×

Program to focus on Minnesota Home Guard during World War I

NEW ULM — The public is invited to attend “The Minnesota Home Guard in World War I” by historian Greg Gaut on Thursday, May 11 at 7 p.m. at New Ulm Public Library, 17 N. Broadway.

At the outbreak of World War I, the legislature created the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety (MCPS) and gave it sweeping powers to govern during the war. John McGee, a conservative lawyer, became the leading figure in the MCPS, setting its tone of intolerance to any form of dissent, labor agitation, or German cultural expression. The MCPS held that anyone who criticized the government was a traitor. McGee organized the Home Guard as the MCPS enforcement arm. Composed of volunteers primarily from the business community, Home Guard units helped defeat a Twin Cities transit workers strike, conducted “slacker raids” (sweep arrests of young men who were required to prove that they were not avoiding conscription), and sometimes stopped the campaign rallies of the Non-Partisan League, which was running Charles Lindbergh Sr. against Governor Joseph Burnquist.

Gaut is emeritus faculty at Saint Mary’s University in Winona, where he taught European and Russian history. Since 2012, he has worked as a historic preservation consultant, preparing National Register of Historic Places nominations for buildings across the state. The Friends of the Winona Public Library recently published his “Laird’s Legacy: A History of the Winona Public Library.” With his wife, Marsha Neff, he has contributed several articles to “Minnesota History,” two of which won the Minnesota Society of Architectural Historians award for the best article on Minnesota’s built environment.

This free presentation is the fifth in a series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States’ involvement in World War I. The series features a host of speakers at noon and in the evening through July and is sponsored by Brown County Historical Society (BCHS), New Ulm Public Library, Friends of the Library, and New Ulm Park and Rec. It is funded in part by Jerry Weldy and the Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative with funding from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Visit www.browncountyhistorymn.org or call 507-233-2616 for more information.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today