Shipstead, Henrik (1881‒1960)

Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Official portrait of Senator Shipstead, ca. 1925.

Henrik Shipstead forged an independent path through Minnesota politics as a mayor, state representative, gubernatorial candidate, and four-term US senator. Serious yet personable, he opposed big business and was one of the staunchest non-interventionists in Senate history, vigorously criticizing American militarism as well as entry into the League of Nations, World Court, and United Nations.

Born in rural Kandiyohi County in January 1881, Shipstead was the eighth of twelve children in the Norwegian immigrant family of Saave and Christine Shipstead. He grew up listening to his politically minded father criticize big business, consumerism, and modernity while extolling the virtues of simple farmers. As a young man he was encouraged by a friend to apply to Northwestern University Dental School, from which he graduated in 1903.

Later that year, Shipstead returned to western Minnesota and set up a practice in Glenwood. In 1910, at age twenty-nine, he was recruited by both of Glenwood’s rival political factions to run for mayor. He was twice elected, without opposition, to one-year terms. After refusing a third term in order to return full-time to dentistry, he was nominated and elected to the state House of Representatives in 1916.

In 1917, during Shipstead’s term as a state representative, some Glenwood residents decided to form a chapter of the Nonpartisan League (NPL)—an association of progressive farmers and workers. When conservative town residents balked at giving the farmers a space to organize, Shipstead rented them a hall in his own name. His actions on behalf of the NPL endeared him to many but nonetheless made him a more controversial figure.

In 1920, Shipstead unsuccessfully sought the governorship as an NPL-endorsed independent. Two years later, he was nominated by the new Farmer‒Labor Party to run against incumbent Republican US Senator Frank B. Kellogg. Enjoying added name recognition from his previous statewide campaign, he easily won the three-way contest with 47 percent of the vote, including large majorities in western and northern Minnesota as well as working-class wards in the Twin Cities.

In the Senate, Shipstead emerged as a progressive advocate for farmers, workers, and small-business owners. He pursued agricultural and labor reform, natural resource preservation, inland waterway navigability, non-interventionism, rural electrification, and banking reform. His most lasting legislative accomplishments included a nine-foot shipping channel on the Mississippi River, federal protection of the sacred Pipestone Quarry, and the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act. Passed in 1930, the act protected what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from damming and logging.

During the 1934 campaign, as Shipstead was facing a left-wing primary challenge from Congressman Francis Shoemaker, a raucous state convention of the Farmer‒Labor Party adopted a stridently left-wing platform that explicitly called for an end to capitalism. While Shipstead had serious reservations about capitalism and had long supported cooperative business ventures, the new platform contained proposals that he viewed as the result of creeping socialist and communist influence.

In 1940, six years after winning reelection on the platform he now criticized, Shipstead upended the Minnesota political world by leaving the Farmer‒Labor Party and returning to the Republicans. In announcing his switch, Shipstead stressed that it was the Farmer‒Labor Party—not he—that had changed.

After rejoining the GOP he reaffiliated with the left-wing of the party, alongside figures including Senators Lynn Frazier and Hiram Johnson. He remained adamantly opposed to war and belligerent internationalism even as other Minnesota Republican leaders, including Harold Stassen and Joseph Ball, worked to shift the party in that direction.

When World War II came, Shipstead vigorously opposed American entry. Though he voted in favor of declaring war on Japan after Pearl Harbor, he would argue for the rest of his career that the war had been the fault of Western elites. He was one of only two senators to vote against the United Nations Charter, which he saw as an attempt by powerful countries to control less powerful ones.

After failing to win reelection to a fifth term, Shipstead retired to his farm in western Minnesota in 1947. Falling short in the GOP primary for the seat he had held for the last twenty-four years was a spectacular ending for a man who had spent most of his career as “the most popular and enduring public figure in the State.”

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Bjornson, Christian. "Shipstead, Henrik (1881‒1960)." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/shipstead-henrik-1881-1960
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First Published: December 31, 2018
Last Modified: April 16, 2025

Bibliography

Primary

Newspapers

“CLU Cancels Shipstead Bid.” Minneapolis Star, August 4, 1940.

Davis, Maxine. “Shipsteads Interest Washington.” Capital News, March 1928 or 1929.

“Dr. Shipstead Elected Over F. B. Kellogg.” Daily People’s Press, November 9, 1922.

“La Follette to Speak Tonight.” New Ulm Review, November 1, 1922.

“Minnesotas Nye Senator: Henrik Shipstead.” Minneapolis Tidende, November 16, 1922.

N. N. R. “Senator Henrik Shipstead.” The Friend, July 1930.

“Shipstead’s Sweep Polls Many Votes for Johnson.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, November 9, 1922.

