VINTAGE! "North Dakota Senator" Gerald Nye Hand Signed 3X5 Card

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Up for auction a VINTAGE! "North Dakota Senator" Gerald Nye Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
ES-1976
Gerald Prentice Nye
(December 19, 1892 – July 17, 1971) was an American politician who represented
North Dakota
in the
United States Senate
from 1925 to 1945. He was a
Republican
and supporter of
World War II
-era
isolationism
, chairing the
Nye Committee
which studied the causes of United States' involvement in
World War I
. Gerald Nye (whose first name was pronounced with a hard "G") was born in
Hortonville, Wisconsin
, the son of Phoebe Ella (née Prentice) and Irwin Raymond Nye. Both of his grandfathers had served in the
Civil War
: Freeman James Nye in the
43rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
and George Washington Prentice in the
3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
. He was the first of four children. In his first year, he and his parents moved to
Wittenberg, Wisconsin
, where his father became owner and editor of a small newspaper. Three more children were born there: Clair Irwin, Donald Oscar, and Marjorie Ella. Nye's father was a staunch supporter of Progressive
Robert M. La Follette
, and Nye personally remembered his father's taking him to hear Senator La Follette speak and then meet the Senator afterwards. (Years later, Gerald Nye and
Robert M. La Follette Jr.
would serve in the U.S. Senate together.) His uncle,
Wallace G. Nye
, was Mayor of
Minneapolis, Minnesota
when Gerald was in his teens.
[
His mother, Ella, had been diagnosed with
tuberculosis
. Family history indicates that she may have been asthmatic. She made trips to the South for recuperation, but on October 19, 1906 she died. He was thirteen; his brothers, ten and eight; and his baby sister, six. He was comforted by the presence of his four grandparents at the funeral. Nye graduated from Wittenberg High School in 1911, at age 18, and moved back to his grandparents' town of
Hortonville, Wisconsin
.
Nye was a supporter of the agrarian reform movement. His editorials lambasted big government and big business. He took the side of the struggling farmers. In 1924, Nye unsuccessfully sought election as a progressive Republican to the
U.S. House
. When U.S. Senator
Edwin F. Ladd
died on June 22, 1925, he and others gathered in the office of North Dakota Governor
Arthur G. Sorlie
, who told the group that he had decided to appoint "Jerry over here" to fill the seat.
He is famous for being in a
Dr. Seuss
political cartoon with
Gerald L. K. Smith
and Democratic Senator
Robert Rice Reynolds
.
Nye and his young family moved to Washington in 1925. Nye's youth and lack of sophistication were the talk of the town. He had a bowl haircut that was ridiculed. But he became a very active, popular and outspoken Senator, and North Dakotans elected him to three full terms, in 1926, 1932, and 1938.
[
He served on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Appropriations Committee, the Defense Committee and the Public Lands Committee. As Chairman of Public Lands, he dealt with the
Teapot Dome
investigations and the formation of
Grand Teton National Park
. He was instrumental in passing legislation to protect public access to the sea coasts. He initially supported Democratic President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
and his
New Deal
. He supported the political positions of
Robert M. La Follette
, and legislation for agricultural price supports.