Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Rep. Thor Tollefson to Murray, April 12, 1963--"a pair of taciturn Norwegians"

Thor Tollefson and his brother Harold, a pair of taciturn Norwegians, between them spent close to 30 years in Tacoma area politics. Harold was mayor from 1962 to 1968, when he was beaten by A. J. "Slim" Rasmussen in a famously nasty race. Thor served two terms as Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney, starting in 1940, and then went to Congress from 1946 through 1964. He attributed his victories as a charisma-free Republican in a Democratic district in part to the large percentage of local Scandinavian voters. The oldest of seven children, he grew up speaking Norwegian at home and kept a slight accent all his life. 

Murray covered Tacoma politics for his daily radio show for much of the same period, so he knew both brothers though they were never exactly kindred spirits. This note from Thor counts as a thigh-slapper by Tollefson standards.


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