucher's name appeared on the primary ballot with “Robert La Follette” on one line and “Sucher” below that. “I didn't have a prayer when I saw those ballots.” Sucher was known to overimbibe. Proxmire's repudiation of Sucher caused considerable “resentment amongst working Democrats.” Proxmire convinced Nikolay to run as an independent, claiming it would help his campaign for governor. In return Proxmire promised he would pay Nikolay back if he was ever in a position to do so. Later on he felt Proxmire permitted a federal judgeship to slip through his fingers and Nikolay would have liked that position, which a Republican wound up with. Nikolay campaigned hard for the ticket, again largely at his own expense. Never had more than two hundred dollars contributed to his three statewide races.

LUCEY-NASH CONTEST FOR PARTY CHAIRMANSHIP, 1957
Scope and Content Note: Nikolay still supported Nash. Not a philosophical split; a power play by Pat Lucey.

NIKOLAY'S CHALLENGE TO LUCEY'S CHAIRMANSHIP, 1961
Scope and Content Note: A serious challenge, with a headquarters and everything, until Nikolay's National Guard unit was activated. Politically Lucey and Gaylord Nelson were very much alike, but personally they clashed. Lucey was angered by Nelson's power to make appointments. Nikolay felt if he were chairman he could get a legislative majority for the Democrats. Nevertheless he was a reluctant candidate since he was so busy--legal practice, National Guard, in the legislature, and on the administrative committee. Nelson made some promises and convinced Nikolay to take on the challenge; the promises were not fulfilled, on the excuse that he did not actually stand for election at the convention. Anecdote about a reporter for New Yorker magazine being told by Nikolay's general that it was his fault the unit was called up in 1961 because Lucey arranged it with President Kennedy. The reporter put this in the magazine. “But I don't think Pat had that kind of power.” Nikolay convinced he would have beaten Lucey in a close race.

END OF TAPE 74, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PARTY AND THE LEGISLATURE
Scope and Content Note: In the 1959 legislature the majority of the Assembly Democrats were in tune with the party platform. This became less true in the 1960s, especially amongst Milwaukee Democrats on such issues as open housing, women's rights, and sexual contact between consenting adults. Began to 'rub off on other Democrats. Getting worse today.

NIKOLAY'S ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Scope and Content Note: Republican candidates always outpolled him in the primary because the Republicans were very strong in Clark County; but many would switch over to him in the general election. Only in the last eight years have the Democrats come to dominate the Clark County courthouse.

1963 REAPPORTIONMENT WHICH ENDED LESTER JOHNSON'S TENURE IN CONGRESS
Scope and Content Note: “We didn't have the votes” to prevent it.

NIKOLAY'S ELECTION AS MAJORITY LEADER
Scope and Content Note: “I think it was recognition of twenty-five years of spade work out there in the hinterlands.” Had helped line up people when the Democrats organized the Assembly and made George Molinaro speaker. “Molinaro remembered that down the road.”

DEFEAT IN 1966
Scope and Content Note: Spent too much time trying to help Democratic candidates elsewhere in the state. “I wasn't keeping my fences mended the way I should have.” His support for open housing hurt him. People from Milwaukee campaigned door to door against him claiming open housing would prohibit burial in Catholic cemeteries. Another key issue was his opposition to aid to parochial schools and there were many Catholic schools in his district. A whispering campaign about him being too far to the left politically.

SPENT THE FOLLOWING TWO YEARS CAMPAIGNING AND WAS REELECTED

FIRST ELECTION TO THE ASSEMBLY IN 1958
Scope and Content Note: “A combination of hard work, luck, and a weak opponent.” His opponent was the general counsel for Thorp Finance; competent, but an outspoken dry who would not campaign in taverns. Clark County tavernkeepers organized against this man.

LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANCE TO THE UNIVERSITY
Scope and Content Note: Early on his in legislative career, he got a reputation for being a “waterboy” for the University system and the state colleges. He felt his own success in life was attributable to the fact that he was able to attend the University “without a dime in my pocket.” Did not identify with the people in the athletic department; once told Elroy Hirsh, athletic director, to take off his Republican buttons.

OTHER LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Scope and Content Note: Passage of a clean water act despite a Republican state senate. “That, I think, started the trend in Wisconsin to clean up our waters.”

GREATEST LEGISLATIVE DISAPPOINTMENT
Scope and Content Note: “I have seen a continual erosion of our civil liberties in the name of law enforcement.” Disappointed that he was unable to slow this trend.

PROUD OF HAVING BEEN PART OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Scope and Content Note: Worked closely with Lloyd Barbee on open housing and school desegregation.

CAMPAIGN FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN 1970
Scope and Content Note: He felt ten years in the legislature was long enough for anyone. “You lose touch with your constituency; you lose touch with reality almost if you spend fulltime politicking.” Would not have run if he had known Martin Schreiber was going to run. Schreiber had told him early in the year he was going to run for attorney general. No regrets.

BEEN ON THE COUNTY BOARD FOR THIRTY YEARS

ASSESSMENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN
Scope and Content Note: Compared to the late 1940s and early 1950s the party today is more successful, better organized, and better financed, “but philosophically substantially apart from what I felt, and still feel, the Democratic Party philosophy ought to be. It's become much more conservative than it was when we started working in 1948 and '49, more business-oriented, less worker-oriented, less older people-oriented, less poor-people oriented. And that's not what I think the Democratic Party ought to stand for.” Current leaders feel getting elected is more important than being philosophically right.

1960 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
Scope and Content Note: A Hubert Humphrey supporter and a strong adversary of Pat Lucey. “I'm proud to say that, while they announced from the platform that the nomination was unanimous, the Wisconsin Humphrey delegation did not rise to its feet. It was not unanimous.”

ATTENDED OTHER NATIONAL CONVENTIONS
Scope and Content Note: Chairman of the McGovern delegation in 1972.

MORE ON THE 1960 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
Scope and Content Note: John Kennedy beseeched Wisconsin Humphrey delegates to switch to him. Later Bill Proxmire mentioned Nikolay for a U.S. Attorney opening, but Bobby Kennedy vetoed it because he remembered Nikolay's opposition to his brother.

1968 CONVENTION
Scope and Content Note: His wife and his brother were Eugene McCarthy delegates. He supported Humphrey and was not elected a delegate. He had a good friend who was in the Chicago Police Department and provided him some close up views of the riots. Police did not get out of control.

MORE ON THE 1960 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
Scope and Content Note: The wounds did not take long to heal.

END OF INTERVIEW