64th Wisconsin Legislature explained

64th Wisconsin Legislature
Body:	Wisconsin Legislature
Before:	63rd
After:	65th
Chamber1:	Senate
Membership1:	33
Control1:	Republican
Chamber2:	Assembly
Membership2:	100
Control2:	Republican
Session1 Type:	Regular

The Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session.^[1]

This session saw a significant reorganization of several state government functions, including the creation of the Department of Taxation, the Department of Public Welfare, the Department of Securities, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. This legislative term also coincided with the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

Senators representing odd-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and odd-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 8, 1938. Senators representing even-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 3, 1936.^[1]

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 (WI-03) 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 (D) re-elected President of the United States. The first and only time a president was elected to a third term.
  • Julius P. Heil (R) re-elected Governor of Wisconsin.
  • Robert M. La Follette Jr. (P) 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.

Party summary

Senate summary

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Dem.	Prog.	Rep.		Vacant
End of previous Legislature	9		16	8	33	0
Start of Reg. Session	6	11		16	33	0
From Sep. 20, 1939^[2]			15	32	1
From Dec. 6, 1939^[3]	5			31	2
Final voting share
Beginning of the next Legislature	4	6		23	33	0

Assembly summary

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Dem.	Prog.	Rep.		Vacant
End of previous Legislature	31		48	20	99	1
Start of Reg. Session	15	32	53	100	0
From Sep. 1, 1939^[4]	14			99	1
From Sep. 6, 1939^[5]		31		98	2
From Sep. 25, 1939^[6]		30		97	3
From Oct. 5, 1939^[7]				52	96	4
Final voting share
Beginning of the next Legislature	15	25		60	100	0

Sessions

• Regular session: January 11, 1939October 6, 1939

Leaders

Senate leadership

• President of the Senate: Walter S. Goodland (R)
• President pro tempore: Edward J. Roethe (R–Fennimore)
• Majority leader: Maurice Coakley (R–Beloit)
• Minority leader: Philip E. Nelson (P–Maple)

Assembly leadership

• Speaker of the Assembly: Vernon W. Thomson (R–Richland Center)

Members

Members of the Senate

Members of the Senate for the Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature:^[8]

Dist.	Counties	Senator	Residence	Party
01	Door, Kewaunee,		Manitowoc		Dem.
02			Green Bay		Prog.
03	Milwaukee (South City)		Milwaukee		Dem.
04	Milwaukee (Northeast County		Milwaukee		Rep.
05			Milwaukee		Rep.
06			Milwaukee		Prog.
07	Milwaukee (Southeast County		Milwaukee		Dem.
08			West Milwaukee		Prog.
09			Milwaukee		Dem.
10	Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce,		River Falls		Rep.
11	Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas,		Maple		Prog.
12	Ashland, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer,		Ladysmith		Prog.
13			Hartford		Rep.
14			Shiocton		Rep.
15	Rock		Beloit		Rep.
16	Crawford, Grant,		Fennimore		Rep.
17	Green, Iowa,		Woodford		Rep.
18	,		Fond du Lac		Rep.
19			Oshkosh		Rep.
20			Port Washington		Dem.
21	Racine		Racine		Prog.
22			Kenosha		Rep.
23			Waupaca		Rep.
24	Clark, Taylor,		Neillsville		Prog.
25			Wausau		Rep.
26	Dane		Madison		Prog.
27	Columbia, Richland,		Richland Center		Rep.
28			Eau Claire		Prog.
29	Barron, Dunn,		Barron		Prog.
30	Florence, Forest, Langlade, Marinette,		Pembine		Dem.
31	Adams, Juneau, Monroe,		Necedah		Rep.
32	Jackson, La Crosse,		La Crosse		Prog.
33					Rep.

Members of the Assembly

Members of the Assembly for the Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature:^[8]

