Henry Teigan

Henry George Teigan was an American teacher and editor who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota.

Background

Henry Teigan was born in Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa. He attended Luther Academy in Albert Lea, Minnesota and Central College in Pella, Iowa, later graduating from Valparaiso University in 1908. He gave his commencement speech, published in the university's 1909 yearbook, on the merits of socialism. From 1900 to 1913 he was a teacher in various communities..

He became involved in politics when eh was elected state secretary of the Socialist Party of North Dakota in 1913, serving until 1916. In this position, he hired flax farmer Arthur C. Townley as a party organizer, whose efforts in the rural western part of the state laid the foundation of the Nonpartisan League. Teigan became secretary of the National Nonpartisan League in 1916 and moved to Minneapolis in 1917, serving in that position until 1923. From 1923 to 1925, he was secretary to Senator Magnus Johnson. At that time, he also began working as an editor and newspaper writer. In 1930 he was the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party nominee for state auditor, coming in second with 35.96% of the vote. He continued in newspaper work until 1932, when he was elected to the Minnesota Senate where he served one term.
In 1936, he was elected as a candidate of the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party to the 75th congress. After one term, he failed to win reelection, and was also defeated in a 1940 bid to regain his seat. After leaving congress, he resumed newspaper and editorial work in Minneapolis, until his death on March 12, 1941. He is interred in Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis. The papers of Henry George Teigan are maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.