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Cover of South Dakota History, volume 51 number 1

South Dakota History, Volume 51, Number 1

Volume 51, Number 1 · 4 articles

This issue of South Dakota History includes excerpts from the autobiography of William J. Bulow, Sr., a two-term governor and United States senator.

In “‘Three Score Years and Ten’: Selections from the Autobiography of William J. Bulow, Sr.,” edited by Tonnis H. Venhuizen, multiple pieces from Bulow’s unpublished manuscript illustrate his life and political career as well as the political culture of South Dakota and the United States in the early 20th century. Born and raised in Ohio, Bulow received a law degree from the University of Michigan before moving west to South Dakota. He started his law career with the firm of Joe Kirby in Sioux Falls. After leaving Kirby’s firm, he established his own practice in Beresford. Unexpectedly, he entered politics in 1924 when he replaced his friend Andrew S. Anderson, who died in a freak accident, as the Democratic nominee for governor. He lost that race, but ran again two years later, defeating the incumbent William H. McMaster. For the next fifteen years, Bulow served the state as its governor and then as one of its United States senators. After his defeat in 1942, Bulow sat down to write his life story. Venhuizen is the chief of staff for Gov. Kristi Noem and serves on the Trail of Governors board of directors.

“A Note from the Managing Editor” recognizes the work of Jeanne Kilen Ode, who stepped down this winter as the Managing Editor of “South Dakota History.” Ode started with the Research and Publishing Office in 1985, working closely with the journal before becoming Managing Editor in 2014. Ode’s contributions to “South Dakota History” bolstered its reputation as one of the premier quarterly journals in the region.

$10.00

3 of the 4 articles in this issue are free to read below.

In This Issue

  1. "Three Score Years and Ten": Selections from the Autobiography of William J. Bulow, Sr.

    by Tonnis Venhuizen

    Shortly after his defeat in the 1942 South Dakota Democratic primaries, William J. Bulow sat down to write his life story. In his unpublished autobiography, Bulow reflects on major changes in the United States since his birth, his life in South Dakota, his political ideology, and his problems with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his policies. Having served the state of South Dakota for next fifteen years as its governor and then as one of its United States senators, Bulow reflects the major political battles of the middle twentieth century.

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  2. A Note from the Managing Editor

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  3. Book Reviews

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  4. DAKOTA IMAGES | Alice Lorraine Daley

    by Elizabeth J. Almlie

    In the early 1920s, Alice Lorraine Daly made political history in South Dakota. Her work with the Nonpartisan League broke barriers for women involved in state politics. Daly was born on Grey Cloud Island near Saint Paul, Minnesota, on 11 February 1883. She received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Minnesota before taking courses at the Emerson College of Oratory Expression and Physical Culture in Boston in 1908 and 1912. After teaching in Pocatello, Idaho, she came to South Dakota in 1915 to head the Department of Public Speaking at the State Normal School in Madison. In November 1915, Daly became active in the campaign supporting the woman suffrage amendment scheduled for the 1916 ballot as president of the Lake County Universal Franchise League. Daly again led county efforts and was a finance chair for the state Universal Franchise League when a suffrage amendment passed in the 1918 election. The following year, Daly chaired the committee on women in industry for the South Dakota League of Women Voters and was reportedly the first woman to deliver a speech from the rostrum of the state senate. From 1915 to 1922, Daly was involved in the Woman’s Peace Party, formed in response to World War I, organizing the state’s first branch. In 1920, she moved to Mitchell and started working with the Nonpartisan League. That year, she represented the party as their candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. Two years later, Daly became the first woman to run for governor as the candidate for the Nonpartisan League. Her platform of state ownership of banks and elevators and higher worker wages garnered support from members of “shopcrafts unions” in Sioux Falls, creating a life-long connection with the labor movement. Despite losing the election, she garnered approximately 27 percent of the vote. After her defeat, she became active with the Farmer-Labor party throughout the 1920s. In 1932, she took over as editor of the Dakota Free Press in Aberdeen. Through the newspaper, she continued her political activism, writing in support of farmers and laborers while also condemning the practices of the Homestake Mining Company and other major businesses. Daly died on 16 October 1945 at the age of sixty-two and was buried in Aberdeen.