Senate Dist.	County	Dist.	Representative	Party	Residence
31	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Rep.	Westfield
12	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Ashland			Prog.	Ashland
29	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Barron			Prog.	Cameron
11	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Bayfield			Prog.	Bayfield
02	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Brown	1			Dem.	Green Bay
	2			Dem.	De Pere
10	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Rep.	Cochrane
11	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Rep.	Spooner
19	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Calumet			Prog.	Chilton
28	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Chippewa			Rep.	Stanley
24	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Clark			Rep.	Unity
27	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Columbia			Rep.	Rio
16	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Crawford			Rep.	Soldiers Grove
26	text-align="left" rowspan="3"	Dane	1			Prog.	Madison
	2			Prog.	Deerfield
	3			Rep.	Middleton
13	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Dodge	1			Dem.	Mayville
	2			Rep.	Beaver Dam
01	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Door			Rep.	Sturgeon Bay
11	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Douglas	1			Prog.	Superior
	2			Prog.	Poplar
29	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Dunn			Rep.	Elk Mound
28	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Eau Claire			Prog.	Eau Claire
30	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Florence, Forest,			Prog.	Rhinelander
18	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Fond du Lac	1			Dem.	Fond du Lac
	2			Rep.	Ripon
16	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Grant	1			Rep.	Cuba City
	2			Rep.	Lancaster
17	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Green			Rep.	Monroe
18	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Rep.	Berlin
17	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Iowa			Rep.	Montfort
12	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Prog.	Pence
32	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Jackson			Prog.	Humbird
33	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Jefferson			Dem.	Fort Atkinson
31	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Juneau			Prog.	New Lisbon
22	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Kenosha	1			Dem.	Kenosha
	2			Dem.	Salem
01	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Kewaunee			Dem.	Algoma
32	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	La Crosse	1			Rep.	La Crosse
	2			Rep.	West Salem
17	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Lafayette			Rep.	Wiota
30	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Dem.	Antigo
25	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Prog.	Merrill
01	Manitowoc	1			Prog.	Manitowoc
		2			Rep.	Two Rivers
25	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Marathon	1			Rep.	Mosinee
	2			Prog.	Ringle
30	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Marinette			Rep.	Marinette
09	text-align="left" rowspan="20"	Milwaukee	1			Dem.	Milwaukee
06	2			Prog.	Milwaukee
08	3			Lib.Dem.	Milwaukee
09	4			Dem.	Milwaukee
03	5			Prog.	Milwaukee
09	6			Prog.	Milwaukee
06	7			Prog.	Milwaukee
08	8			Rep.	Milwaukee
05	9			Rep.	Milwaukee
07	10			Prog.	South Milwaukee
03	11			Prog.	Milwaukee
07	12			Dem.	Milwaukee
04	13			Dem.	Milwaukee
	14			Rep.	Milwaukee
05	15			Rep.	Milwaukee
06	16			Prog.	Milwaukee
07	17			Rep.	Milwaukee
06	18			Prog.	Milwaukee
05	19			Rep.	Milwaukee
08	20			Rep.	Wauwatosa
31	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Monroe			Prog.	Sparta
02	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Oconto			Rep.	Oconto
14	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Outagamie	1			Rep.	Appleton
	2			Rep.	Kaukauna
20	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Ozaukee			Dem.	Belgium
10	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Pierce			Prog.	Ellsworth
29	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Polk			Prog.	Amery
23	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Portage			Prog.	Stevens Point
12	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Price			Rep.	Ogema
21	text-align="left" rowspan="3"	Racine	1			Prog.	Racine
	2			Prog.	Racine
	3			Prog.	Sturtevant
27	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Richland			Rep.	Richland Center
15	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Rock	1			Rep.	Edgerton
	2			Rep.	Beloit
12	text-align="left" colspan="2"				Rep.	Ladysmith
27	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Sauk			Rep.	Sauk City
14	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Shawano			Rep.	Wittenberg
20	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Sheboygan	1			Rep.	Sheboygan
	2			Rep.	Plymouth
10	text-align="left" colspan="2"	St. Croix			Prog.	Hudson
24	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Taylor			Rep.	Medford
32	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Trempealeau			Rep.	Galesville
16	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Vernon			Rep.	Viroqua
22	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Walworth			Rep.	Delavan
13	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Washington			Rep.	Germantown
33	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Waukesha	1			Rep.	Waukesha
	2			Rep.	Pewaukee
23	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Waupaca			Rep.	Clintonville
19	text-align="left" rowspan="2"	Winnebago	1			Rep.	Oshkosh
	2			Rep.	Neenah
24	text-align="left" colspan="2"	Wood			Rep.	Vesper

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 (Sen.) & P. B. McIntyre (Asm.), co-chairs

Employees

Senate employees

• Chief Clerk: Lawrence R. Larsen^[9]
  • 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^[9]
  • Assistant Chief Clerk: Frederick W. Krez
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert A. Merrill
  • Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Phillip K. Lalor

External links

• 1939: Related Documents from Wisconsin Legislature

Notes and References

1. State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2021–2022 . 2021 . Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau . 978-1-7333817-1-0 . Barish . Lawrence S. . Lemanski . Lynn . https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/blue_book/2021_2022/160_historical_lists.pdf . Historical Lists . 468, 471, 475, 479–480 . August 5, 2023 .
2. Republican Morvin Duel (18th District) resigned to become state insurance commissioner.
3. Democrat Francis A. Yindra (1st District) resigned.
4. Democrat Alfred C. Grosvenor (Kenosha County) resigned.
5. Progressive John W. Grobschmidt (Milwaukee County) died.
6. Progressive Arthur D. Kelly (St. Croix County) died.
7. Republican Reuben W. Peterson (Green Lake & Waushara counties) resigned.
8. The Wisconsin Blue Book 1940 . . 1940 . Ohm. Howard F. . Bryhan . Leone G. . Members of the Legislature . 23–70 . August 1, 2023 .
9. The Wisconsin Blue Book 1940 . . 1940 . Ohm. Howard F. . Bryhan . Leone G. . Officers of the Senate and Assembly . 264-270 . August 5, 2023 .