Al Quie
Albert Harold "Al" Quie was an American politician and farmer from Minnesota. Quie served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district from 1958 to 1979 and as the 35th Governor of Minnesota from 1979 to 1983.
Regarded as a moderate Republican, Quie was considered by Ronald Reagan for his choice of a running mate for the office of Vice President of the United States during the 1980 presidential election. He was also on Gerald Ford's list for possible vice presidents following the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.
Early life
The third of four children, Quie was born on September 18, 1923, on his family's farm in Wheeling Township, Rice County, Minnesota near Dennison, Minnesota, in Rice County, Minnesota. Three of his grandparents were Norwegian immigrants. The farm on which he was born and grew up on had been purchased by his grandfather upon returning to Minnesota from fighting in the American Civil War. A third-generation farmer, Quie grew up on the farm learning to ride horses and milk cows.Quie graduated from Northfield High School in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1942. He served in the United States Navy during World War II as a fighter pilot, finishing flight school just as the war ended. Quie never saw active combat. Following his military service, he graduated from St. Olaf College in 1950, with a degree in political science. It was during this time that he met his future wife Gretchen Hansen.
State and national government service
Like his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father before him, Quie became a dairy farmer. A Republican, Quie ran a campaign as a write-in candidate to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1952, but lost. He served in the Minnesota State Senate from 1955 to 1958, representing the old 18th District.Congress
member August H. Andresen died in January 1958 and Quie ran in the by-election to succeed him as the representative for. Quie won the Republican nomination at a party convention and then defeated Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party nominee Eugene Foley by 655 votes in the February special election. He defeated Foley in the November 1958 general election to win a full term. Quie was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 85th United States Congress, the 86th United States Congress, the 87th United States Congress, the 88th United States Congress, the 89th United States Congress, the 90th United States Congress, the 91st United States Congress, the 92nd United States Congress, the 93rd United States Congress, the 94th United States Congress, and the 95th United States Congress. He served on the United States House Committee on Agriculture and the United States House Committee on Education and Workforce.Quie voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as well as the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Quie was briefly considered for Vice President of the United States in 1974 after Gerald Ford became president upon the resignation of Richard Nixon. The position was eventually taken by Nelson Rockefeller.
Governor of Minnesota
Quie ran for governor of Minnesota in 1978 against incumbent Rudy Perpich, Quie won the election by 111,775 votes. During his term, he grappled with a budget crisis. Cash-flow problems soon overtook the state government. The old surplus turned into a deficit, estimated at between $600 million and $700 million. A strike by state employees that year symbolized Minnesota’s newfound economic woes. The state had not previously run a deficit since World War II.Minnesota’s fiscal troubles gave James Florio, a Democratic politician running for governor in New Jersey, ammunition for attacking supply-side economics, the theory, then growing in popularity among Republicans, which holds that cutting taxes, spending and regulations fosters economic growth.
After having promised not to raise taxes, Quie was finally forced to do so, “causing much of his political support to evaporate,”. He did not run for re-election in 1982.
In November 1979, 5 foreign students were arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap Quie, they were later released due to a lack of evidence.
Later years
After leaving politics, Quie became involved with a nonprofit prison ministry. He sold the family farm and traveled extensively, including horseback riding excursions.Personal life and death
Quie's grandfather joined the newly founded Republican Party and supported Abraham Lincoln for president in the 1860 United States presidential election.Quie was a devout Lutheran. He married artist Gretchen Quie, who was born Gretchen Hansen, whom he met at St. Olaf, on June 5, 1948. She died of Parkinson's disease on December 13, 2015, at age 88.
Quie lived in a senior living community in Wayzata, Minnesota for the last decade of his life. Although his health had been declining for months into 2023, he was reportedly healthy in his last few days. He died from natural causes on August 18, 2023 in Wayzata at the age of 99, one month before his 100th birthday.
At the time of his death, he was both the oldest living former American governor and the oldest living former U.S. representative. Quie lay in state in the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, September 9, and was buried at Valley Grove Cemetery in Nerstrand, Minnesota later that day, next to his late wife Gretchen.