MANDAN Historical Society

Working to Preserve & Promote Mandan's Heritage since 2004

Welcome

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Ag Stn Centennial

History Harvest

TR-Coe Exhibit

WWII Exhibit

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Area History

Book: "Mantani"

The 1880s

Mandan Rodeo / Fair

School System History

The 1890s

The 1900s

1901 Pan Am Expo

1903 TR Visit to NDak

The 1910s

1910 Spring Flood

1911 Fair & Airplane Demo

1912 TR Whistle-Stop

The 1920s

Prohibition in Mandan

Mail Order Kit Homes

The 1930s

FDR Visit August 1936

The 1940s

The 1950s

1958 Lincoln Stamp FDC

Custer Drama / Trail West

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

1st of the 21st

2010-Present

Area Landmarks

Cary Bldg - Mandan Drug

CCC Camp Chimney

Christ the King Church

Collins Av Civic Bldg

First Lutheran Church

First National Bank Bldg

First Presbyterian Church

Great Plains Academy

Great Plains Expermt Stn

Lewis & Clark Hotel

Mandan Hill

Mandan Theatre

MV Produce Warehouse

Methodist Church

NP Beanery

NP "Colonial" RR Depot

NPRR Freighthouse

NP Rail High Bridge

Roughrider Statue

St Joseph Church

WWar Memorial Bldg

Youth Correctional Center

Gone Forever

Central School

Collins Ave Courthouse

Cummins Building

Deaconess Hospital

Eielson Field

Emerson Inst/Opera House

First St Federal Building

Havana Club

Hotel Nigey

InterOcean Hotel

Liberty Memorial Bridge

Mandan Creamery & Produce

Mandan Flour Mill

Merchants Hotel

NP "Queen Anne" Depot

Original Passenger Depot

Palace Theatre

Peoples' Hotel

Rock Haven

Topic Theatre

Young's Tavern

Heritage Homes

Altnow-Smith Home

Dunlap-Harris Home

Ellis-Uden Home

Freeburg-Esser Home

Lyon-Weigel Home

McGillic Home

Olson-Brick Home

Parkins-Cooley Home

Stutsman-Wyatt Home

Swanson-Reichman Home

Welch-Ness Home

Endowment Fund

Genealogy Links

Biographies A-C

J D Allen

Franklin Anders

Richard Baron

James Bellows

George Bingenheimer

Margaret Bingenheimer

Philip Blumenthal

Elijah Boley

Frank Briggs

Leo Broderick

William Broderick

Frank Bunting

Lyman Cary

James Clark

Henry Coe

Viola Boley Coe

Daniel Collins

Elizabeth Custer

George Custer

Biographies D-L

Alice Dahners

Henry Dahners

C E V (Charles) Draper

Esther Davis

Tony Dean

Joseph Devine

Ronald Erhardt

John Forbes

Palma Fristad

Gilbert Furness

Aloysius Galowitsch

Frederic Gerard

Zalmon Gilbert

Charles Grantier

James Hanley Jr

James Hanley Sr

Mary Harris

C Edgar Haupt

Michael Lang

William Langer

Albert Lanterman

William Lanterman

Richard Longfellow

Rolland Lutz

Hiram Lyon

Biographies M-R

George Marback

Gary Miller

Lee Mohr

Margaret Naylor

John Newton

Anton Ness

John Osterhouse

George Peoples

Arthur Peterson

Nels Romer

Hoy Russell

Walton Russell

Antonie Rybnicek

Ervin Rybnicek

Hynek Rybnicek

Biographies S-Z

Margaret Schaaf

George Shafer

Benjamin Shaw

William Simpson

Anna Knox Stark

Mary Stark

Benjamin Stephenson

J O Sullivan

John Sullivan

Era Bell Thompson

Andrew E Thorberg

Ida Thorberg

C L Timmerman

George Toman

Earle Tostevin

Edwin A Tostevin Sr

Edwin D Tostevin Jr

Walter Tostevin

Felix Vinatieri

A B Welch

Levon West

Frank Wetzstein

Harry Wheeler

Philomena Yunck

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What's New

William "Wild Bill" Langer (1886-1959)
Mandan is associated with four of the thirty-one men who have served as Governor of North Dakota. One was born here; one died here; one moved here and one started his professional career here.

William Langer was born on a farm on September 30, 1886 near Casselton to Frank and Mary (Weber) Langer, one of six children. His father was also active in state and county politics and was a bank officer for the First National Bank of Casselton.

Bill attended rural schools and graduated from Casselton High School as valedictorian in 1904. He obtained a bachelor of laws from the UND-Grand Forks in 1906 and passed the bar exam.


