Interviews
Discussion in these interviews concentrates on the building period between the end of World War II and the electoral breakthroughs in the late 1950s. However, because the interviews follow oral history's traditional “life history” approach, they contain substantive discussion on Wisconsin political events as early as the 1930s and as recent as 1985.
In selecting interviewees a representative sample was sought--local level party workers, as well as state chairmen; people who had never run for public office, as well as those elected to the state's highest offices; people from various parts of the state; and former Progressives, pre-I945 Democrats, former Socialists, and activists in farm and labor organizations. Because the field for Democratic candidates was wide open well into the 1950s, many party activists also became candidates, often successful candidates, thereby slightly skewing the list of interviewees toward elected officials. Also, because so much of the leadership (and votes) of the party came from Dane and Milwaukee Counties, the list of interviewees is geographically skewed in those directions.
This collection consists of the tape-recorded interviews, plus one box of research materials used by the interviewers. The research materials include lists of potential interviewees, biographical synopses, lists and charts of political and electoral statistics, outlines of questions used for some of the interviews, and miscellaneous clippings and photocopies.
Following is an alphabetical list of the interviewees, which gives biographical data, the tape numbers of each interview, and the name of the interviewer:
Amlie, Gehrta (Audio 1030A/17-18; Coberly): Widow of Tom Amlie, progressive Republican Congressman, 1931-1933, and a Progressive Congressman, 1937-1939. Tom Amlie was a Progressive candidate at other times and lost a Democratic congressional primary in 1958. He was a nationally-known leftwing progressive. Meetings were held in the Amlie home in preparation for the founding and growth of the DOC.
Bitker, Bruno (Audio 1030A/10; Coberly): Native and lifelong resident of Milwaukee. Began law practice in 1921. Close associate of Bob Tehan during the formative period of the DOC.
Boegholt, Julia (Audio 1030A/3-5; Coberly): Born 1901. Came to Madison in 1926 with her husband who came to do graduate work with Alexander Mieklejohn and remained as a philosophy professor. Julia was active in Dan Hoan's Wisconsin Liberal League, the Dane County Citizens Committee, and the Dane County Democratic Committee. Made vice-chair of the DOC at its founding, 1948. National Committeewoman, 1948-1951.
Carlson, Laurie (Audio 1030A/25; Coberly): Progressive Assemblyman from Bayfield County, 1937-1943. Later a county officeholder in Dane County.
Doyle, James (Audio 1030A/36-43; Cavanaugh): Born 1915. Graduated UW in 1937, Columbia Law School in 1940. Worked for James Byrnes when Byrnes was Associate Justice of U.S. Supreme Court, when he was head of War Mobilization and Reconversion, and when he was Secretary of State. Joined La Follette, Sinykin and Doyle law firm, 1948-1965. 1965-present, U.S. Federal Judge, Western Wisconsin District. Major figure in reorganization and reformation of Democratic Party in late 1940s. Chair, Democratic Organizing Committee, 1951-1953; co-chair Americans for Democratic Action, 1953-1955; executive director, national. Stevenson for President campaign, 1960.
Doyle, Ruth (Audio 1030A/32-33; Cavanaugh): Member of the Wisconsin Assembly, 1949-1953. In 1952, ran for state treasurer and was defeated. Since then she has been a Dane County supervisor and a member of the Madison School Board. She and her husband were very active in the Democratic Party until Mr. Doyle's appointment as a federal judge in 1965.
Duffy, John and William (Audio 1030A/29-31; Cavanaugh): Both very active in the reformation of the Democratic Party in the late 1940s, especially in Green Bay. John, born 1921, remains a party member to this day, sometimes attending meetings; he attended five Democratic National Conventions as a delegate, 1952-1968, as a McCarthy delegate in 1968. William, born 1916, was a member of the Wisconsin Assembly, 1949-1951, and was a party activist until he became a judge in 1967.
Fairchild, Thomas (Audio 1030A/46-49; Cavanaugh): Born 1912. Received law degree from UW in 1938. Elected Attorney-General in 1948. Ran for U.S. Senator vs. Alexander Wiley in 1950 and vs. Joe McCarthy in 1952. Elected to Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1956. Appointed to U.S. Appeals Court, 1966.
Flynn, Gerald (Audio 1030A/79-81): A Democratic Party activist in Racine since 1933, Flynn was elected to the state senate in his first try for office in 1950. He ran for Congress in 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964. He won only in 1958.
Hart, Virginia and Henry (Audio 1030A/13-14; Coberly): Came to Madison in mid-1940s. Virginia worked, as a volunteer and later in a paid position, for the DOC in the late 1940s and very early 1950s. As DOC executive secretary, she was a key figure in the early going. Henry, like many DOC activists, was an active member of the American Veterans Committee.
