DENVER Below is the transcript of Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeens (R-Monument) speech on the opening day of the First Regular Session of the 74th General Assembly. Not so much when we talk common sense. When Senator Lundeen boarded that doomed Pennsylvania Central Airlines plane in August 1940, remember that his final destination was back home in Minnesota, where he was slated to deliver a speech on Labor Day weekend. That speech was also a speech against America getting into the war. We inspire possibilities for people to change the world in a million different ways, big and small, local and global, every day. Lundeen was born and raised on his father's homestead in Brooklyn Township of Lincoln County near Beresford in the Dakota Territory. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. I think we would say evil genius. He served as, a Republican from Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives, from March 4, 1917, to March 3, 1919 in the 65th congress. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. Laundering millions of pieces of Nazi propaganda through Congress and into the hands of the American people. But no. Maddow: Despite her efforts to hide her husband's relationship with Viereck, her removing the documentary evidence from her husbands office right after his death. Former Minnesota senator Ernest Lundeens story of suspected sedition is back in the headlines thanks to a new podcast. That picture of Ernest Lundeen, standing under that giant swastika? Maddow: Millions of Americans. All of those members of Congress tied up in Vierecks scheme, all of them were associated with something called the America First movement. IE 11 is not supported. But the woman behind the mic that day, she was someone who was in a unique and interesting situation. If they could advance their career by playing footsie with Nazis, and if that meant winnowing away the strength of American democracy, then so be it. On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington to, Detroit. They had failed to act on advance warning of explosions at American munitions plants, planned as sabotage. Viereck, who had actively supported Robert M. La Follettes insurgent candidacy for the presidency in 1924, had cultivated friendships with several leading isolationist lawmakers, including New Yorks Hamilton Fish, Jr., but Senator Lundeen was arguably his closest ally in Congress. We care about the quality and flexibility of your childs education that is so important to their future success. From Jan 1937 to Aug 1940, Lundeen missed 76 of 416 roll call votes, which is 18.3%. Viereck wrote speeches and articles for Lundeen about how our supposed allies were weak and hypocritical and corrupt and doomed, how American democracy was corrupt and rigged, how the fascist government in Germany was strong, how the United States government should stay out of Germanys way. Letter from Attorney General Robert H. Jackson addressed to Sen. Ernest Lundeen's widow, denying that there was ongoing investigation into Lundeen at the time of his death. Young: Lundeen was someone who was maybe hurting a bit for money and open to questionable sources of financial support. DENVER Below is the transcript of Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeens (R-Monument) speech on the opening day of the First Regular Session of the 74th General Assembly. Despite the bill's Communist origins, the party mustered considerable support for it, including from union locals, international unions, and state labor federations. Senator have been manufacturing at our technology plant in Gro-Bieberau for 100 years. But thats not exactly what Norma wanted to talk about when she stepped behind the mic that day. And theyd get paid for it. Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said that businesses are already passing over Colorado for their expansion plans and conferences because they think its too much like California. His father, C. H. Lundeen, was an early pioneer who was credited with the naming of Brooklyn Township as well as with helping to establish the school and other institutions located there. Senator Ernest Lundeen: I have never heard a German, or a German born American, with the gall to ask that we help Germany, but red, yellow, brown, black and white races all are expected to die for the British Empire. ( sent) noun. Lundeens husband, who had been tragically killed in a plane crash near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia two years earlier, was reportedly under investigation by the FBI at the time of his death. Lundeen served in the United States Army during the SpanishAmerican War. Rachel Maddow: A mission which is unprecedented in radio broadcasting. Kinda sounds like melodramatic radio-age hyperbole, I know. Young: Norma Lundeen is going all spouse-proud and, "My husband was not a Nazi," saying things like that to the press. It was direct documentary evidence that the Senator had been colluding with a Nazi agent. In politics unexpected losses bless you with focused thoughts. And then in the run-up to World War II, he was basically the poster child in the Senate for leaving Germany alone to just do its thing. senate. [11], "Senator Lundeen" redirects here. Majority Leader, colleagues, families, guests here in the Capitol, and to the People of Colorado : Welcome. senator. Contents 1 Party