“Shipstead Files Under GOP.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

“Shipstead Tells Why He Shifted Party Allegiance.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

Trussell, C. P. “UNO Bill Approved By Senate, 65 to 7, With One Change.” New York Times, December 4, 1945. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1204.html.

Pamphlets

Farmer‒Labor Party. “Farmer‒Labor Platform of Minnesota: Adopted by the 1934 Convention.” August 1934.

Johnson, Kenneth L., Sec. Let’s Nominate in September a Leader Who Can Win in November: Let’s Nominate and Re-Elect Senator Shipstead. St. Paul: Republican State Committee for Shipstead, 1940.

Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee. Leaders in the Senate Join in Praise of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead: Senior Senator from Minnesota. Minneapolis: Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee, 1934.

Personal papers

Petersen, Hjalmar. “Speech over WCCO.” April 22, 1946.

Shipstead, Henrik. “Address of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead Over the Columbia Broadcasting System at Minneapolis.” July 19, 1941.

———. “Conduct of Foreign Affairs.” C.R. March 22, 1924.

———. “Indtryk fra Norge.” In Jul i Vesterheimen. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1932.

———. “Letter to Miss Leona Rupp.” April 26, 1939.

———. “Letter to Mr. Charles Coy.” June 29, 1935.

———. “Letter to William Knudsen.” December 19, 1940.

———. “Senator Shipstead Discusses ‘Neutrality’ over CBS.” Radio address. May 16, 1939.

———. “Speech in the Senate Dealing with Appropriations for the Works Progress Administration for the Balance of the Fiscal Year.” July 1, 1939.

———. “Speech Given over WCCO.” August 19, (1942?).

———. “The United Nations Charter.” Speech in the United States Senate. Undated.

———. “We Must Reduce Interest Rates.” Speech in the Senate of the United States. Congressional Record, 73 Congress, 2 Session. February 8, 1934.

Smith, Paul J. “Radio Address by Paul J. Smith, Personal Representative of President William Green of the American Federation of Labor in Behalf of the Candidacy of Senator Henrik Shipstead for Reelection Over Station KSTP.” October 26, 1934.

Secondary

Lorenz, Mary René. “Henrik Shipstead: Minnesota Independent.” Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1963.

Ross, Martin. Shipstead of Minnesota. Chicago: Packard, 1940.

Shearer, William K. “Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party.” 32 vols. California Statesman (March 1997–November 1999).

Stuhler, Barbara. Ten Men of Minnesota and American Foreign Policy. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1973.

Wittenberg, Erlin. “The Political Career of Henrik Shipstead.” Master’s thesis, Mankato State College, 1961.

Web

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Fifth, 1940.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1940. St. Paul, 1941.

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Seventh, 1922.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1923. St. Paul: Harrison & Smith Co., 1923.

Pipestone Indian Shrine Association. “Background to Establishment of Pipestone National Monument.” A History of Pipestone National Monument Minnesota. 1965; updated 4 February 2005.
http://npshistory.com/publications/pipe/history/sec7.htm.

Related Resources

Related Images

Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Official portrait of Senator Shipstead, ca. 1925.
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1925.
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1940.
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech
Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1935.
Henrik Shipstead delivering a radio address on KSTP
Shipstead delivering one of his radio addresses w/ KSTP microphone, ca. 1945.
Portrait of Henrik Shipstead
Official portrait of Shipstead, seated, at Golling Studio, Minneapolis, 1923.
Henrik Shipstead’s house in Alexandria
Shipstead’s house in Alexandria, Minnesota, ca. 1963.
Lula Shipstead
Lula Anderson Shipstead, wife of Henrik Shipstead, ca. 1925.
Henrik Shipstead with Magnus Johnson
Shipstead with Magnus Johnson, ca. 1923.
Henrik Shipstead campaign meeting
Gubernatorial primary campaign meeting for Shipstead in Willmar, 1920.
Henrik Shipstead with Floyd B. Olson
Shipstead seated next to Governor Floyd B. Olson, ca. 1931.
Henrik Shipstead, Wendell Willkie, and Harold Stassen
Shipstead, Willkie, and Stassen speak during Willkie’s campaign visit to Minnesota, October 1940.
Luncheon at Bald Eagle Lake

Attendees at a luncheon hosted by E. H. Hobe, Bald Eagle Lake; Shipstead is in the front row, second from left.

Floyd B. Olson’s funeral.

Pallbearers at Floyd B. Olson’s funeral, Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, August 26, 1936; Shipstead is second from right.

America First Committee meeting

Meeting of the America First Committee at the Minneapolis Auditorium, May 10, 1941; Shipstead is second from left.

Minnesota Farmer-Labor meeting

Gathering of Minnesota Farmer-Labor politicians at the summer home of Thomas Frankson; Shipstead is standing, fifth from left.

