4/8/2009:
John Moses announced his third bid for the office of North Dakota governor on this date in 1938. This time he would win, and go on to serve two more terms after that.
Moses was born in 1885 to a Lutheran pastor in Strand, Norway. Henrik and Isabella Moses' ancestors had fled Scotland during the War of the Roses, and John's great-grandfather was a member of Norway's first parliament, which declared Norwegian independence in 1814.
John was tall - 6' 4". He wore glasses, and his relatively fine features were offset by bushy dark eyebrows. He was athletic, socially engaging and deeply religious. After attending junior college, Moses emigrated to Minnesota, where he worked for the railroad. In 1911, he moved to North Dakota to take a job as secretary at Valley City State Teachers College.
John's dream was to become a lawyer and then a judge. He enrolled at UND, got his law degree in 1914, and practiced in Hope, Hebron and Hazen. After two stints as State's Attorney for Mercer County, Moses ran, as a Democrat, for governor in 1934 and 1936. He was known as a good campaigner, speaking in English, Norwegian or German as needed. One of his concerns was low teacher salaries, but he was also interested in cutting wasteful spending and developing North Dakota's natural resources.
When Moses finally became governor in 1938, the state was nearly bankrupt. Using both compassion and practicality, he stabilized the state's finances and renewed public trust in state government. He quickly gained in popularity and was elected to two more terms.
In his 1943 farewell address, he said: "Sympathy and sentiment alone are not enough - and both of these worthy virtues are easily misguided. If you are to meet your obligation wisely and well, you must be rational and business-like. You must be practical as well as warm-hearted."
In 1944, Moses reached two milestones; he became the first Democratic U.S. Senator from North Dakota, and he was the first to come straight from the governor's office. Unfortunately, he suffered from stomach problems, and after serving only two weeks, he checked himself in to the Mayo Clinic. He died two months later, leaving a wife, a daughter and three sons.
An editorial, written upon his death, read: "His career, more than any other of our time, marked a transition from partisan political thinking to emphasis on statesmanship and good citizenship.
[. . .] As a statesman - and he is one of the few men in the history of North Dakota to really deserve this designation - he was sometimes brilliant and always sound. He brought to the governor's chair the same standard of ethics which guided him in private life. [. . .] He was honest, truthful and careful."
By Merry Helm
Sources:
Robinson, Elwyn. History of North Dakota. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. 1966.
The Bismarck Tribune. Apr 8, 1938; Jan 5, 1939; Mar 3, 5, 8, 1945.