Stassen, Harold E.
Captain Harold E. Stassen, USNR, (1907-2001)
Harold Edward Stassen was born in West St. Paul, Minnesota, on 13 April 1907. He received a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1929 and was thereafter active in politics and civic affairs. His first public office, as county attorney for Dakota County, led to a successful run for the Minnesota state governorship in 1938. Reelected in 1940 and 1942, he resigned in April 1943 to go on active duty with the Naval Reserve, which he had joined in the rank of Lieutenant Commander the previous year.
In August 1943, after training and promotion to Commander, Stassen joined the staff of Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander South Pacific Force. He served with Halsey for two years as Assistant Chief of Staff (Administration), Aide and Flag Secretary, participating in south Pacific campaigns and the 1944-45 operations of the Third Fleet. Beginning in April 1945, he had additional duty as a delegate to the conference that drafted the United Nations' Charter. Detached from the Third Fleet in September 1945 and soon promoted, Captain Stassen's final active Navy service was at the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. He left active duty in November 1945.
Following World War II, Harold Stassen returned to politics. In 1948, he was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President. Though he lost that contest, he continued to regularly offer himself for the Nation's highest office, last making a run in 1992. He was President of the University of Pennsylvania during the late 1940s and early 1950s and served in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Stassen subsequently ran for the offices of Governor of Pennsylvania and Mayor of Philadelphia, and maintained a law practice. Harold E. Stassen died at Bloomington, Minnesota, on 4 March 2001.