affiliation 2 Leadership 2.1 Presiding officers 2.2 Majority leadership 2.3 Minority leadership 3 List of senators 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References Maddow: So Viereck would get pro-German speeches from the Hitler government, from the German embassy. He had close ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a leading Nazi agent in the U.S. Viereck often used Lundeen's office, and "sometimes dictated speeches for Lundeen, openly using the Senator's telephones to obtain material from Hans Thomsen at the [German] embassy. Mrs. Ernest Lundeen speaks and apparently she's speaking in reply to certain statements about her husband made by Walter Winchell in his broadcast. All eyes were briefly on Lundeen. No one in the public knew that they too had been aiding and abetting this paid agent of Hitlers government. Close Modal Suggest a Correction Education. Norma Lundeen: A number of photographs of my husband were taken while he was speaking. Maddow: The America First Committee started up in 1940 as a pressure group, to try to stop the United States from getting involved in the Second World War. They were all being held in that D.C. apartment raided by William Maloney that day. We are The Senator Group Senator Products Go to senator.online Allermuir Products Go to allermuir.com Discover What we offer _All Services Environments Global Reach Sustainability Services Learn more about our workplace consultancy. Lundeen, who had been active in the America First Committee, was never a serious factor in the primary. People are thinking my husband is on trial, she pleaded in an anguished voice. Jared Poliss office. Inventory of Art in the Minnesota State Capitol March 2013, Politics Among Danish Americans in the Midwest, Ca. The Republican caucus in this chamber can, and I believe will, make a fundamental difference. They asserted that Lundeens speeches were bitterly anti-British and vigorously against American preparedness. Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about Senator Ernest Lundeen and George Sylvester Viereck were old friends. [1] He then served as a Republican from Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives, from March 4, 1917, to March 3, 1919, in the 65th congress. In late 1940 and early 1941, the Ernest Lundeen story it started off bad, it took a hard right turn, but then it just kept getting worse and worse all the time with each new revelation. Committee Assignments. And random people dont just get to jump on a national radio broadcast whenever they feel like they have something to say. So with the current anti-democracy campaign intended to NazifyAmerica (and you know which orange figureheadand faithless political party thisinvolves, as with RepublicanSenator Lundeen in 1940), Rachel Maddow's new podcast Ultra(which premiered today!) My Republican colleagues elected me as Senate Republican Minority Whip to ensure that Republican ideals like freedom and independence will not be cancelled in the culture war we Hours: M-F 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Senate in session) 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Senate out of session) Get Directions. On each Senator's Home Page you will find his/her contact information, Capitol and District addresses and phone numbers, a map of the district, the Member's biography, a list of all the legislation authored by that Senator, his/her committee memberships, press releases and other publications, district links, and more. The answer rings clear. It turned out that Viereck also helped write speeches for several isolationist congressmen, including ghostwriting at least six speeches for Lundeen all of which came out during his closely-watched trial in early 1942, seven months before the Minnesota primary. One reason is: adversity has a clarifying effect. elected to the Senate in 1936 as a member of the Farmer-Labor Party. Maddow: Once George Viereck was arrested, the members of Congress who had participated in this scheme, they knew that prosecutors were onto them. From both parties. Failure to address these issues risks leaving our grandchildren to face a parched, unlivable, ignorant existence. That said, it's a longshot because, as Greg Brophy explained on today's show, the GOP would have to win 6 of the 7 currently contested seats. Senate probe Maddow: When George Viereck was looking for a member of Congress to rope into his new scheme to have the Hitler government advance its work through the U.S. Congress, Senator Ernest Lundeen was perhaps an obvious first target for him. Senator Patricia Billie Miller Senator Miller represents Darien and Stamford. He served from January 3. These coming years will likely be tough on the people of Colorado, and only through bipartisan cooperation, and reasoned application of the best and most inherently sustainable ideas, will we be able to overcome the challenges all of us face. Maddow: The Viereck files. He was. The speech written for Sen. Ernest Lundeen by a paid Nazi agent. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is a production of MSNBC and NBC News. She complained to the radio stations who carried his reporting, trying to get him taken off the air; she threatened the sponsors who advertised on the broadcasts in which he appeared. Private activist groups operating outside law enforcement were tracing stolen U.S. military weapons and complex, violent plots involving homegrown violent fascists with help and financing from Berlin. Its meaning is derived from a very ancient form of social organization, in which advisory or decision-making powers are reserved for the eldest men. PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, Exhibit 1 62-CV-18-254 Filed in Second Judicial District Court 1/30/2018 2:53 PM Ramsey County, MN, A Guide to the Records of Minnesota's Public Lands, Sixty-Eighth Congress March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1925. I mentioned the Republican caucus in this chamber can, and I believe will, make a fundamental difference in the way this body takes on and talks about issues. That's Viereck's portfolio from Germany. Lundeen might have added a comma, or changed the spelling of a word, but Lundeen did not do any significant, or even mild editing to the prose provided to him by Viereck. House of Representatives. He was something close to famous for his opposition to World War I. Our Technical Director is Bryson Barnes. Postal Service at essentially their own cost. I have been asked, can a team of twelve, the minority caucus in this august chamber make a difference? Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. And as soon as he was assigned to this new job by the Attorney General, Maloney began putting the pieces together, starting with Ernest Lundeen and George Sylvester Viereck and what sure seemed to be an improper relationship there. And members of Congress, importantly, were able to do that for free. Sen. Ernest Lundeen sent these pamphlets to his constituents, and asked them to indicate whether or not they supported the United States declaring war on Germany. Note that he may make real-time changes to some of the exact language. Now, that was unusual because she did not work for NBC. And possibly more importantly, we will help this Chamber lift up its head, look to the far horizon, and take on the basic issues that will provide extraordinary opportunities to our grandchildren and their children with a willingness to thoughtfully discern priorities and a laser focus that dismisses unsustainable political pet projects. This is on par with the median of 17.7% among the lifetime records of senators serving He needed to reach millions of Americans. They expected to find evidence of that scheme that they knew about: notes, documents, records of payments, other evidence linking this Nazi agent to Senator Lundeen. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. You got to pick your priority, said Lundeen. Maddow: The deal that Viereck was offering to Senator Lundeen, it was a lucrative one. Archival radio material is from NBC Newsvia the Library of Congress, which you really should visit. I had not read about her or her husband before. The term "senator" derives from Ancient Rome, where the Senate depicted the 'elders' assembly' ("senex" means For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives 191114. She said it was a big misunderstanding. He graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1901 and then studied law at the University of Minnesota Law School. His employees would get paid a salary by the Senate, but he would then demand that they hand over a portion of that salary back to him. Lundeens secretary arrived at the senators office on that fateful morning and found Lundeen slumped over on his desk: Hes got his head down on his desk, his head is And all of us face a future where energy is unreliable and unaffordable unless we wisely use the best carbon transition fuels we have and explore alternative energy options, like nuclear. Maddow: One of the reasons Viereck operated so successfully for so long had something to do with the way he did business. And even beyond going after reporters, Norma denied what was inarguably clear to anyone with eyes. It should literally be free to send their constituents mail about any government business. Much broader. His work ethic, persistence, and principled defense of gun-rights makes this endorsement simple. But for this scheme to be truly successful, Viereck needed his propaganda to go beyond Senator Lundeens reach with his constituents in Minnesota. He was kind of their top banana here. Senator Ernest Lundeen: I have never heard a German, or a German born American, with the gall to ask that we help Germany, but red, yellow, brown, black and white Disc 20612 Side A from Box T41-26. In fact, politics has become extremely noisy. Space for freedom and opportunity, creativity and ingenuity, and access to support and connection to help when a season of life is so heavy as to overwhelm a fellow Coloradan. She was looking for something very specific. Testifying as a witness for the defense in Vierecks trial, Norma Lundeen said that she had never heard Viereck utter a single un-American remark. And sometimes they did. They were mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats. Our Web Producer is Will Femia. Pitted against the popular Benson and ex-Farmer-Labor congressman Henry M. Arens, a 70-year-old former lieutenant governor with deep ties to the states farm cooperative movement, many observers believed that the Lundeen name still possessed some magic in Minnesota Farmer-Labor circles, especially among the states large German-American population. Maddow: Do you remember Francis Moran, the leader of the Christian Front in Boston? Radio