64th Wisconsin Legislature

Major events

• January 2, 1939: Inauguration of Julius P. Heil as the 30th Governor of Wisconsin.
• February 10, 1939: Pope Pius XI died from a heart attack.
• March 2, 1939: The 1939 papal conclave elected Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli as the next pope, he then took the papal name Pius XII.
• March 15, 1939: German forces occupied the remaining independent portions of Bohemia and Moravia, abolishing the Republic of Czechoslovakia.
• April 1, 1939: The Spanish Civil War came to an end when the last republican forces surrendered to the fascists.
• April 3, 1939: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Reorganization Act of 1939, granting the president powers for two years to reorganize the executive branch.
• July 1, 1939: The Executive Office of the President of the United States was established using the powers under the Reorganization Act of 1939.
• July 4, 1939: Wisconsin U.S. representative Harry W. Griswold died in office.
• August 2, 1939: Albert Einstein signed the Einstein–Szilard letter to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, advising him of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb.
• August 23, 1939: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed pledging non-aggression between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence for the two empires.
• September 1, 1939: German forces began the Invasion of Poland, inititating World War II.
• September 3, 1939: The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia, and India declared war on Germany.
• September 23, 1939: The recently completed Mississippi River Bridge at La Crosse, Wisconsin, was opened to traffic.
• October 8, 1939: Germany officially annexed western Poland.
• October 21, 1939: The first meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Uranium, a precursor of the Manhattan Project.
• November 4, 1939: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing the sale of weapons to the United Kingdom and France.
• November 30, 1939: Soviet forces invaded Finland, initiating the Winter War.
• December 10, 1939: The Green Bay Packers won the 1939 NFL Championship Game.
• March 5, 1940: Leaders of the Soviet Union signed the order leading to the Katyn massacre, mass executions of Polish intelligentsia.
• March 12, 1940: The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the Winter War. Finland made territorial concessions to the Soviet Union.
• April 9, 1940: German forces began Operation Weserübung, invading neutral countries Denmark and Norway.
• May 10, 1940:
• * German forces began the invasion of the Low Countries and the Battle of France.
• * Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in favor of Winston Churchill.
• May 16, 1940: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt requested from Congress credit of $900 million for the construction of 50,000 airplanes per year.
• May 17, 1940: German forces fully occupied the Netherlands, ending the Battle of Netherlands.
• June 4, 1940: The Dunkirk evacuation ended after safely evacuating 338,226 British and allied soldiers from German-occupied Europe.
• June 10, 1940: Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France.
• June 13, 1940: Paris was declared an open city to avoid destruction.
• June 22, 1940: France and Germany signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940, ending the Battle of France. France was divided into a German occupied territory covering the north and west of the country, and a free state of Vichy France in the south.
• July 10, 1940: The Battle of Britain began.
• July 22, 1940: The United Kingdom refused a peace offer from Germany.
• September 7, 1940: German air forces began a campaign of carpet bombing in Britain, known as The Blitz.
• September 16, 1940: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
• September 27, 1940: Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact.
• November 5, 1940: 1940 United States general election:
• * Franklin D. Roosevelt re-elected President of the United States. The first and only time a president was elected to a third term.
• * Julius P. Heil re-elected Governor of Wisconsin.
• * Robert M. La Follette Jr. re-elected United States senator from Wisconsin.
• November 11, 1940: The British Navy launched the first aircraft carrier strike in naval history against Italian naval units at the Battle of Taranto.
• November 11-12, 1940: The 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard resulted in 154 deaths, including 13 in Wisconsin.
• December 29, 1940: At one of his fireside chats, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt declared that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."

Major legislation

• 1939 Act 57: Replaced the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board with the Employment Relations Board.
• 1939 Act 68: Created the Wisconsin Department of Securities to regulate the sale of stocks, bonds, etc.
• 1939 Act 85: Renamed the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Markets to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.
• 1939 Act 410: Consolidated automobile registration, licensing, inspection, and enforcement with the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles.
• 1939 Act 412: Created the Wisconsin Department of Taxation and the Wisconsin Board of Tax Appeals.
• 1939 Act 435: Created the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare.

Sessions

Leaders

Senate leadership

• President of the Senate: Walter S. Goodland
• President pro tempore: Edward J. Roethe
• Majority leader: Maurice Coakley
• Minority leader: Philip E. Nelson

Assembly leadership

• Speaker of the Assembly: Vernon W. Thomson

Members

Members of the Senate

Members of the Assembly

Committees

Senate committees

• Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and LaborC. Shearer, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on CommitteesH. W. Bolens, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on Contingent ExpendituresM. Duel, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on Corporations and TaxationC. T. Young, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on Education and Public WelfareE. J. Roethe, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on HighwaysM. Mack, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on the JudiciaryM. Coakley, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on Legislative ProcedureE. J. Roethe, chair
• Senate Standing Committee on State and Local GovernmentB. Gettelman, chair

Assembly committees

• Assembly Standing Committee on AgricultureO. R. Rice, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and ManufacturesB. M. Engebretson, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on ConservationF. N. Graass, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Contingent ExpendituresE. Grassman, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on EducationW. H. Goldthorpe, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on ElectionsM. Catlin, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Engrossed BillsH. Youngblood, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Enrolled BillsC. M. Nelson, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Excise and FeesL. E. Douglass, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on HighwaysD. C. McDowell, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance and BankingM. Catlin, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on the JudiciaryR. W. Peterson, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on LaborA. R. Ludvigsen, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on MunicipalitiesA. F. Hinz, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on PrintingW. F. Miller, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Public WelfareG. H. Hipke, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on RevisionA. C. Grosvenor, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on RulesR. W. Peterson, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on State AffairsC. A. Budlong, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on TaxationM. J. Fitzsimons, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on Third ReadingL. T. Niemuth, chair
• Assembly Standing Committee on TransportationD. I. Hammergren, chair

Joint committees

• Joint Standing Committee on FinanceO. Mueller & P. B. McIntyre, co-chairs

Employees

Senate employees

• Chief Clerk: Lawrence R. Larsen
• * Assistant Chief Clerk: Thomas M. Donahue
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Emil A. Hartman
• * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Albert E. Daley

Assembly employees

• Chief Clerk: John J. Slocum
• * Assistant Chief Clerk: Frederick W. Krez
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert A. Merrill
• * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Phillip K. Lalor