John Clawson Oral history
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Document Type
Interview
Publication Date
10-4-1977
Abstract
Biographical information:
John Clawson was born on August 7, 1945, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later relocated to nearby Bloomington with his family. Clawson possessed an interest in politics from a young age, which was spurred on by his work as a student journalist throughout high school and his collegiate studies of history, which he minored in, alongside majors in Latin and Greek. In 1974, at the encouragement of his family and friends, Clawson ran for and won the seat for District 19A in the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Democrat. He held this seat for the next 10 years.Clawson passed away on August 17, 2011.
Minnesota state Representative for District 19A (1975-1980) and District 19B (1981-1984) elected a DFL candidate and representing Anoka, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, and Pine counties.
Transcript Summary:
In an interview conducted on October 4, 1977, John Clawson discussed his early life within Minnesota, as well as his career as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Clawson said most of his family were originally Danish immigrants from Schleswig-Holstein, who migrated abroad to escape military conflict between Denmark and Prussia in 1864. In addition, his family had a tradition of political participation as one of his grandfathers served as a sergeant-at-arms in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Clawson described an interest in politics from a young age but never would have run for office himself if not for the encouragement of his family and friends. Clawson discussed part of his legislative record, most of which pertained to urban development, health and wellness, and judicial affairs, and described his personal ideological convictions, identifying himself as a “conservative” at heart, while also distinguishing his beliefs from those of more “reactionary” colleagues in the Republican Party.
Interview conducted by Calvin Gower and John LeDoux
Recommended Citation
St. Cloud State University, "John Clawson Oral history" (1977). Minnesota Legislators and Politics. 11.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/legpol_oh/11
John Clawson oral history transcript
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Image ID: 16747
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