Henry Thomas Helgesen (June 26, 1857 – April 10, 1917) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. Born near

Decorah, Iowa Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest commun ...

, Helgesen attended the public schools, the John Breckenridge Normal Institute, and the J.R. Slack Business College at Decorah. He moved to Milton, Dakota Territory (now North Dakota), in 1887. He engaged in the mercantile and lumber business and also in agricultural pursuits. He served as the

North Dakota commissioner of agriculture and labor The North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor was an elected official who headed the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and Labor. The office was established with the state's constitution in 1889, and was split into two separate offices ...

from 1889 and 1892; the first to hold the office. He served as member of the board of education of Milton, North Dakota. from 1893 to 1896, and served as president in 1893 and 1894. He served as member of the board of regents of the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

1897-1901 and 1907–1913. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Sixty-first Congress in 1908. Helgesen was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the Sixty-second and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1911, until his death in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, April 10, 1917. He was interred in Phelps Cemetery,

. The most notable action of Helgesen in his Congressional career was that he was a key figure between 1911 and 1916 in Congressional activity in support of the claims of Dr.

Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician, and ethnographer who claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. That was nearly a year before Robert Peary, who similarly clai ...

with regard to being the first explorer to reach the North Pole, and a corresponding demand to take back the promotion of Robert Peary to the rank of rear admiral. Research by William R. Hunt into this matter showed that Helgesen's staff in Washington included an aide, Ernest C. Rost, who was a professional photographer and a friend of Dr. Cook. Later it turned out that Rost was a hired lobbyist for Cook. Helgesen read into the Congressional Record of 1915 published pamphlets and newspaper articles in support of Cook. However, a year later Cook went on a trip to Asia, and Helgesen denounced Cook as a fraud. It cannot be ascertained if there is any connection but Cook was being sued for non-payment of salary owed to Rost at this time. Further activity by Helgesen ended with his death in April 1917.

Sources

Henry T. Helgesen, late a representative from North Dakota, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1919
* William R. Hunt ''To Stand at the Pole: The Dr. Cook - Admiral Peary North Pole Controversy'' (New York: Stein & Day, 1981) illus. p. 162, 167–169, 199. {{DEFAULTSORT:Helgesen, Henry Thomas 1857 births 1917 deaths North Dakota Commissioners of Agriculture and Labor American people of Norwegian descent People from Winneshiek County, Iowa People from Cavalier County, North Dakota Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Dakota 19th-century American politicians

See also

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