Luther Youngdahl

Born on May 29, 1896, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Youngdahl graduated from Minneapolis South High School. He then received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1919 from Gustavus Adolphus College and a Bachelor of Laws in 1921 from the Minnesota College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law). He served as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War I. He was an assistant city attorney for Minneapolis from 1921 to 1924 and in private practice from 1924 to 1930. He was a judge of the Minneapolis Municipal Court from 1930 to 1936 and of the Minnesota District Court for the Fourth Judicial District from 1936 to 1942. He was an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1942 to 1946. A member of the Republican Party, he was the governor of Minnesota from January 8, 1947, to September 27, 1951.[1]

As governor, one of Youngdahl's biggest concerns was mental health, and he made reforms to improve the mental health care system of Minnesota. In October 1949, Youngdahl personally burned more than 300 straitjackets and restraints. Youngdahl also increased funding for public education, expanded public housing, increased benefits for war veterans, created activities to improve the health of young people in Minnesota, desegregated the state's National Guard, passed anti-discrimination laws in employment, and banned slot machines and strengthened anti-liquor laws, despite the legislature's opposition.[2]

Youngdahl was a popular governor who won reelection easily in 1950, but as early as 1949 he expressed to a friend his desire to return to the judiciary, this time at the federal level. Believing that Youngdahl would be the strongest candidate the Republicans could run against him when he sought reelection in 1954, upon learning of Judge Thomas Alan Goldsborough's death from a heart attack, Minnesota's junior U.S. senator, Hubert Humphrey, proposed nominating Youngdahl to Goldsborough's now-vacant seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a meeting with President Harry S. Truman on July 2, 1951. Noting that Youngdahl was the only governor who had written a letter commending him for his recent decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur, Truman agreed to the suggestion.[3]

After meeting with Youngdahl on July 5, Truman appointed him the next day to the vacancy on the D.C. district court. The United States Senate confirmed Youngdahl on August 28, 1951, and he received his commission the next day. He assumed senior status on May 29, 1966.[1]

As Senior Judge, Youngdahl advocated education and job training for incarcerated criminals and less overcrowded programs to rehabilitate drug users, believing that harsh punishments failed to reduce crime.[4]

His service ended on June 21, 1978, upon his death in Washington, D.C.[5] He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[6]

• Esbjornson, Robert A Christian in Politics: Luther W. Youngdahl (1955)
• Luther W. Youngdahl papers