Background
Kleppe was born on July 1, 1919, in Kintyre, North Dakota, the son of Lars O. Kleppe and his wife Hannah Savig Kleppe.
politician representative university professor
Kleppe was born on July 1, 1919, in Kintyre, North Dakota, the son of Lars O. Kleppe and his wife Hannah Savig Kleppe.
He graduated from Valley City High School in Valley City, North Dakota in 1936. Kleppe graduated from Valley City State University, (then Valley City Teachers College).
He was also the Administrator of the Small Business Administration and the United States. Secretary of the Interior. During World World War II, Kleppe served from 1942 to 1946 as a Warrant Officer. From 1950 to 1954, Kleppe was the Mayor of Bismarck, North Dakota.
From 1946 to 1964, he was the president and treasurer of the Gold Seal Company.
In 1964, Kleppe was the Republican nominee for United States Senate but lost to the popular incumbent Democrat Quentin North. Burdick. In 1966 he was elected to the Ninetieth United States Congress, and he was reelected in 1968 to the Ninety-first United States Congress (January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1971).
In 1970 he was again an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Senate, losing a rematch to Burdick by a wide margin. He served as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and later served as the Secretary of the Interior for President Gerald Ford.
In his capacity as the Secretary of the Interior, Kleppe was the appellant in Kleppe v.
New Mexico (1976), when the Supreme Court ruled that Congress has the "power to protect wildlife on the public lands, state law notwithstanding.".