Henrik Shipstead
Encyclopedia
Henrik Shipstead was an American
politician
. He served in the United States Senate
from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1947, from the state of Minnesota
in the 68th
, 69th
, 70th
, 71st
, 72nd
, 73rd
, 74th
, 75th
, 76th
, 77th
, 78th
, and 79th Congresses
. He served first as a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
from 1923 to 1941 and then as a Republican
from 1941 to 1947.
Few members of Congress in American history were more consistent in opposing U.S. foreign interventionism than Henrik Shipstead.
, in 1881 to Norwegian immigrant parents. Shortly after the turn of the century, he set up a dental practice and was elected president of the village council of Glenwood in neighboring Pope County
.
.
Shipstead opposed U.S. entry into the League of Nations
and the World Court
. He called for the cancellation of German reparations which he regarded as vindictive. Unlike some foreign policy non-interventionists in the Old Right
, he objected to the U.S. occupation of Haiti
, the Dominican Republic
and Nicaragua
. He blamed these interventions on the Roosevelt Corollary
to the Monroe Doctrine
of 1905 which had turned the United States into an arrogant "policeman of the western continent."
Shipstead did not consider himself an "isolationist." While he favored a policy of political non-intervention overseas, he opposed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930 which he charged was "one of the greatest and most vicious isolationist policies this government has ever enacted." He argued that high tariffs "raise prices to consumers" and make "monopolies richer and people poorer." Affable and dignified, his adversaries generally liked him on a personal level. He concluded that "It doesn't necessarily follow that a radical has to be a damned fool."
Along with Congressman Robert Luce
of Massachusetts
, he introduced the bill that formed the United States Commission of Fine Arts
, which governs planning in Washington, D.C.
. The bill, the Shipstead-Luce Act, is still in effect.
Shipstead defected from the Farmer-Labor party in the late 1930s charging that Communist elements were taking control. He won reelection to the Senate in 1940 as a Republican
. All the while, few fought more tenaciously against Franklin D. Roosevelt
's efforts to enter the war in Europe. Although Shipstead voted for the declaration of war after the attack on Pearl Harbor
, he was not about to give Roosevelt a blank check. In October 1942, for example, he took the extremely lonely stand of voting against Selective Service, just as he had in 1940.
Shipstead's vote against U.S. entry into the United Nations
was entirely predictable to anyone who had followed his career. It was the capstone of decades of opposition to foreign entanglements. Unlike many modern conservative critics of the UN, however, he not only feared that it would foster a world superstate but also that it would be used by the major powers to dominate smaller countries. His dissenting vote was political suicide and he probably knew it.
A new breed of "internationalists", led by Governor Edward John Thye
and former Governor Harold Stassen
, had assumed leadership of the state GOP. In 1946, he lost in the Republican primary to Thye
.
Shipstead retired to rural western Minnesota, where he died in 1960.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He served in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from March 4, 1923, to January 3, 1947, from the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in the 68th
68th United States Congress
The Sixty-eighth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1923 to March 4, 1925, during the last months of...
, 69th
69th United States Congress
The Sixty-ninth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1925 to March 4, 1927, during the third and fourth...
, 70th
70th United States Congress
The Seventieth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1927 to March 3, 1929, during the last two years of...
, 71st
71st United States Congress
The Seventy-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1931, during the first two years...
, 72nd
72nd United States Congress
The Seventy-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1931 to March 4, 1933, during the last two years...
, 73rd
73rd United States Congress
The Seventy-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1935, during the first two years...
, 74th
74th United States Congress
-House:Also 2 Delegates, 3 Resident Commissioners-Senate:*President of the Senate: John N. Garner *President pro tempore: Key Pittman -Majority leadership:*Majority leader: Joseph T. Robinson...
, 75th
75th United States Congress
The Seventy-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1937 to January 3, 1939, during the first two years...
, 76th
76th United States Congress
The Seventy-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1939 to January 3, 1941, during the seventh and...
, 77th
77th United States Congress
-Major events:* December 7, 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor* December 8, 1941: Joint Session of Congress met to hear President Roosevelt deliver his "Day of Infamy" speech...
, 78th
78th United States Congress
The Seventy-eighth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1943 to January 3, 1945, during the last two years...
, and 79th Congresses
79th United States Congress
The Seventy-ninth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1945 to January 3, 1947, during the last months of...
. He served first as a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party was a political party in the United States state of Minnesota, the most successful and longest-lasting of the constituent elements of the national Farmer–Labor Party movement, which had a presence in other states...
from 1923 to 1941 and then as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
from 1941 to 1947.
