Herman L. Ekern, Progressive Republican state official and authority on insurance legislation, was born in 1872 on a farm in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin of Norwegian immigrant parents. At the age of fourteen he moved to Whitehall with his family, where he attended school and worked in his father's store.
On graduation from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1894 he joined in a partnership with Hans A. Anderson at Whitehall, and in the fall of that same year was elected district attorney for Trempealeau County. He served in that office for four years, and then practiced law. In politics he embraced the progressive cause as an ardent follower of Robert M. La Follette--a devotion that lasted through many campaigns and a quarter of a century.
Herman Ekern served in the state Legislature in the sessions of 1903, 1905, and 1907, entering at the beginning of La Follette's second term, and serving as speaker in the last session. As a La Follette lieutenant he guided much progressive legislation through the Assembly, being active in the fight for the primary law, civil service, and railroad safety and rate regulations. But Ekern became most widely known for his work in connection with the insurance investigations conducted by a legislative committee.
In 1905, just before La Follette resigned as governor to become senator, a committee was appointed by the Legislature to investigate life insurance companies in the state. The committee's work extended through 1906 and into 1907, and since Ekern had early demonstrated a talent for handling insurance matters, he served as special counsel for the committee as well as a member. As a result of the committee's work, legislation was passed which served as an example to all other states, and was the means by which many companies of questionable standing were forced to withdraw from operation in Wisconsin. Throughout these years he maintained his association with his law partners in Whitehall, first Hans A. Anderson and later Ole J. Eggum.
Having become an expert in insurance and actuarial matters in drafting insurance legislation, Ekern was appointed deputy commissioner of insurance under George E. Beedle in 1909, and in 1910 was elected commissioner of insurance. The following year he persuaded the legislature to make the office appointive. He proved to be an outstanding commissioner and gained a national reputation in the insurance field. He was instrumental in making it possible for the National Convention of Insurance Commissioners to draw up a bill to guide the states in regulating fire insurance companies, and worked constantly to strengthen the insurance laws of Wisconsin without driving out of the state sound and desirable companies.
An incident of interest in 1913 was an order by Governor McGovern removing Ekern from office, allegedly for political activity. Ekern successfully resisted the attempted ouster, but was not reappointed to his office at the end of his term in 1915. For the next seven years he maintained law offices in Chicago and Madison, specializing in legal matters relating to insurance. The firm of Ekern and Meyers (later Ekern, Meyers, and Janisch) in Chicago served as attorneys for the mutual insurance companies of the nation and enjoyed a wide reputation in its special field. It was during this period (1917) that Ekern played a part in advising the federal government on the Soldiers' and Sailors' War Risk Insurance Act.
In 1922 he was elected attorney general of Wisconsin, and again in 1924. While in this office he was not only active in bringing about reforms and improvements in Wisconsin, but also carried on legal battles that again gained him national prominence--the abolition of the Pittsburgh Plus (by which steel companies added the cost of freight from Pittsburgh to the price of steel no matter where they were located) before the Federal Trade Commission, and the opposition to Chicago's diversion of lake water in its sanitary and ship canal program.
All through these years Ekern was concerned with the Progressive party's candidates and program. He frequently helped to write the state platforms, attended the Republican national convention of 1908, and was a delegate to the national convention of 1920. He was director of the financial campaign to raise funds for La Follette's 1924 campaign for president.
In 1926, following Ekern's unsuccessful bid for governor, he returned to a highly successful private practice, again specializing in insurance law, and keeping offices in both Chicago and Madison. During the ensuing years he supported social security legislation, the Wisconsin Teachers' Retirement Act, unemployment insurance, public funds insurance, and lake levels litigation. He transferred the allegiance he had shown La Follette to the latter's son, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., and in 1938 was appointed lieutenant governor by Governor Philip La Follette. This was in preparation for his campaign to become United States senator in the election of that year, at which time he won the Progressive primary but was defeated in the election by the Republican, Alexander Wiley.
Herman Ekern was married in 1899 to Lily C. Anderson of Whitehall. They had six children, Elsie, Lila, John, George, Irene, and Dorothy. George became associated with his father in the Chicago office. Ekern died in 1954.
