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Gilbert N. Haugen's name is probably best recalled for the McNary-Haugen bill, that twice-vetoed piece of 1920s farm legislation. This new biography provides a useful account of the Iowa Republican who was elected to Congress in 1898 and remained there until succumbing to the 1932 Democratic landslide. Haugen's career, like that of the better-known Knute Nelson of Minnesota, also reflected the growing political power of Norwegian Americans.
Haugen's life is told in a straightforward fashion, beginning-with his family's roots in Norway and, later, Wisconsin. In 1873, when Haugen was fourteen years old, his family moved to Iowa. Displaying an entrepreneurial spirit, Haugen soon accumulated enough funds to purchase a farm in Worth County. Located in the Norwegian belt of northeastern Iowa, Worth County...