But at 18, he was too young to practice law in ND which required an age of 21. He continued his undergraduate education at Columbia University in New York where he graduated at the top of his class in 1910. Although offered a position at a prominent New York law firm, Langer chose to return to North Dakota.

Settling in Mandan at a boarding house at 300 2nd Ave NW, he found work with H.R. Bitzing, the States Attorney for Morton County. He served as Assistant States Attorney until 1914, when he was appointed Morton County States Attorney. He quickly began to make a name for himself politically. He swore out 167 warrants for arrest of liquor dealers and vice operators on his very first day of work. He successfully sued Northern Pacific Railway for $1,250,000 in back taxes, establishing a reputation as an enemy of corporations.

In 1915, Langer and S.L. Nuchols, another Mandan lawyer, formed the law firm of Langer and Nuchols. Langer was elected North Dakota Attorney General in 1916, an election in which defeated his opponent by over 58,000 votes and carried every county in the state. He was re-elected Attorney General in 1918 on the Non-Partisan League (NPL) ticket.
Morton County Courthouse c. 1913 Click to Enlarge
Bill and Lydia Langer voting in 1940 election
On February 26, 1918, William Langer had married Lydia Cady in New York City in February 1918 while ND Attorney General. The daughter of prominent New York architect, the couple met in New York City while Langer was a student at Columbia. Langer was fond of recalling how he first spied Lydia at a concert, and then arranged for her date to be called away to answer a fake phone call. He went and introduced himself, which was the start of a long courtship. The couple had four daughters: Emma, Lydia, Mary and Cornelia.
In March 1920, Langer announced his candidacy for governor on the Progressive Republican ticket. Langer had defected from the NPL in 1919 accusing its leaders as selling out farmers. Langer was defeated by the NPL candidate, Lynn Frazier in a close election.

Langer returned to his law practice and he and his partner moved their firm to Bismarck. The practice now benefited tremendously from Langer’s name recognition. He eventually rejoined the NPL and directly helped the party work through its financial issues.  While he lost the primary for Attorney General in 1928 he did receive the 1932 gubernatorial nomination. Langer, along with all other major NPL candidates, was swept into power in the 1932 election.

He was unwavering in his support of ND farmers. When the price of wheat fell low, Langer declared an embargo on North Dakota wheat until prices rose. He also declared a moratorium on farm foreclosures, even resorting to use of the National Guard to stop sheriffs' sales.

Langer quickly ran into legal problems, however. After his inauguration, Langer cleaned out most executive departments and appointed persons loyal to him. He also openly solicited state employees for subscriptions to his newspaper, which represented about five percent of their annual state salary. Although Langer viewed this as a legitimate campaign fund raising, he was charged and found guilty of soliciting contributions illegally by a Federal court, sentenced to eighteen months in prison, and fined $10,000.  The ND Supreme Court had him removed from office on the basis of his felony conviction.  It would take three more trials, but eventually Langer was acquitted of all charges.  Langer returned to serve as the ND governor in 1937-1941.

After completing his second term as governor, Langer successfully ran for US Senate. Although Langer had won the election, his enemies were determined to not allow him to take his seat. A petition was presented to the Senate.  The Senate’s investigation committee listened to testimony, some very damaging, regarding Langer’s conduct.  During the hearings, Langer was forced to admit that he had paid the son of the judge who presided at his second and third trials in 1935.  The committee recommended, by a vote of 13-3, that Langer not be seated; but the entire Senate disregarded the recommendation and voted to seat Langer by a vote of 52-30.  Langer’s victory made the front page of the New York Times and other papers around the country.
 
William Langer served on Civil Service, Indian Affairs, and Judiciary Senate committees, among others.  He was a champion of rural electrification and telephone service as well as affordable health care. 

His Senate career was also marked by his reputation as a strict isolationist. He opposed the Lend-Lease Act as well as the extension of Selective Service prior to WWII. He did, however, vote to declare war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
  Despite the lessons learned during WWII, Langer's isolationist philosophy did not change.
c. 1934 Federal REA Poster
Langer was also extremely critical of Great Britian's Winston Churchill. In one instance prior to a scheduled visit to the US by now former Prime Minister Churchill, Langer sent a telegram to the pastor of Boston's Old North Church requesting that two lanterns be placed in the belfry to warn Americans that the British were coming.

Langer won re-election in 1946 and 1952. Langer also won re-election for a third time in 1958 despite failing health of both he and his wife. Despite not making a single campaign appearance in the state, he carried every county in the state.

William Langer died while serving in Washington as a US Senator on November 8, 1959. He is buried in Leo’s Catholic Cemetery in Casselton
.

The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3827 30th Avenue NW; PO Box 1001; Mandan, ND 58554
Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org


Last Updated 03/28
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