Wendell Anderson was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1958 and 1960, and the Minnesota Senate in 1962 and 1966; and the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University selected him as one of two outstanding Minnesota Legislators in 1967. Anderson won endorsement for Governor at the 1970 Democratic-Farmer Labor (DFL) convention in Duluth, and waged a spirited and energetic, statewide campaign, pledging equalized school financing and property tax reform, and winning the Governorship decisively on November 3, 1970.
Upon taking office as Governor, Anderson proposed tax increases of $762 million as part of the state's $3 billion budget in order to increase state school aid operating costs from forty-three to seventy percent, and substantially reform local property taxes. Governor Anderson also proposed significant, new programs in areas of environment, energy, health, and housing.
Wendell Anderson's leadership as Governor won Minnesota national recognition as having a "government that works," and his tax and education successes were labeled "The Minnesota Miracle. Governor Anderson campaigned for the DFL's legislative candidates in 1972 and in that election, the DFL won majorities in both Houses of the Legislature for the first time in state history.
Anderson overwhelmingly won reelection in 1974, winning all eighty-seven counties and the confidence of nearly sixty-three percent of the electorate; and, after serving as Governor, represented Minnesota for two years as United States Senator and was a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents from 1985 to 1997.
Today, we celebrate Wendell R. Anderson's 80th birthday and thank him for his friendship and his service to the people and State of Minnesota.
/governor/assets/Wendell_%20Anderson_Day.pdf_tcm1055-92148.pdfA copy of the Governor's proclamation can be downloaded here.