Kaplan, Esther (Audio 1030A/23-24; Coberly): Officer in the Dane County Democratic Club and a party trench worker. Treasurer for numerous Democratic campaigns. Governor Nelson's personal secretary.
Lawton, Esther (Audio 1030A/16; Coberly): Party trench worker in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Wife of John Lawton.
Lawton, John, (Audio 1030A/44-45; Cavanaugh): Active in the Young Progressives while attending the UW, 1935-1942. Decided to join the Democrats and help in the vitalization of that organization in 1946. Has been a labor lawyer, late 1940s to the present, and is active in COPE.
Lehman, Virginia North (Audio 1030A/2; Coberly): Graduated from law school in the late 1920s. Studied at the University of Chicago School of Social Work in the mid-1930s. Involved with the CIO in Chicago. Close associate of Andy Biemiller.
Lenz, Erich (Audio 1030A/15; Coberly): Leader in the Wisconsin cooperative movement. Worked to bring farmers into the Democratic Party.
Lewis, Bob (Audio 1030A/54-56; Cavanaugh): Born 1919. Grew up on a Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin farm. Attended UW, 1938-1942. Editor, Daily Cardinal. Served in the Army, 1942-1945. Active Democrat, 1946-present. Worked for Wisconsin Rural Electric Cooperative, the Wisconsin Farmers Union, and the National Farmers Union. Served as Senator Proxmire's Administrative Assistant and as Governor Nelson's agricultural advisor. Served in the USDA under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Became National Secretary of the Farmers Union, 1967.
Lucey, Patrick (Audio 1030A/60-61, 64-65; Cavanaugh): Born 1918 and raised in southwestern Wisconsin. Served in World War II, 1941-1945, discharged as captain. B.S., UW-Madison, 1946. Wisconsin Assembly, 1949-1951. Candidate for Congress, 1950. Executive director, Democratic Organizing Committee, 1951-52. Managed Tom Fairchild campaign for senator, 1952, and Jim Doyle campaign for governor, 1954. Chair, Proxmire for Senate, 1957. Chair, Democratic Party of Wisconsin, 1957-1963. Elected lieutenant governor, 1964. Lost election for governor, 1966. Governor, 1971-1977. Appointed Ambassador to Mexico, 1977. Ran for U.S. vice president, 1980, on John Anderson presidential ticket.
Maier, Henry (Audio 1030A/66-68; Cavanaugh): Born 1918, Ohio. Attended UW Extension in Milwaukee, 1936-1938; UW-Madison, 1938-1940. Lost race for Mayor of Milwaukee, 1948. State Senator, 1951-1960. Mayor of Milwaukee, 1960-present. Won Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, 1956; lost general election.
Miller, Lucile (Audio 1030A/9; Coberly): Born in Madison, 1904. Active in Dane County Citizens Committee. Party trench worker for years.
Moses, John (Audio 1030A/21-22; Coberly): Came to Wisconsin at the end of World War II; attended UW, 1946-1951; active in American Veterans Committee and the Young Democrats; father had been Democratic governor and senator from North Dakota. Party fundraiser and business manager of the Wisconsin Democrat, late 1940s and early 1950s; very involved in many Democratic campaigns, 1948-1958. Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Lucey administration.
Nash, Philleo (Audio 1030A/76-78): Nash holds a doctorate in anthropology and runs the family cranberry business in Wisconsin Rapids. He was an assistant to Harry Truman throughout Truman's presidency. When Nash returned to Wisconsin in the mid-1950s, he immediately involved himself in Democratic Party politics. He was elected state chairman of the party in 1955 in a fairly close race. Two years later he was challenged by Pat Lucey and was defeated by a mere five votes out of nearly 1400 cast. Elected lieutenant governor in 1958, he was defeated when he ran for reelection two years later.
Nelson, Gaylord (Audio 1030A/50-53; Cavanaugh): Born 1916. Co-chair, DOC, 1948-1949. Elected to state senate, 1948, and served until elected governor in 1958. Served two terms as governor. Elected U.S. Senator, 1962 and served until defeated in 1980.
Nikolay, Frank (Audio 1030A/74-75): Nikolay's family was one of the few Democratic families in Clark County in the 1930s and 1940s. He became heavily involved in the party in 1948 and has maintained that involvement ever since. He has served in numerous local offices, and ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 1954 and again in 1956, and for lieutenant governor in 1970. He was elected to the assembly in 1958 and reelected in 1960, 1962, 1964, and 1968. He was defeated in 1966. He served as assembly majority leader in 1965. In 1983 he was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.
