Byron G. Allen
Byron G. Allen | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Byron Gilchrist Allen September 13, 1901 Laurens, Iowa |
Died | June 10, 1988 Detroit Lakes, Minnesota | (aged 86)
Political party |
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Byron Gilchrist Allen (September 13, 1901 – June 10, 1988) was a Minnesota and Iowa politician who was the first nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party for governor.
Born in Laurens, Iowa, Allen attended Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) from 1920 to 1924.[1] He was a newspaper editor by trade, and served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1927 to 1932. He unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa in 1940.
In 1944, Allen was the first nominee for governor of Minnesota's newly formed Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, a merger of the state's Democratic and Farmer–Labor parties. He lost to incumbent Republican governor Edward John Thye.
Allen later served as Minnesota Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture from 1955 to 1961 under Governor Orville Freeman, and as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969, also under Freeman, who was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President John F. Kennedy.
Allen was married to Elsa Ellanora Erickson.[2]
Allen died in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota on June 10, 1988.[3]
References
- ^ Official Register. Iowa General Assembly. 1927. p. 238.
- ^ Political Graveyard
- ^ "Byron Allen, Agriculture Official". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 1988-06-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
- 1901 births
- 1988 deaths
- Members of the Iowa House of Representatives
- Minnesota Democrats
- Iowa Democrats
- American male journalists
- People from Laurens, Iowa
- State cabinet secretaries of Minnesota
- United States Department of Agriculture officials
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American politicians
- 20th-century American male writers
- Minnesota politician stubs
- Iowa politician stubs