Victor Laurence August Christgau (September 20, 1894 – October 10, 1991) was a politician and government official from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Early life

Christgau was born in Dexter Township,

Mower County Mower County () is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,029. The county seat is Austin. Mower County comprises the Austin Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Rochester-Austin Co ...

, near

Austin, Minnesota Austin is a city in, and the county seat of, Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River and has two artificial lakes, East Side Lake and Mill Po ...

. His mother and paternal grandparents were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

immigrants. He graduated from the school of agriculture of 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. ...

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; ...

in 1917 and from its college of agriculture in 1923. He engaged in agricultural pursuits. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served overseas in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

as a sergeant in the Thirty-third Regiment of Engineers.

Career

He was a member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are h ...

from 1927 until his resignation in 1929. He 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 71st and 72nd US Congresses, (March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933) and was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1932. He resumed agricultural pursuits and was appointed executive assistant to the director of production, Division of Agricultural Adjustment Administration, in June 1933. He was director of the Production Division and assistant administrator from January 1934 through February 1935. He was appointed state administrator of the Minnesota

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

in June 1935 and served until June 1938. From 1939 through 1954 Christgau was state director of the Minnesota division of employment and security at St. Paul. He then served as president of the Interstate Conference Employment Security Agencies from 1947 to 1948; Director, Bureau of Old Age and Survivors Insurance,

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify ...

, from 1954 to 1963, and executive director of Social Security Administration from January, 1963 to March, 1967. He was a resident of

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, ...

until his death there on October 10, 1991.

References

External links

Minnesota Legislators Past and Present

Victor Christgau: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
, - 1894 births 1991 deaths Republican Party Minnesota state senators American Lutherans American people of German descent University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences alumni People from Mower County, Minnesota Farmers from Minnesota Military personnel from Minnesota United States Army personnel of World War I Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Lutherans {{Minnesota-politician-stub