Few members of Congress in American history were more consistent in opposing U.S. foreign interventionism than Henrik Shipstead.
Biography
Shipstead was born on a farm in Kandiyohi County, MinnesotaKandiyohi County, Minnesota
Kandiyohi County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, its population was 42,239. Its county seat is Willmar.- History :...
, in 1881 to Norwegian immigrant parents. Shortly after the turn of the century, he set up a dental practice and was elected president of the village council of Glenwood in neighboring Pope County
Pope County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,236 people, 4,513 households, and 3,064 families residing in the county. The population density was 17 people per square mile . There were 5,827 housing units at an average density of 9 per square mile...
.
Political career
Shipstead started as a Republican but in 1922 was elected to the U.S. Senate under the banner of the new Farmer-Labor Party. While he generally shared the party's leftwing agenda, he rejected the extreme anti-capitalism of some members. Although he was the only Farmer-Laborite in the Senate, he won appointment to the powerful Foreign Relations CommitteeUnited States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs as...
.
Shipstead opposed U.S. entry into the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
and the World Court
Permanent Court of International Justice
The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1922 , the Court was initially met with a good reaction from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of...
. He called for the cancellation of German reparations which he regarded as vindictive. Unlike some foreign policy non-interventionists in the Old Right
Old Right (United States)
The Old Right was a conservative faction in the United States that opposed both New Deal domestic programs and U.S. entry into World War II. Many members of this faction were associated with the Republicans of the interwar years led by Robert Taft, but some were Democrats...
, he objected to the U.S. occupation of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
and Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. He blamed these interventions on the Roosevelt Corollary
Roosevelt Corollary
-Background:In late 1902, Britain, Germany, and Italy implemented a naval blockade of several months against Venezuela because of President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in a recent Venezuelan civil war. The incident was called the...
to the Monroe Doctrine
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression requiring U.S. intervention...
of 1905 which had turned the United States into an arrogant "policeman of the western continent."
Shipstead did not consider himself an "isolationist." While he favored a policy of political non-intervention overseas, he opposed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930 which he charged was "one of the greatest and most vicious isolationist policies this government has ever enacted." He argued that high tariffs "raise prices to consumers" and make "monopolies richer and people poorer." Affable and dignified, his adversaries generally liked him on a personal level. He concluded that "It doesn't necessarily follow that a radical has to be a damned fool."
Along with Congressman Robert Luce
Robert Luce
Robert Luce was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Auburn, Maine, Luce attended the public schools of Auburn and Lewiston, Maine, and Somerville, Massachusetts...
of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, he introduced the bill that formed the United States Commission of Fine Arts
United States Commission of Fine Arts
The United States Commission of Fine Arts , established in 1910 by an act of Congress, is an advisory agency of the Federal government.The CFA is mandated to review and provide advice on "matters of design and aesthetics", involving federal projects and planning in Washington, D.C...
, which governs planning in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. The bill, the Shipstead-Luce Act, is still in effect.
Shipstead defected from the Farmer-Labor party in the late 1930s charging that Communist elements were taking control. He won reelection to the Senate in 1940 as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. All the while, few fought more tenaciously against Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's efforts to enter the war in Europe. Although Shipstead voted for the declaration of war after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, he was not about to give Roosevelt a blank check. In October 1942, for example, he took the extremely lonely stand of voting against Selective Service, just as he had in 1940.
Shipstead's vote against U.S. entry into the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
was entirely predictable to anyone who had followed his career. It was the capstone of decades of opposition to foreign entanglements. Unlike many modern conservative critics of the UN, however, he not only feared that it would foster a world superstate but also that it would be used by the major powers to dominate smaller countries. His dissenting vote was political suicide and he probably knew it.
A new breed of "internationalists", led by Governor Edward John Thye
Edward John Thye
Edward John Thye was an American politician. He was the 26th Governor of Minnesota and a United States Senator from Minnesota.-Background:...
and former Governor Harold Stassen
Harold Stassen
Harold Edward Stassen was the 25th Governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. After service in World War II, from 1948 to 1953 he was president of the University of Pennsylvania...
, had assumed leadership of the state GOP. In 1946, he lost in the Republican primary to Thye
Edward John Thye
Edward John Thye was an American politician. He was the 26th Governor of Minnesota and a United States Senator from Minnesota.-Background:...
.
Shipstead retired to rural western Minnesota, where he died in 1960.
Further reading
- David T. Beito, "Henrik Shipstead Against the UN," History News Network, July 28, 2005.
- Barbara Stuhler, "The Political Enigma of Henrik Shipstead," Ten Men of Minnesota and American Foreign Policy 1898–1968. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1973. pp. 76–98.