Pfankuchen, Gretchen (Audio 1030A/11-12; Coberly): Dane County political activist as early as the late 1930s. Chair of Dane County Citizens Committee and an officer of the Dane County Democratic Statutory Committee. Candidate for assembly, 1964.
Proxmire, William (Audio 1030A/59; Cavanaugh): Born 1915, Illinois. Educated at Yale and Harvard. Elected Wisconsin Assembly, 1950. Unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, 1952, 1954, and 1956. Elected to U.S. Senate in special election, 1957. Re-elected 1958, 1964, 1970, 1976, and 1982.
Rabinovitz, David (Audio 1030A/69-71; Cavanaugh): Born in 1908 in Sheboygan. Attended Marquette and the UW, receiving LL.D. from the latter in 1930. Labor lawyer in Sheboygan, representing the workers in both of the big Kohler strikes (1934 and 1954). Active in the Progressive Party, serving as county chair, and also the Farmer Labor Progressive Federation, serving as state chair. An early participant in the activities which led to the formation of the Democratic Organizing Committee in 1948. Active Democrat since then. Close friend with Jack and especially Bobby Kennedy. Served as judge of the federal court, Western Wisconsin District, on an interim basis, 1963-1965. Treasurer of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in the late 1950s and national committeeman in the early 1960s.
Reuss, Henry (Audio 1030A/1; Coberly): Born Milwaukee, 1912; B.A., Cornell University, 1933; LL.B., Harvard University, 1936. Candidate for Mayor of Milwaukee, 1948 and 1960. Democratic candidate for attorney general, 1950; lost Democratic U.S. Senate primary, 1952. Elected to Congress from the fifth district, 1954, and reelected until retirement in 1982.
Reynolds, John (Audio 1030A/62-63; Cavanaugh): Born in 1921 in Green Bay. Army, 1942-1946. Graduated B.S. from UW-Madison, 1946. Law degree, 1949. Candidate for Congress, 1950. District Director of Office of Price Stabilization, Green Bay, 1951-1952. Chair, Brown County Democratic Party, 1953-1957. Member Wisconsin Democratic Party Administrative Committee, 1955-1959. Elected Attorney General, 1958; reelected 1960. Elected Governor, 1962; defeated 1964. Appointed Eastern District of Wisconsin Federal Judge, 1965.
Sawall, Warren (Audio 1030A/57-58; Cavanaugh): Born 1923, Menominee, Michigan. Graduated from UW, 1948. Reporter, Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, 1948-1950. Editor, Wisconsin Democrat, 1950-1952. Worked for Fairchild for Senator, 1952. Active in Wisconsin Democratic Party, 1948-1952, 1960-1968. Served on Gaylord Nelson's gubernatorial and senate staffs, 1961-1979.
Schneider, Milton and Gloria (Audio 1030A/72-73): Party activists in Wood County since the late 1940s, neither Milton nor Gloria ever ran for public office. Milton served on the party's administrative committee for many years in the 1950s, generally assigned to the party's budget or finance committee. Gloria's portion of this interview is a discussion of an anti-Joe McCarthy episode in which she was heavily involved in 1952.
Thompson, Carl (Audio 1030A/26-28, 34-35; Cavanaugh): Born 1914. Was candidate for second district congressman in 1947 and for Governor in 1948 and 1950. He was in the Wisconsin Assembly, 1953-1959, and in the state senate, 1959-1984, when he retired.
Uphoff, Mari Jo and Walter (Audio 1030A/6-8; Coberly): Socialists active in the Farmer Labor Progressive Federation. Never joined the Democratic Party. Walter often a candidate for statewide office on the Socialist ticket.
Wheeler, Floyd (Audio 1030A/19-20; Coberly): Born in Beloit, 1904. Close to Tom Amlie. Democratic candidate for assembly, 1952. Attorney for REA cooperatives.
Abstracts to the Interviews
The tapes for these interviews have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstracts are integrated into the contents list below and list, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape, and indicate for each the time-marking, at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears.
Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on Henry Reuss' “ROLE IN FORMATION OF NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY” should locate the place on the second track of tape one, side one, where the voice announces the 08:55 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “eight minutes, fifty-five seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “ROLE IN FORMATION OF NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY” continues until approximately 11:40 at which point discussion of the next topic (“POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE LATE 1940s) begins.
Notice that in most cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentences underneath “ROLE IN FORMATION OF NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY” give further details on what appears on the tape between 08:55 and 11:40.
The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.
