 Hannah
|
North_Dakota_Wheat
|
Jacob
|
Sunday, November 02, 2003
A Progressive State
North Dakota is a unique state from many perspectives. It has a long tradition of progressive politics. I think that it is the only state that had "state socialistic institutions" like the State Bank, State Mill, and State Wheat Board. It had a major political force, the Non-Partisan League, that controlled much of the state politics. These politics were a back lash to what was often exploitation by the east (and the extended railroad interests) and more recently by Minnesota, which considers North Dakota like a colony. In fact for most of North Dakota's modern history, North Dakota's economic welfare was dictated by the export of agricultural products to Minneapolis or Duluth. It also was a strong supporter of the Populist Party candidate James Weaver for president in 1892 giving him its electoral college votes. In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt won the neighboring states of South Dakota and Minnesota so I expect the state was pretty split between Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson. Wilson won the state... I found the state tally at http://www.presidentelect.org/e1912.html#state. Wilson only won 10 states with over 50% of the vote and he got 13 states with LESS than 40% of the vote. North Dakota was the second weakest state he won with only 34.2%. Theodore got 29.7% and Taft got 26.6%. 112 electoral college votes went to Wilson from states that he won with less that 40% of the vote. Classic divide and conquer.
North Dakota was the bridge to the western exploration by Lewis and Clark. In fact Sacagawea will be the state's representative in the Museum of Statues in Washington DC. She has long been an icon in the states identity. Her statue was on display on the capital grounds before the trip to DC. We were very fortune to meet the security guard right at 5:00. The capital was closing, but he asked where we were from and when he found out that we had come from Texas, well he insisted that we get the personal tour of the chambers. A party had also arrived from New Jersey and they were also making a national tour of state capitol buildings.
Theodore Roosevelt made his ranch home in the state. We of course stopped at both the south and north unit of the National Park. Though I would have to say that the park is one of the poorer managed parks that I have been to. Facilities and picnic areas are sparse and poorly placed and there is no reasonable access to the river unless you have a horse. I am sure it would be a good destination if you planned a trail ride, but for a stop off the freeway with a tent... well I expected better access. The best picnic area ended up being back in Medora at the old packing pant site. I would call Theodore Roosevelt National Park a "hit and run" location.
And finally, one of my favorite trivia facts of the state is that it would be the third largest nuclear power if it secede from the union. That is because both Grand Forks and Minot have large bomber fleets and the state is peppered with ICBM silos. It protects the northern shield and has one of the largest flight times for an incoming missile from either the Russian main land or submarine. That would give crews and operators the longest possible lead time to make a response to the attack. Fortunately, the scale of these systems have been reduced and the need for the Civil Defense handbooks that we had as kids on how to build a bomb shelter are obsolete.
North Dakota is a unique state from many perspectives. It has a long tradition of progressive politics. I think that it is the only state that had "state socialistic institutions" like the State Bank, State Mill, and State Wheat Board. It had a major political force, the Non-Partisan League, that controlled much of the state politics. These politics were a back lash to what was often exploitation by the east (and the extended railroad interests) and more recently by Minnesota, which considers North Dakota like a colony. In fact for most of North Dakota's modern history, North Dakota's economic welfare was dictated by the export of agricultural products to Minneapolis or Duluth. It also was a strong supporter of the Populist Party candidate James Weaver for president in 1892 giving him its electoral college votes. In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt won the neighboring states of South Dakota and Minnesota so I expect the state was pretty split between Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson. Wilson won the state... I found the state tally at http://www.presidentelect.org/e1912.html#state. Wilson only won 10 states with over 50% of the vote and he got 13 states with LESS than 40% of the vote. North Dakota was the second weakest state he won with only 34.2%. Theodore got 29.7% and Taft got 26.6%. 112 electoral college votes went to Wilson from states that he won with less that 40% of the vote. Classic divide and conquer.
North Dakota was the bridge to the western exploration by Lewis and Clark. In fact Sacagawea will be the state's representative in the Museum of Statues in Washington DC. She has long been an icon in the states identity. Her statue was on display on the capital grounds before the trip to DC. We were very fortune to meet the security guard right at 5:00. The capital was closing, but he asked where we were from and when he found out that we had come from Texas, well he insisted that we get the personal tour of the chambers. A party had also arrived from New Jersey and they were also making a national tour of state capitol buildings.
Theodore Roosevelt made his ranch home in the state. We of course stopped at both the south and north unit of the National Park. Though I would have to say that the park is one of the poorer managed parks that I have been to. Facilities and picnic areas are sparse and poorly placed and there is no reasonable access to the river unless you have a horse. I am sure it would be a good destination if you planned a trail ride, but for a stop off the freeway with a tent... well I expected better access. The best picnic area ended up being back in Medora at the old packing pant site. I would call Theodore Roosevelt National Park a "hit and run" location.
And finally, one of my favorite trivia facts of the state is that it would be the third largest nuclear power if it secede from the union. That is because both Grand Forks and Minot have large bomber fleets and the state is peppered with ICBM silos. It protects the northern shield and has one of the largest flight times for an incoming missile from either the Russian main land or submarine. That would give crews and operators the longest possible lead time to make a response to the attack. Fortunately, the scale of these systems have been reduced and the need for the Civil Defense handbooks that we had as kids on how to build a bomb shelter are obsolete.
Comments:
Post a Comment
