William "Wild Bill" Langer (September 30, 1886November 8, 1959) was a prominent American lawyer and politician from

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, where he was an infamous character, bouncing back from a scandal that forced him out of the governor's office and into multiple trials. He was the 17th and 21st governor of North Dakota from 1932 to 1934 and from 1937 to 1939. Langer was elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1940, remaining until he died in office in 1959. There he strongly opposed any American military involvement in world affairs, and his opponents derided him as an isolationist.

Early life, education and early career

Langer was born on September 30, 1886 near Casselton,

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

, to

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

s Frank and Mary (Weber) Langer. His

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

father, Frank Langer, was a member of the first legislature of the state of North Dakota. William, who spoke

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 **Ger ...

fluently, was valedictorian of Casselton High School upon graduation in 1904. He obtained a bachelor of laws from 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 ...

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

, but was too young upon graduation to practice law. He therefore continued his undergraduate education at Columbia, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1910. Although he was offered a position at a prominent New York law firm, he elected to return to North Dakota, where he practiced law in the town of

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still res ...

before starting his career in politics.

Personal life

Langer married Lydia Cady, the daughter of New York architect

J. Cleaveland Cady Josiah Cleaveland Cady (January 1837 – April 17, 1919) or J. Cleaveland Cady, was an American architect who is known for his Romanesque architecture, Romanesque and Rundbogenstil style designs. He was also a founder of the American Institute ...

, in 1918, and had four daughters, Emma, Lydia, Mary, and Cornelia (who became a wife of abstract painter

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

Career

In 1914, Langer was appointed state's attorney of Morton County and was one of a few non-farmers on the

Nonpartisan League The Nonpartisan League (NPL) was a left-wing political party founded in 1915 in North Dakota by Arthur C. Townley, a former organizer for the Socialist Party of America. On behalf of small farmers and merchants, the Nonpartisan League advocate ...

(NPL)

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 ...

1916 state ticket. He was elected state attorney general as the newly formed NPL party swept to victory in the 1916 election, but soon clashed with the party's founder and mercurial leader

Arthur C. Townley Arthur Charles Townley (December 30, 1880 – November 7, 1959) was an American political organizer best known as the founder of the Nonpartisan League, National Non-Partisan League (NPL), a farmers' organization which had considerable political ...

. By 1920, Langer was publicly accusing Townley of

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...

, and failed in a primary campaign to replace the incumbent NPL governor

Lynn Frazier Lynn Joseph Frazier (December 21, 1874January 11, 1947) was an American educator and politician who served as the 12th Governor of North Dakota from 1917 until being recalled in 1921 and later served as a U.S. Senator from North Dakota from 192 ...

as the party's gubernatorial candidate. Langer's break with the NPL leadership was a reflection of the infighting that limited the party's eventual influence on North Dakota politics.

Governor

Langer eventually mended his rift with the NPL and was elected governor of North Dakota in 1932. As governor, Langer in 1933 required all state employees to donate part of their annual salaries to the NPL and to the ''Leader,'' a weekly newspaper owned by high-ranking officials in his administration. Collecting this money was not prohibited by state law and was a common, traditional practice. But when donations were made by highway department employees, who were paid through federal relief programs, the U.S. Attorney for North Dakota, P. W. Lanier, charged that the donations constituted a conspiracy to defraud the federal government. Brought to trial in 1934, Langer and five co-conspirators were convicted. The trial was presided over by Judge Andrew Miller and prosecuted by Lanier, two of Langer's strongest political opponents in the state. The first trial was littered with procedural errors that made it invalid on appeal, including improper and rigged jury selection (the jurors were alleged to have had personal bias against Langer and been hand-picked by Lanier) and heavily biased jury instructions. Because of the felony conviction, the

North Dakota Supreme Court The North Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court of law in the state of North Dakota. The Court rules on questions of law in appeals from the state's district courts. Each of the five justices are elected on a no-party ballot for ten year te ...

ordered Langer removed from office, and on July 17, 1934, the Court declared Lieutenant Governor

Ole H. Olson Ole H. Olson (September 19, 1872 – January 29, 1954) was the 16th lieutenant governor and 18th governor of North Dakota. Biography Olson was born in Mondovi, Wisconsin. He was the oldest child of nine from parents who had emigrated from Sogn, N ...

the legitimate governor. Langer gathered with about ten friends, declared North Dakota independent, declared martial law, and barricaded himself in the governor's mansion until the Supreme Court would meet with him. He eventually relented, and Olson served the remainder of Langer's term as governor. In 1935 the convictions were overturned on appeal. The case against Langer was retried twice in 1935. Miller, following a recusal motion by Langer, refused to step down as judge in the first retrial, which resulted in a hung jury. Between the second and third trials, Lanier filed charges against Langer for committing perjury in his recusal motion against Miller. This trial, unprecedented in its nature on perjury in an affidavit requesting a recusal, resulted in a

directed verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales, ...

to acquit Langer. The second retrial of the original charges, presided over by a judge other than Miller, resulted in Langer's acquittal. Throughout the trials, Langer maintained that he was innocent and the victim of a political vendetta by Miller and Lanier. He was reelected governor in 1936. Historian Lawrence Larsen has called Langer "a master of political theater". Langer's wife, Lydia, ran for governor in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

but lost to Democratic candidate Thomas H. Moodie.http://library.und.edu/special-collections/langer/og19.html

Senate Career

In 1938 Langer ran for the Senate as an independent, and received 42% of the vote, losing to Republican

Gerald Nye Gerald Prentice Nye (December 19, 1892 – July 17, 1971) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States Senate from 1925 to 1945. He was a Republican and supporter of World War II-era isolationism, chairing the Ny ...

