North Dakota Senators Active in the Post-War Era
NYE COMMITTEE BLAMES BANKERS, MUNITIONS MAKERS FOR GREAT WAR
Washington, D.C.
February 20, 1936
Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota has just wrapped up three years of the investigation into the roles of bankers and munitions makers in forcing the United States into the Great War in 1917. Nye, the former editor of the Griggs County Sentinel Courier News and a U.S. senator since 1925, has gained a national reputation for his Senate hearings into these controversial matters.
His committee has questioned 200 witnesses, compiled 13,750 pages of testimony, and issued seven major reports. Often the brunt of administrative and partisan criticism, the Nye Committee has delved deeply into business records and correspondence. It has not been an easy task. The committee at one point charged the internationally powerful House of Morgan with obstructing justice when it refused to cooperate. J. P. Morgan himself met face to face with Nye over the hearing table. The discussion was heated; Morgan backed down; Nye got the records.
Senator Nye speaking out against American involvement in another world war. Courtesy of D. Jerome Tweton.
With Japan at war with China and with Germany and Italy on the march, the American people are very interested in the Nye hearings. Perhaps, they think, there may be ways to avoid getting into another war. Nye and his committee are convinced that there are lessons to be learned from the Great War. He is certain that the selfish interests of financiers and munitions makers were responsible for American entry into the Great War in 1917.
The Nye committee has proposed legislation that may keep us out of what looks like another war; government ownership of the munitions industry, high wartime profits taxes, stringent regulation of wartime industrial mobilization.
Regardless of the outcome, North Dakota’s Nye has emerged as one of the nation’s most well known and popular political leaders.
A 1938 campaign folder carried this picture with the caption: “Senator Nye challenges J. P. Morgan.” Courtesy of D. Jerome Tweton.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LYNN J. FRAZIER?
Washington, D.C.
December 31, 1940
You remember Lynn J. Frazier, don’t you? He was the Nonpartisan League’s governor for almost three terms. Almost, because in 1921 the voters recalled him, threw him out of office. He has spent almost two decades in the United States Senate. In a strange twist of fate, the voters who tossed him out as governor in 1921 elected him to the Senate in 1922. He has been there ever since.
In the Senate he has worked very hard on behalf of farmers, Indians, and peace. He has fought vigorously for a farm program that would provide farmers with the cost of production and has insisted upon fair settlements of Indian land claims. He may be best known for his efforts in the peace movement. In every session of Congress from 1926 to 1939, he has introduced a resolution for a constitutional amendment that would make American participation in war legally impossible. Short of this, he firmly believes that for the United States to go to war should take a majority vote of the American people. He is best known as a pacifist.
His senate career has just come to an end. He lost his reelection bid to former Governor William Langer and will retire to his Hoople farm.
By Dr. D. Jerome Tweton
Source
Originally published as The North Star Dakotan student newspaper, written by Dr. D. Jerome Tweton and supported by the North Dakota Humanities Council.
Grade Level
3-7, 9-12
Subject Matter
Social Studies
Standards
Describe how community life has changed from past (i.e., pioneer and tribal) to the present
Identify similarities and differences between past events and current events in North Dakota (e.g., in the lives of people from different cultures past and present)
Identify the contributions of prominent individuals (e.g., Teddy Roosevelt, La Verendrye, Rough Rider Award winners) to North Dakota
Describe similarities and differences between past events and current events in U.S. history (e.g., in the lives of people from different cultures past and present)
Explain the significance of scientists, inventors, and historical figures (e.g., Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce De Leon, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Rush, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Paine)
Describe how various non-economic factors (e.g., culture, values, interests) can influence economic behaviors and decision making
Explain how non-economic factors (e.g., culture, values, interest, abilities) influenced economic behaviors and decision making (e.g., building of pyramids, Olympic games)
Identify major historical events and issues (e.g., conflicts and resolutions, natural resources) within regions of the world and their impact
Explain how people create and change structures of power (e.g., force, elections, wars, reactions to economic conditions and natural disasters)
Explain how individuals and institutions influence one another (e.g., social processes, peaceful and violent demonstrations, picketing, protests, petitions, group affiliation, citizenship, voting)
Trace the causes, course, and legacy of the United States’ involvement in World War I at home and abroad (e.g., neutrality, military technologies, isolationism, Zimmerman Note, Lusitania, home front, Wilson’s Fourteen Points)
Analyze the global causes, course, and consequences of World War I (e.g. imperialism, militarism, nationalism, alliance system; ethnic conflicts and assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand; Russian Revolution of 1917; Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations)
Analyze the role government plays in an economy (e.g., provision of public goods and services, taxes, protection of property rights, resolution of market failures)
