Rudy Perpich
Encyclopedia
Rudolph George "Rudy" Perpich, Sr. (June 27, 1928 September 21, 1995) was an American politician and the longest-serving governor of Minnesota
. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
, he served as the 34th and 36th Governor of Minnesota
from December 29, 1976 to January 4, 1979, and from January 3, 1983, to January 7, 1991. He was also the state's only Roman Catholic governor and the only one to serve non-consecutive terms. Before entering politics, he was a dentist
.
. His father, Anton Prpić, was a miner who had immigrated from Croatia
to the Mesabi Iron Range
of Minnesota
, and his mother was an American of Croatian descent
. Perpich did not learn to speak English until at least the first grade of elementary school. At 14, he began working for the Great Northern Railway. In 1946, he graduated from Hibbing High School (where he was inaugurated as governor in 1983) and went on to serve in the United States Army
for two years. After Army service, he attended Marquette University
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from the Marquette University Dental School in 1954. He returned to Hibbing to practice dentistry
.
, representing the old 63rd District, which included portions of St. Louis County
in the northeastern part of the state. He was re-elected in 1966.
In 1970, Perpich was elected the 39th lieutenant governor of Minnesota. He was re-elected in 1974 on a ticket
with Governor Wendell Anderson
. (Prior to 1974, the governor and lieutenant governor were elected separately.) He became governor when Anderson resigned in 1976 to take the United States Senate
seat vacated by Walter Mondale
, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.
ticket was defeated in 1978, including Perpich and the candidates for both U.S. Senate
seats. Governor Anderson's arrangement to have himself appointed to the Senate and Perpich's role in that appointment were deemed factors in those defeats.
Perpich worked at Control Data Corporation
in New York and Austria
for several years until winning back the governor's office in 1982, when he challenged the DFL Party's endorsed candidate, Warren Spannaus
and won the primary election. Perpich served as the Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association
in 1984.
Perpich was re-elected in 1986, but lost the 1990 general election to Arne Carlson in a bizarre campaign in which Carlson replaced the Independent-Republican Party's
candidate Jon Grunseth
, who had beaten Carlson in the primary
. Grunseth was forced to withdraw amid allegations of a sex scandal
just two weeks before the election.
-ball. Another time, he pitched an idea for a chopstick factory to be built in northern Minnesota. He also proposed selling the governor's mansion in St. Paul as a cost-saving measure.
Newsweek magazine brought Perpich national attention by bestowing the nickname "Governor Goofy," crystallizing the combination of affection and resentment his habits elicited. During his last years in office, commentators wondered whether he would shoot to stardom as a presidential hopeful or, as governor, sour Minnesota voters on the DFL party with questionable public relations. However, Perpich's activist vision of the governor's role was later cited as an important contribution to the Minnesota economy even by unlikely admirers like his 1990 rival and successor Arne Carlson
, who said in 2005 that Perpich "was the first person that I was aware of to focus on the international role that states are going to have to play."
Perpich's legacy of projects in Minnesota include the Minnesota World Trade Center
in St. Paul, the Perpich Center for Arts Education
in Golden Valley
, the Center for Victims of Torture
in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute
, and the Mall of America
in Bloomington
. Additionally, he worked to promote Minnesota on the international stage by traveling to 17 countries in 1984, and bringing the foreign leaders Mikhail Gorbachev
of the Soviet Union
and Dr. Franjo Tuđman of Croatia to the state in 1990.
Perpich was the named plaintiff in the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court case Perpich v. Department of Defense
, which established that the U.S. Department of Defense could send National Guard
units overseas even over the protests of the state's governor.
, Croatia, to assist in the post-communist government. He moved to Paris, France for a business consulting position in 1992, but returned to Minnesota in 1993. After a battle with colon cancer, he died in 1995 at the age of 67 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka
. He is buried in Lakewood Cemetery
in Minneapolis.
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
, he served as the 34th and 36th Governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
from December 29, 1976 to January 4, 1979, and from January 3, 1983, to January 7, 1991. He was also the state's only Roman Catholic governor and the only one to serve non-consecutive terms. Before entering politics, he was a dentist
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
.
Early life and education
Rudolph George Prpić was born in Carson Lake, Minnesota, which is now part of Hibbing, MinnesotaHibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S...
. His father, Anton Prpić, was a miner who had immigrated from Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
to the Mesabi Iron Range
Mesabi Range
The Mesabi Iron Range is a vast deposit of iron ore and the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. Discovered in 1866, it is the chief deposit of iron ore in the United States. The deposit is located in northeast Minnesota, largely in...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and his mother was an American of Croatian descent
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
. Perpich did not learn to speak English until at least the first grade of elementary school. At 14, he began working for the Great Northern Railway. In 1946, he graduated from Hibbing High School (where he was inaugurated as governor in 1983) and went on to serve in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
for two years. After Army service, he attended Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from the Marquette University Dental School in 1954. He returned to Hibbing to practice dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
.
Entry into politics
Perpich first entered into politics by serving on the Hibbing school board in 1955 and 1956. The board gained notability for instituting a policy to provide equal pay to both male and female workers. In 1962, he was elected to the Minnesota SenateMinnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...
, representing the old 63rd District, which included portions of St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Minnesota
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 200,226. Its county seat is Duluth. It is the largest county by total area in Minnesota, and the second largest in the United States east of the Mississippi River; in land area alone, after Aroostook...
in the northeastern part of the state. He was re-elected in 1966.