Henrik Shipstead
Shipstead as a new senator, 1923.
Henrik Shipstead in Washington
Shipstead seated at a meeting in Washington, 1939.
Henrik Shipstead with freshman senators.

Shipstead with fellow progressive, freshman senators Brookhard, Wheeler, and Frazier at the Capitol in Washington, 1922; Shipstead is second from right.

Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead

Official senatorial portrait of Henrik Shipstead

Official portrait of Senator Shipstead, ca. 1925.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1925.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1940.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Henrik Shipstead delivering a speech

Shipstead delivering a speech, ca. 1935.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead delivering a radio address on KSTP

Henrik Shipstead delivering a radio address on KSTP

Shipstead delivering one of his radio addresses w/ KSTP microphone, ca. 1945.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Portrait of Henrik Shipstead

Portrait of Henrik Shipstead

Official portrait of Shipstead, seated, at Golling Studio, Minneapolis, 1923.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead’s house in Alexandria

Henrik Shipstead’s house in Alexandria

Shipstead’s house in Alexandria, Minnesota, ca. 1963.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Lula Shipstead

Lula Shipstead

Lula Anderson Shipstead, wife of Henrik Shipstead, ca. 1925.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead with Magnus Johnson

Henrik Shipstead with Magnus Johnson

Shipstead with Magnus Johnson, ca. 1923.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead campaign meeting

Henrik Shipstead campaign meeting

Gubernatorial primary campaign meeting for Shipstead in Willmar, 1920.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead with Floyd B. Olson

Henrik Shipstead with Floyd B. Olson

Shipstead seated next to Governor Floyd B. Olson, ca. 1931.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead, Wendell Willkie, and Harold Stassen

Henrik Shipstead, Wendell Willkie, and Harold Stassen

Shipstead, Willkie, and Stassen speak during Willkie’s campaign visit to Minnesota, October 1940.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Luncheon at Bald Eagle Lake

Luncheon at Bald Eagle Lake

Attendees at a luncheon hosted by E. H. Hobe, Bald Eagle Lake; Shipstead is in the front row, second from left.

© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Floyd B. Olson’s funeral.

Floyd B. Olson’s funeral.

Pallbearers at Floyd B. Olson’s funeral, Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, August 26, 1936; Shipstead is second from right.

© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
America First Committee meeting

America First Committee meeting

Meeting of the America First Committee at the Minneapolis Auditorium, May 10, 1941; Shipstead is second from left.

© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Farmer-Labor meeting

Minnesota Farmer-Labor meeting

Gathering of Minnesota Farmer-Labor politicians at the summer home of Thomas Frankson; Shipstead is standing, fifth from left.

© Minnesota Historical Society    

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Henrik Shipstead

Henrik Shipstead

Shipstead as a new senator, 1923.
© Library of Congress    

Public domain

Holding Location

Library of Congress
Henrik Shipstead in Washington

Henrik Shipstead in Washington

Shipstead seated at a meeting in Washington, 1939.
© Library of Congress    

Public domain

Holding Location

Library of Congress
Henrik Shipstead with freshman senators.

Henrik Shipstead with freshman senators.

Shipstead with fellow progressive, freshman senators Brookhard, Wheeler, and Frazier at the Capitol in Washington, 1922; Shipstead is second from right.

© Library of Congress    

Public domain

Holding Location

Library of Congress

Turning Point

In 1922, Shipstead is elected to the US Senate as a member of the Farmer‒Labor Party, beginning a two-and-a-half decade career representing Minnesota in Washington, DC.

Chronology

1881
Shipstead is born on January 8th in Kandiyohi County.
1903
Shipstead graduates from dental school in Chicago and returns to Minnesota. He chooses to settle in Glenwood, where he sets up a dental practice.
1910
Shipstead is elected mayor of Glenwood, beginning his political career. He is the consensus choice of two rival political factions.
1916
After retiring from local politics and returning to dentistry, Shipstead is asked by local supporters to run for state representative. He loses his first race in 1912 but wins in 1916 and serves one term.
1920
Shipstead runs for governor as an independent, endorsed by the Nonpartisan League. He surprises the state by coming in second, with 35 percent of the vote.
1922
Enjoying added name recognition from his run for governor in 1920, Shipstead is elected to the US Senate, defeating incumbent Senator Frank Kellogg. He takes his seat as the only third-party member of the Senate.
1930
Shipstead succeeds in passing a bill protecting the future Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from logging and hydropower projects.
1934
Shipstead faces an intraparty primary fight from Francis Shoemaker, a member of the Farmer‒Labor Party’s left wing. Shipstead prevails, but the Farmer‒Labor convention shifts the party further to the left, beginning his estrangement from the party.
1939
| A combination of efforts to aid the Allies in the conflict emerging in Europe and his decision to run for a third term causes Shipstead to abandon support for President Roosevelt, of whom he had once been an ally.
1940
Shipstead shocks the Minnesota political world by announcing, on the last day of filing, that he will leave the Farmer‒Labor Party and run for reelection as a Republican.
1941
In spite of his fervent opposition to American intervention in foreign conflicts, Shipstead votes in favor of war with Japan after Pearl Harbor.
1945
In perhaps the most controversial move of his career, Shipstead votes with only one other senator in opposition to adoption of the United Nations Charter. Later in the year he joins six others in voting against American participation in the organization.
1946
Shipstead is defeated for reelection to a fifth term by internationalist Republican and Governor Edward John Thye, ending his twenty-four-year career in the upper house of Congress.
1960
Henrik Shipstead dies in Alexandria, Minnesota, on June 26th, age seventy-nine.

