Frank Edward Panzer (September 1, 1890August 26, 1969) was an

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farmer, teacher, and

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politician. He served 30 years in the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

, representing Dodge County, and was president ''pro tempore'' from 1947 through 1966.

Background

Panzer was born in the Town of Hubbard in Dodge County on September 1, 1890. He attended Oakfield High School, worked as a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

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, and

telegraph operator A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio. During the Great War the Royal ...

. He was elected clerk of his

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in 1920–30, and as

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chairman in 1925 (serving until 1966), and as chairman of the Dodge County

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from 1940 to 1966.

State legislative experience

He was first elected to the

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in 1930 as a Progressive Republican with 4,129 votes to 1,582 for Democrat Jacob Scharpf and 68 for

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Ada Burow. He ran for re-election in 1932, but lost his seat to

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Lorenz Becker. In 1934 (after the split between the Republicans and the

Wisconsin Progressive Party The Wisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a political party that briefly held a dominant role in Wisconsin politics. History The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of the famous Wiscon ...

), Panzer was narrowly elected as a Progressive state senator from the 13th district (Dodge and

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counties), with 10,545 votes to 10,089 for Democrat Paul Hemmy; 5,313 for regular Republican

Jesse Peters Jesse M. Peters (July 21, 1897 – March 7, 1962) was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate. Biography Peters was born in Iron Ridge, Wisconsin. During World War I, he served in the United States Army. He died on March 7, 1962, in Hartford, Wisc ...

and 528 for Socialist Alfred Nabor. (Democratic incumbent Eugene A. Clifford was running for Congress.) Panzer was defeated by Peters in 1938. He left the Progressive Party, defeated Peters in the 1942 Republican

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and won the 1942 general election, as well as all subsequent elections through 1966. He was elected

President pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

of the Senate from 1947 to 1965. He served as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, as a member on all major committees of the Senate."Frank E. Panzer 1890." Wisconsin Dictionary of Biography
/ref> He died in office in 1969 and was succeeded by Democrat Dale McKenna. Panzer's daughter Mary E. Panzer eventually became a Republican member of the Assembly and the Senate herself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panzer, Frank E. 1890 births 1969 deaths Farmers from Wisconsin County supervisors in Wisconsin School board members in Wisconsin Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Dodge County, Wisconsin Wisconsin Progressives (1924) Republican Party Wisconsin state senators 20th-century American politicians