Marvin Lewis Kline (August 9, 1903 – April 9, 1974) was an architectural engineer,
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 ...
politician, charity head, and criminal who served as the 34th
mayor of Minneapolis
This is a list of mayors of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The current mayor is Jacob Frey (DFL).
Minneapolis
From 1867 to 1878 mayors were elected for a 1-year term. Beginning in 1878 the term was extended to 2 years.
As the city became larger and mo ...
.
Early life and career
Kline was born in
Brunswick, Nebraska in 1903. His family moved to
Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Redwood Falls is a city in Redwood County, located along the Redwood River near its confluence with the Minnesota River, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 5,102 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat.
History
As the immig ...
in 1915 and he went on to attend 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. ...
, graduating in 1929 with a degree in architectural engineering. He worked with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and later formed his own company. In 1935, he was elected to the Minneapolis City Council. He was re-elected to a second term in 1939 and became the council's president.
Mayoralty
In 1941, Kline was elected mayor. During his time in office he worked with the city of
St. Paul, Minnesota and the state government to form the jointly run
Metropolitan Airports Commission
The Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is the owner and operator of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minnesota as well as six other reliever airports in the Twin Cities region, which primarily provide se ...
. Kline was criticized by some (including journalist
Arthur Kasherman) of
corruption and
collusion with the city's criminal underworld. According to a contemporaneous
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
document, the
SAC Rhodes of the FBI field office in
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
was also reported to believe that "Kline is controlled by the racketeers".
He was defeated in 1945 by
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
who ran on a platform of
law and order
In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...
and cleaning up the city's government.
Charity crime
In 1946, Kline was hired as the executive director of the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, for which he had previously been in an unpaid position on their board of directors. In June 1960, Minnesota Attorney General Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
released a report saying the Kline "was enabled to derive unconscionable personal profit from his position", including "fees" that had been paid to him from the people handling the charity's publicity and promotion.
In 1961, Kline was convicted of grand larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engl ...
in state court for illegally boosting his salary as director by creating false documentation upping his salary from $25,000 per year to $48,000. He was sentenced to Stillwater Prison for 10 years. In 1963, he and four fellow defendants were convicted in federal court of conspiracy and mail fraud for having diverted millions of dollars in funds raised during the charity's mail-based fundraising campaigns.
He was released from prison in 1967.[
]
Later life and death
After being released, Kline briefly worked as an engineer at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
The Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant was a United States Army ammunition plant located in Ramsey County, Minnesota in the current boundaries of the suburbs of Arden Hills, Minnesota, Arden Hills and New Brighton, Minnesota, New Brighton, bounded ...
before suffering from a stroke and retiring. Kline died of a heart attack in Ventura, California
Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...
in 1974. He is buried in Blair, Nebraska.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kline, Marvin Lewis
1903 births
1974 deaths
Mayors of Minneapolis
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni
Minnesota Republicans
People from Antelope County, Nebraska
20th-century American politicians
People from Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota politicians convicted of crimes
Hubert Humphrey
20th-century American architects
Political corruption in the United States
Charity scandals
American people convicted of theft