Bibliography

Primary

Newspapers

“CLU Cancels Shipstead Bid.” Minneapolis Star, August 4, 1940.

Davis, Maxine. “Shipsteads Interest Washington.” Capital News, March 1928 or 1929.

“Dr. Shipstead Elected Over F. B. Kellogg.” Daily People’s Press, November 9, 1922.

“La Follette to Speak Tonight.” New Ulm Review, November 1, 1922.

“Minnesotas Nye Senator: Henrik Shipstead.” Minneapolis Tidende, November 16, 1922.

N. N. R. “Senator Henrik Shipstead.” The Friend, July 1930.

“Shipstead’s Sweep Polls Many Votes for Johnson.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, November 9, 1922.

“Shipstead Files Under GOP.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

“Shipstead Tells Why He Shifted Party Allegiance.” Minneapolis Star, August 1, 1940.

Trussell, C. P. “UNO Bill Approved By Senate, 65 to 7, With One Change.” New York Times, December 4, 1945. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1204.html.

Pamphlets

Farmer‒Labor Party. “Farmer‒Labor Platform of Minnesota: Adopted by the 1934 Convention.” August 1934.

Johnson, Kenneth L., Sec. Let’s Nominate in September a Leader Who Can Win in November: Let’s Nominate and Re-Elect Senator Shipstead. St. Paul: Republican State Committee for Shipstead, 1940.

Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee. Leaders in the Senate Join in Praise of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead: Senior Senator from Minnesota. Minneapolis: Voluntary Shipstead for Senator Committee, 1934.

Personal papers

Petersen, Hjalmar. “Speech over WCCO.” April 22, 1946.

Shipstead, Henrik. “Address of United States Senator Henrik Shipstead Over the Columbia Broadcasting System at Minneapolis.” July 19, 1941.

———. “Conduct of Foreign Affairs.” C.R. March 22, 1924.

———. “Indtryk fra Norge.” In Jul i Vesterheimen. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1932.

———. “Letter to Miss Leona Rupp.” April 26, 1939.

———. “Letter to Mr. Charles Coy.” June 29, 1935.

———. “Letter to William Knudsen.” December 19, 1940.

———. “Senator Shipstead Discusses ‘Neutrality’ over CBS.” Radio address. May 16, 1939.

———. “Speech in the Senate Dealing with Appropriations for the Works Progress Administration for the Balance of the Fiscal Year.” July 1, 1939.

———. “Speech Given over WCCO.” August 19, (1942?).

———. “The United Nations Charter.” Speech in the United States Senate. Undated.

———. “We Must Reduce Interest Rates.” Speech in the Senate of the United States. Congressional Record, 73 Congress, 2 Session. February 8, 1934.

Smith, Paul J. “Radio Address by Paul J. Smith, Personal Representative of President William Green of the American Federation of Labor in Behalf of the Candidacy of Senator Henrik Shipstead for Reelection Over Station KSTP.” October 26, 1934.

Secondary

Lorenz, Mary René. “Henrik Shipstead: Minnesota Independent.” Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1963.

Ross, Martin. Shipstead of Minnesota. Chicago: Packard, 1940.

Shearer, William K. “Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party.” 32 vols. California Statesman (March 1997–November 1999).

Stuhler, Barbara. Ten Men of Minnesota and American Foreign Policy. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1973.

Wittenberg, Erlin. “The Political Career of Henrik Shipstead.” Master’s thesis, Mankato State College, 1961.

Web

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Fifth, 1940.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1940. St. Paul, 1941.

“General Election Returns for Minnesota: Tuesday, November Seventh, 1922.” Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Minnesota Legislative Manual 1923. St. Paul: Harrison & Smith Co., 1923.

Pipestone Indian Shrine Association. “Background to Establishment of Pipestone National Monument.” A History of Pipestone National Monument Minnesota. 1965; updated 4 February 2005.
http://npshistory.com/publications/pipe/history/sec7.htm.

Related Resources