Reporter: Senator Ernest Lundeen reported killed today in the crash of a Pennsylvania central airlines plane. There were newspapers, the radio, newsreels at the movies, and then there was the mail. A letter Sen. Ernest Lundeen wrote to himself on the eve before he was sworn in to the United States Senate. Hart: What we know is true is that Viereck is receiving much of the material for these speeches from the German embassy itself. Challenges faced by all. It helped him transform his scheme from a two-man band into a kind of assembly-line of Nazi propaganda being pumped out of the U.S. Captiol and into the mailboxes of unsuspecting Americans from coast-to-coast. Filter members by last name, committee, district number, or party (type (D) (R) for party): Home Page. Lundeen was carrying these pages when he died, and they were found near the scene of the plane crash. He didn't just churn out propaganda and disinformation himself, although he did do plenty of that. senator ( plural senators ) A member, normally elected, in the house or chamber of a legislature called a senate, as, for instance, the legislatures of the United States and Canada. Fr nhere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklrung und Cookie-Richtlinie. The application of one, or sometimes two members names, from the second party has been the accepted measure of that claim. Correspondence with organizations; speech invitations, some personal financial records, arranged alphabetically 1906-1932. box 4, folder 1-3. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. ", On the afternoon of August 31, 1940, Lundeen was a passenger on Flight 19 of Pennsylvania Central Airlines, flying from Washington, D.C. to Detroit. Party. Each state in the US elects two senators who serve six-year terms in Washington, DC, where they pass laws and vote on policies. The thick-lipped Viereck, who reportedly earned more than $100,000 singing the praises of Adolf Hitler while excoriating the British, was later indicted by a grand jury shortly after the devastating sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and was subsequently convicted on charges that he had deliberately concealed information when he registered as an agent of a foreign government. May God bless the work we undertake today with wisdom and a spirit of joy and understanding. For it is in those commonsense and broadly acceptable solutions and the ability to crane our necks to see beyond today, even tomorrow, far beyond our time in this chamber that the optimism of the people of Colorado rests. Because not only did she know for a fact that that allegation was true, that in fact an agent from Hitler's government really had been writing speeches for her Senator husband, she knew that it was true. Don't believe your lying eyes. box 4, folder 6-8. Because what had really ticked her off was not just the reporting that her husband was being tailed by the FBI, or that he was under investigation for being in cahoots with a Nazi agent, or that he made a practice of standing under a big swastika banner. Hart: Many of these men begin sort of searching their own files, trying to find out what their legal exposure might be. Bold. She had a taste for flamboyant hats. All of them, Maloney now realized, apparent participants in this operation funded and run by the Hitler government to disseminate Nazi propaganda to the American people. [8][9], After the plane crash, Lundeen's wife, Norma Lundeen tried to clear his name by covering up[10] his involvement with the Nazi regime. in Episode one, features Senator Lundeen, the plane crash, and more. [8], In 2022 Rachel Maddow released a podcast series titled Ultra, which explored Lundeen's complicity in Nazi Germany's intelligence and propaganda operations in the U.S. during the 12 to 18 months immediately preceding America's entry into World War II. [10] Within the year after the tragedy, the story that Lundeen's speeches have been written by Viereck had been reported by several journalists. And she knew that she herself had just hidden away the evidence that would prove it. Senate. The study explained that Berlin had charged German agents in the U.S. with finding these kernels of disturbance, which were described as, "racial controversies, economic inequalities, petty jealousies in public life, differences of opinion which divide political parties and minority groups. Even the "frustrated ambitions of discarded politicians." It is those who love the dead, and who all the years of their lives will bear his name with pride, they are the ones who feel the force of the dagger driven into the back of the dead. [3], Lundeen was elected to the United States Senate in 1936 as a member of the Farmer-Labor Party. He operated all over the country in the lead-up to America entering World War II. Radio Announcer: Youre about to hear an address delivered before a meeting of the America First Committee in Madison Square Garden in New York City. They funneled millions and millions of dollars through him and his various U.S. efforts on behalf of the German government. Wrote to himself on the eve before he was something close to famous for senator lundeen speech to! To America entering World War II read about her or her husband made by Walter Winchell his... So long had something to do with the median of 17.7 % Among lifetime! 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