Historic Tidbit: It was called a “My Three Sons” race. In 1998, the sons of the three politicians who are credited with building the modern Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, Humphrey, Mondale, and Freeman, sought the party’s nod for Governor. It was a polite affair, “Minnesota nice.” Freeman won the convention nod but Humphrey decided to take it to the primary where he won. His golden name did not translate to the general, however. Humphrey finished a distant third to Norm Coleman, and the eventual winner, Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
In 1960, the Kennedy brothers dangled the vice-presidential nominations before a number of politicians. Oddly enough, the man who ultimately became the pick, Lyndon Johnson, was not thought to be seriously considered until the closing hours of the convention, when it was determined that a southern pol would be needed. But one man who appeared to have been a serious contender was Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman. While he didn’t get the nod, the former Lutheran minister would deliver a stirring address condemning anti-Catholicism that would be heard around that nation.
Freeman was born to Scandinavian parents and graduated from the University of Minnesota with honors (he worked as a janitor to pay his way). He was a member of the debating team, as was Humphrey. He service in the Marines during World War II left his arm permanently injured. When he returned home from the war, he got his law degree.
Orville Freeman and his mentor, Hubert Humphrey, 1955, Minnesota Public Radio
Freeman had been a Humphrey ally and was making friendly wagers with Massachusetts Governor Foster Furcolo as far back as mid-1959, when Freeman was among the kitchen advisers (all but one from Minnesota) that convinced Humphrey to run. Freeman’s association with Humphrey went way back.
A Popular History of Minnesota describes Freeman as Humphrey’s “best friend and classmate at the University of Minnesota.” He helped Humphrey submit the Civil Rights plank at the ‘48 convention where Humphrey delivered his memorable nominating speech. All the while, he had been employed by Humphrey: as his assistant for veterans affairs in the Minneapolis Mayor’s office. Freeman was the yin to Humphrey’s yang. One person who knew them both said, “Orv was the orkney Marine. Humphrey was the Rembrandt with words.”
Orville Freeman (1918-2003) Minnesota Public Radio
During that time, he took politics under his wing, going from secretary to chairman of the Democratic-Farmer Labor Party. With his mentor Humphrey comfortably situated in the Senate, Freeman sought to compliment him at the state level. At first, attempts went poorly. He lost a race for attorney General in 1950 and Governor in ‘52. But ‘54 would be a different ballgame. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson had lowered the farm prices and incumbent Elmer Andersen paid the price in his state. Freeman beat him 53-47%.
In office, Freeman truly governed in the modern era. He appeared on the “Jack Paar Show” and “Toast of the Town.” With Walter Mondale serving as Freeman’s campaign manager, he was re-elected 51-48% in 1956. But ‘58 was his watershed: 57%. An AP newspaper profile spoke of his efforts on “new buildings and conducted a vigorous job to bring new buildings to the state.”
In June of 1960, Humphrey declared that he would not accept the vice-presidential slot and urged Freeman. Bobby Kennedy was reported to have told Freeman that he was a serious contender for the number two slots, if only he would move Minnesota’s delegates from the “favorite son” category into Kennedy’s. Herschel Loveless, his colleague from Iowa, had been told the same thing and conferred with his colleague. When Kennedy did tap Johnson, delegates from the District of Columbia, still pledged to Humphrey for President, rallied around Freeman for vice-president. Humphrey convinced them not to follow through.
With JFK during the 1960 campaign (Minnesota Public Radio)
Despite the fact that the vice-presidential slot had long been up in the air, Kennedy was certain about one thing. That he wanted Freeman to place him in nomination at the Democratic National Convention. He did so eloquently and looked to three fall campaigns: Kennedy’s, his own, and Humphrey’s. But he was taken aback by the anti-Catholic bigotry, including at his very own church. The next day, Freeman was on television to condemn religious bigotry.
In his book, RKF: The Man and His Times, Art Schlessinger wrote that while JFK thought the world of Freeman, he didn’t feel that “he brought much to the ticket.” It turns out, that was probably the case. For Freeman was not able to hold his own job that year. Businessman and ex-Republican State Senator Karl Andersen attacked Freeman’s “fiscal irresponsibility,’ wanted to institute tax increases. The difference was close. Just 23,000 votes out of 1.5 million cast (51-49%), and the returns suggest it’s possible that Freeman’s speech condemning anti-Catholic bigotry, while narrowly helping Kennedy secure the state, backfired on Freeman. It was rural areas that did him in.
But it was Freeman’s response to a strike the year before that also damaged him. Workers at the Wilson and Company meat-packing plant were striking and violence on the picket line was growing. Freeman declared Marshall Law.
The day after the election, Humphrey said Kennedy told him that he was strongly considering Freeman for Agriculture Secretary, and communicated that to Freeman as well. Freeman had told Kennedy he’d like any job but Ag Secretary. But by December, the job was his.
Thanks to technology, overproduction was a challenge Freeman was forced to confront. He believed in conservation, “We were piled up with surpluses,” he recalled. “Even the moth-balled fleet was full of wheat,” Freeman said. So he put a halt on production, which often led to the abandonment of farms. Freeman began a food stamps pilot program in West Virginia, one that worked so well that it was emulated nationally. Freeman is considered the father of the Food for Peace Program, which distributed supplies to other countries.
Freeman stayed on in the Johnson administration, and became President of the Business International Corporation. When he died in 2003, he was the last remaining Kennedy cabinet member.
Walter Mondale, in eulogizing Freeman, called him “one of the great public men in Minnesota’s history.”
“He believed in public service. He loved public life. He nurtured our sense of Minnesota as a community and he always stood for social justice.”