1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Vol. LV, No. 2THE SCROLLPHI DELTA THETAJames F. T. O'Connor, North Dakota,'07, incidentally the youngest man everto be nominated for the governorshipof North Dakota. He made a drivingcampaign, delivered 151 addresses,only to be defeated, but a change ofone vote in each precinct of the statewould have elected him.He was the Democratic nominee forthe Senate in 1922, and although againendorsed by the Republicans, was defeatedby a narrow margin. For abouta decade from 1916 on, however.Brother O'Connor was the militantleader of the minority in North Dakotapolitics. His oratorical efforts andpolitical capacity went far towardcurbing the power of the strongly entrenchedLeague. While he had beenin the Yale Law School BrotherO'Connor had proved one of the mostbrilliant debaters and orators ever toattend the New Haven institution.During the past few years BrotherO'Connor has been associated withthe law firm of McAdoo, Neblett,O'Connor and Clagett in Los Angeles,California. This firm is headed byWilliam G. McAdoo, son-in-law ofPresident Wilson and a leader of theDemocratic party. Brother O'Connoris a close personal friend of McAdooand had the honor of seconding hispresidential nomination in a ringingspeech in Madison Square Garden,New York, in 1924.Out in Denver, where so many ofthe Michigan alumni reside, livesMorrison Shafroth, Michigan, '10, oneof the leading members of the Coloradobar. He inherited his aptitudefor law and politics since his fatherwas U. S. representative, twice governor,and once U. S. Senator. He himselfhas been a candidate for Coloradoattorney-general and for the U.S.Senate. Taking time out for the Waras a captain of artillery in France, hehas otherwise practiced law in Denver,with a generous amount of attentionto the interests of the Democraticparty in that state.Brother Shafroth is professor of[107]code pleading at the Westminster LawSchool and also is a lecturer at theDenver University Law School.Some modern Horatio Alger mightwrite an epic entitled "From Steerageto Statehouse" about the life of one ofthe brothers, Ragnvald Anderson Nestos.North Dakota, '04. The titlewould be apt, too, for in June, 1893,he landed at Philadelphia, a steeragepassenger from his home in Voss, Norway,and in October, 1921, he landedin the North Dakota Statehouse, thefirst governor ever elected in a recallelection in the United States.The Algeresque simile might becarried all the way through the storyof this man. When he landed inPhiladelphia he could neither speak norunderstand English. He had buteighty-five cents (plus his ticket) tocarry him on the four-day trip to hisuncle's home in North Dakota. Heentered the first grade in the NorthDakota schools at the age of sixteen.He spent several months in the Wisconsinlumber camps. He worked hisway through a normal school, supportinghimself, in a joint "baching" enterprisewith three others similarly situated,on two dollars a week. He homesteadedin North Dakota, founded anew literary society at the Universityof Wisconsin, became a state's attorneyin his own commonwealth.He, too, like Brother O'Connor,fought the Non-Partisan League, althoughfrom the fold of the Republicanparty. It was Brother O'Connor who,in the recall convention in 1921, nominatedNestos for governor. A curiousangle!—Democrat nominating Republican,but both united by the Bond oftheir college fraternity.Brother Nestos was reelected governorin the fall of 1922 by a largemajority. His avocational serviceshave been broad indeed, including thesuperintendency of one of the state'slargest Sunday Schools. Brother Nestosis now a member of the prominentlaw firm of Nestos, Herigstad, andStenersen at Minot, North Dakota.