In 1970, Perpich was elected the 39th lieutenant governor of Minnesota. He was re-elected in 1974 on a ticket
Ticket (election)
A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for President and Vice President run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately.A ticket can also...
with Governor Wendell Anderson
Wendell Anderson
Wendell Richard "Wendy" Anderson is an American politician and was the 33rd Governor of Minnesota from January 4, 1971 to December 29, 1976. In late 1976, he resigned the governor's office in order to be named U.S. Senator to replace Walter Mondale, who had been elected Vice President of the...
. (Prior to 1974, the governor and lieutenant governor were elected separately.) He became governor when Anderson resigned in 1976 to take the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat vacated by Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.
Gubernatorial campaigns
Nearly the entire DFL PartyMinnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
ticket was defeated in 1978, including Perpich and the candidates for both U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seats. Governor Anderson's arrangement to have himself appointed to the Senate and Perpich's role in that appointment were deemed factors in those defeats.
Perpich worked at Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
in New York and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
for several years until winning back the governor's office in 1982, when he challenged the DFL Party's endorsed candidate, Warren Spannaus
Warren Spannaus
Warren R. Spannaus is an American politician from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and former Attorney General of Minnesota. Spannaus graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1963. He was elected attorney general in 1970 and assumed office on January 4, 1971...
and won the primary election. Perpich served as the Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association
Midwestern Governors Association
The Midwestern Governors Association is a 501 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago, when articles of organization were...
in 1984.
Perpich was re-elected in 1986, but lost the 1990 general election to Arne Carlson in a bizarre campaign in which Carlson replaced the Independent-Republican Party's
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
candidate Jon Grunseth
Jon Grunseth
Jon Grunseth was a Minnesota businessman and politician and the 1990 Independent-Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. Grunseth won his party's endorsement and won its primary election, but was forced to quit the race nine days before election day in the wake of a scandal.Grunseth, the...
, who had beaten Carlson in the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
. Grunseth was forced to withdraw amid allegations of a sex scandal
Sex scandal
A sex scandal is a scandal involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral sexual activities being made public. Sex scandals are often associated with movie stars, politicians, famous athletes or others in the public eye, and become scandals largely because of the prominence of the...
just two weeks before the election.
Colorful leader with international goals
Perpich had a reputation for colorful behavior. At one point while governor, he donated his $25,000 pay raise to help promote bocceBocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
-ball. Another time, he pitched an idea for a chopstick factory to be built in northern Minnesota. He also proposed selling the governor's mansion in St. Paul as a cost-saving measure.
Newsweek magazine brought Perpich national attention by bestowing the nickname "Governor Goofy," crystallizing the combination of affection and resentment his habits elicited. During his last years in office, commentators wondered whether he would shoot to stardom as a presidential hopeful or, as governor, sour Minnesota voters on the DFL party with questionable public relations. However, Perpich's activist vision of the governor's role was later cited as an important contribution to the Minnesota economy even by unlikely admirers like his 1990 rival and successor Arne Carlson
Arne Carlson
Arne Helge Carlson, Sr. is an American politician and the 37th Governor of the state of Minnesota.-Early years, education and family:...
, who said in 2005 that Perpich "was the first person that I was aware of to focus on the international role that states are going to have to play."
Perpich's legacy of projects in Minnesota include the Minnesota World Trade Center
Wells Fargo Place
Wells Fargo Place is an office tower in St. Paul, Minnesota. It stands at 471 ft. tall, and is currently the tallest building in St. Paul. It was built by Winsor/Faricy Architects, Inc., and is 37 stories tall. It is a concrete structure, with a facade of brown-colored granite and glass. It...
in St. Paul, the Perpich Center for Arts Education
Perpich Center for Arts Education
The Perpich Center for Arts Education is an agency of the State of Minnesota that works to improve arts education for Minnesota students and educators through programs and partnerships centered in the arts. A campus in Golden Valley houses the Center's three main components: the Professional...
in Golden Valley
Golden Valley, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,281 people, 8,449 households, and 5,508 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,982.3 people per square mile . There were 8,589 housing units at an average density of 839.5 per square mile...
, the Center for Victims of Torture
Center for Victims of Torture
The Center for Victims of Torture is a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota that provides victims of politically motivated torture with medical, psychological, and social services both in the Twin Cities and abroad....
in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute
Natural Resources Research Institute
The is a U.S. based research institute established by the Minnesota state legislature within the University of Minnesota Duluth. NRRI is a non-profit applied research organization with a mission to improve the economy of Minnesota by helping its industries compete in the global marketplace with...
, and the Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
in Bloomington
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...
. Additionally, he worked to promote Minnesota on the international stage by traveling to 17 countries in 1984, and bringing the foreign leaders Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Dr. Franjo Tuđman of Croatia to the state in 1990.
Perpich was the named plaintiff in the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court case Perpich v. Department of Defense
Perpich v. Department of Defense
Perpich v. Department of Defense, 496 U.S. 334 , was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court concerning the Militia Clauses of Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution in which the court held that the Congress of the United States may authorize members of the National Guard...
, which established that the U.S. Department of Defense could send National Guard
National Guard
The term National Guard originally referred to a French citizen militia . The term is now used in many countries. Depending on the country in question, "national guard" may refer to an organized militia, a military force, a paramilitary force, a gendarmerie, or a police force:- Americas :* National...
units overseas even over the protests of the state's governor.
Post-political life
After leaving office in 1991, Perpich went to ZagrebZagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Croatia, to assist in the post-communist government. He moved to Paris, France for a business consulting position in 1992, but returned to Minnesota in 1993. After a battle with colon cancer, he died in 1995 at the age of 67 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka
Minnetonka, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile...
. He is buried in Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown area...
in Minneapolis.
See also
- Saint Louis County Road 4 – Governor Rudy Perpich Memorial Drive