. The 1940 Senate election was another very dramatic one. Langer defeated incumbent Lynn Frazier in the Republican primary, and then faced both the Democratic candidate,

Charles Joseph Vogel Charles Joseph Vogel (September 20, 1898 – September 8, 1980) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court fo ...

, and Republican/NPL Congressman

William Lemke William Frederick Lemke (August 13, 1878 – May 30, 1950) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Union Party's presidential cand ...

, who declined to run for reelection to Congress in order to run for the Senate as an independent. Langer won the election with 38% of the vote. Because of the trials mentioned above, Langer's qualifications were questioned under Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution, which declares the U.S. Senate the ultimate judge of its members' elections, qualifications, and returns. The Senate seated Langer conditionally and began an investigation into his trials. The Committee on Privileges and Elections found Langer guilty of "

moral turpitude Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States and prior to 1976, Canada, that refers to "an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community". This term appears in U.S. immigration law beginning ...

" and unqualified to be a U.S. senator. The full Senate reversed the committee and voted to seat Langer. Biographer Glenn H. Smith calls Langer's Senate career "A Study in Isolationism, 1940–1959" and emphasizes his close ties with German American and Scandinavian American voters who bitterly remembered the First World War in the Dakotas and deeply distrusted Britain and the United Nations. Like Senator

Henrik Shipstead Henrik Shipstead (January 8, 1881June 26, 1960) was an American politician. He served in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1947, from the state of Minnesota. He served first as a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party from 1923 to 1941 and ...

of Minnesota, Langer championed

non-interventionism Non-interventionism or non-intervention is a political philosophy or national foreign policy doctrine that opposes interference in the domestic politics and affairs of other countries but, in contrast to isolationism, is not necessarily opposed ...

and supported minimizing America's involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. At home, he concentrated on making life easier for North Dakotan farmers by raising wheat prices and granting government relief. He was also adamant about implementing affordable healthcare for everyone. As a senator, he served on the Post Office, Civil Service and Indian Affairs committees. He and Shipstead were the only senators to vote against the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

in 1945. He was also one of seven senators to oppose full U.S. entry into the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. After African-American organizations asked Langer to propose a bill for the federal government to pay for the repatriation of African-Americans to the African continent, he did so. The bill, S. 1800, failed to pass. In September 1950, Langer filibustered to prevent the override of President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

's veto of the

McCarran Internal Security Act The Internal Security Act of 1950, (Public Law 81-831), also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, the McCarran Act after its principal sponsor Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), or the Concentration Camp Law, is a United States fede ...

for five hours before collapsing. In 1951, Langer lobbied

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and a presidential advisor. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson, helping deal with issues such as German sa ...

, the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, to grant a reprieve to

Martin Sandberger Martin Sandberger (17 August 1911 – 30 March 2010) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era and a convicted Holocaust perpetrator. He commanded Sonderkommando 1a of Einsatzgruppe A, as well as the Sicherheitspolizei and SD in E ...

, a high-ranking SS official who had been convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the mass murder of Jews and others in Estonia during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Smelser, Ronald M., and Davies, Edward J., ''

The Myth of the Eastern Front ''The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi–Soviet War in American Popular Culture'' (2008) by Ronald Smelser and Edward J. Davies, is a historical analysis of the post-war myth of the "Clean Wehrmacht", the negative impact of the ''Wehrmacht'' ...

'', Cambridge University Press 2007 Although sentenced to die by the tribunal of the Einsatzgruppen trial, in no small part due to Langer's lobbying, Sandberger's sentence was commuted and he served only 13 years in custody.Frei, Norbert, and Golb, Joel, "Adenauer's Germany and the Nazi past", at pages 226 to 229. After the

merged with the state Democratic party, Langer remained on the Republican ticket in the 1958 Senate elections and won without making a single campaign appearance in the state. He voted for the

Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...

. Langer died in Washington, D.C. on November 8, 1959. He was the last U.S. senator to lie in state in the Senate Chamber until

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in 2010.

Political offices

* 1914–1916:

State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

for Morton County * 1916–1920:

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of North Dakota * 1933–1934: Governor of North Dakota (removed from office) * 1937–1939: Governor of North Dakota * 1941–1959:

Works

''The Famine in Germany.''
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1946.

Footnotes

External links

William Langer Papers at the University of North Dakota

Várdy, Steven Béla and Tooly, T. Hunt: ''Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe''
Available as MS Word for Windows file (3.4 MB) (the result of the conference on Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe held at Duquesne University in November 2000.) Sub-section by CHARLES M. BARBER, ''The Isolationist as Interventionist: Senator William Langer on the Subject of Ethnic Cleansing, March 29, 1946 pp. 244–262
William Langer mentioned in Episode 7 of Rachel Maddow's ''Ultra'' podcast
(2022) , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Langer, William 1886 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics American people of German descent American prosecutors Burials in North Dakota Catholics from North Dakota Columbia College (New York) alumni Governors of North Dakota Non-interventionism Nonpartisan League state governors of the United States Nonpartisan League United States senators North Dakota Attorneys General North Dakota Independents North Dakota politicians convicted of crimes North Dakota Republicans People acquitted of corruption People from Cass County, North Dakota People from Mandan, North Dakota Republican Party governors of North Dakota Republican Party United States senators from North Dakota University of North Dakota alumni