Wendell Richard "Wendy" Anderson (February 1, 1933 – July 17, 2016) was an American hockey player, politician, and the 33rd

governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

, serving from January 4, 1971, to December 29, 1976. In late 1976 he resigned as governor in order to be appointed to the U.S. Senate after Senator Walter Mondale was elected

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

. Anderson served in the Senate from December 30, 1976, to December 29, 1978. (After losing the 1978 Senate election to

Rudy Boschwitz Rudolph Ely Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930) is an American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 1978 until 1991. Boschwitz is a member of the Republican Party. He was born in Berlin to a Jewis ...

, he resigned a few days before the end of his term to give Boschwitz seniority.)

Background

Anderson was born in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

, in 1933. He attended Saint Paul's Johnson High School and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, where he received a B.A. in 1954. He earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1960. Anderson served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

from 1955 to 1957, reaching the rank of

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

. He later served with an intelligence unit in the Army Reserve.

Hockey career

Anderson played defense for the

from 1951 to 1954, and was a member of the U.S. hockey team that won a silver medal at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, fro ...

. Long after his on-ice career ended, he was drafted by the

Minnesota Fighting Saints The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972 to 19 ...

in the inaugural

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

draft of 1972, in what was seen as a publicity stunt. (Not to be outdone, another WHA team selected Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.) While flattered, Anderson chose to remain governor.

Political career

Anderson served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1959 to 1962 and in the Minnesota State Senate from 1963 to 1970. He was elected governor of Minnesota in 1970. His signature accomplishment as governor was helping to create the "Minnesota Miracle of 1971", an innovative reform in financing of Minnesota public schools and local governments that created a fairer distribution in taxation and education. For his efforts Anderson was featured on a 1973 cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine. After U.S. Senator Walter Mondale was elected vice president in 1976, the governor had to appoint Mondale's successor. Anderson agreed with his lieutenant governor,

Rudy Perpich Rudolph George Perpich Sr. (June 27, 1928 September 21, 1995) was an American politician and the longest-serving governor of Minnesota, serving a total of just over 10 years. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, he served as the 34t ...

, that Anderson would resign as governor, and Perpich, as the new governor, would appoint Anderson to the Senate. In what became known as the "Minnesota Massacre", nearly the entire DFL Party ticket was defeated in 1978, including Perpich and the candidates for both U.S. Senate seats, Anderson and Bob Short. Anderson's arrangement to have himself appointed to the Senate—and Perpich's role in that appointment—were deemed central factors in the defeats. From 1995 to 2001 Anderson served as a director for and head of the legal committee of Turbodyne Technologies Inc. (TRBD) in

Carpinteria, California Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 census. Carpinteria is a p ...

. In his later years he was regularly called upon to act as a commentator on Minnesota politics for local stations such as KSTP-TV.

Personal life

Anderson married Mary Christine McKee (1939-2018) of

Bemidji, Minnesota Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making ...

, in 1963. They had three children: Amy, Elizabeth, and Brett. They divorced in 1990. In the 1970s, Anderson appeared on the TV

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

" What's My Line?" A panel consisting of Gene Rayburn, Arlene Francis, Gene Shalit and Sheila MacRae was unable to guess that he was the governor of Minnesota. In 1975, two of the Swedish District lodges of the Vasa Order of America selected Anderson as Swedish-American of the Year. Anderson died on July 17, 2016, of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.

References

External links

Wendell Anderson on the cover of TIME magazine: August 13, 1973
* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Wendell 1933 births 2016 deaths Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Ice hockey players from Saint Paul, Minnesota Lutherans from Minnesota Democratic Party United States senators from Minnesota Democratic Party governors of Minnesota Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Democratic Party Minnesota state senators American men's ice hockey defensemen Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics American athlete-politicians 20th-century Lutherans 20th-century American politicians University of Minnesota Law School alumni United States Army officers Military personnel from Minnesota Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey