governor judge lawyer politician
Youngdahl was born on May 29, 1896 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of John Carl Youngdahl, a grocer, and Elizabeth Johnson. Both his parents were devout Swedish Lutherans. They did a remarkable job of instilling in all of their children their belief in the values of Christian faith, education, and hard work. One of Luther Youngdahl's brothers became a college dean, one became a minister, and one became a member of the United States Congress.
Youngdahl graduated from South High School in Minneapolis in 1915. After attending the University of Minnesota from 1915 to 1916, he transferred to Gustavus Adolphus College, a small, Lutheran college located in St. Peter, Minn. , from which he graduated with a B. A. degree in 1919. Youngdahl entered the Minnesota College of Law in 1919, and received his LL. B. in 1921.
Like many young men of his generation, Youngdahl interrupted his college studies to serve in the United States Army during World War I. He entered as a private and was demobilized as a second lieutenant after his brief period of service. After passing a civil service exam for the post - an experience that fortified his belief in the value of a merit system rather than patronage as the means to fill government offices - Youngdahl became the assistant city attorney for Minneapolis in 1921 and served until 1924. For the next six years he practiced law as a partner in a Minneapolis law firm. From 1930 to 1936 he served as a judge on the Minneapolis Municipal Court; here he became convinced that many of the "criminals" who appeared before his bench were emotionally troubled and would benefit more from psychiatric care than from incarceration. He was elected district judge of the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Court in 1936 and served on this court until 1942, when he won election as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. In 1946, Youngdahl resigned from the court to run for governor of Minnesota on the Republican ticket. He was elected in that year, and again in 1948 and 1950. On September 27, 1951, he resigned the governorship to accept an appointment as a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from President Harry S. Truman. After retiring from the federal bench in 1966, Youngdahl continued to serve as a senior judge, trying cases part-time until his death. He spent much of his life demonstrating that there was no conflict between being a good Christian and becoming a successful politician. He spoke often on the relationship between Christianity and politics, maintaining that Christians should take political affairs seriously because "government is the machinery by which society makes its moral decisions. " Viewing politics as a calling and proud of his record as a vote-getter, Youngdahl applied his Christian ethics to his decisions and actions as a governor, always placing the people's welfare above the concerns of special-interest groups. Believing that volunteerism was insufficient to help the weakest members of society, and that these people therefore needed the help of a caring government, he used the power of his office to have laws passed to protect the weak, and he mobilized public opinion to achieve social reform. In his first term as governor he launched a moral crusade to enforce the state's laws against gambling and those that regulated the sale of liquor; this action was prompted by his strong conviction that lack of respect for the law induced by laxity in law enforcement had a particularly injurious effect upon children. In 1947 the state legislature passed his bill to outlaw slot machines and also passed his bill to increase state aid to the public schools significantly. This self-styled "liberal Republican" was particularly proud of his Youth Conservation Act; this act implemented a series of programs to prevent juvenile delinquency and to rehabilitate young people in prison. Unafraid to step into political thickets, Youngdahl waged a two-year campaign to improve the treatment and care of the mentally ill in the state's hospitals, institutions that had been characterized as "snakepits. " He took on the conservatives in his own party and eventually won his fight to pass the Mental Health Policy Act, the greatest achievement of his second administration. As a federal judge, Youngdahl is best remembered for his May 2, 1953, ruling in the case of United States v. Lattimore. Youngdahl died in Washington, D. C. , and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Youngdahl married Irene Annet Engdahl, daughter of a Lutheran minister and a high school English teacher, on June 23, 1923. The couple remained married and shared a rich partnership for fifty-five years; they had three children. Youngdahl loved to spend time with his family, engaging in such indoor pursuits as discussions about religion and politics and family sings at the piano, and in such outdoor pursuits as ice-skating parties, hikes, picnics, and fishing trips.
