Harry H. Peterson (original) (raw)

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American lawyer, judge and politician (1890-1985)

Henry H. Peterson
19th Minnesota Attorney General
In office1933–1936
Governor	Floyd B. Olson
Preceded by	Henry N. Benson
Succeeded by	William S. Ervin
Personal details
Born	Harry Herbert Peterson(1890-04-12)April 12, 1890Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	January 23, 1985(1985-01-23) (aged 94)
Political party	Democratic (DFL)
Spouse	Mabel V. Norquist ​(m. 1916)​
Children	2
Parents	Swan Alfred Peterson (father)Mathilda Christina Gustafson (mother)
Alma mater	University of Minnesota Law School
Profession	Lawyer, judge, politician

Harry Herbert Peterson (April 12, 1890 – January 23, 1985) was an American lawyer, judge and politician.[1]

Peterson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was the son of Swan Alfred Peterson and Mathilda Christina (Gustafson) Peterson, both of whom were immigrants from Sweden. Peterson graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1912 and entered private practice as an attorney at law in Ramsey County, Minnesota. He married Mabel V. Norquist (1893-1972) on June 28, 1916. They were the parents of two children.[_citation needed_]

He was elected Ramsey County Attorney to serve 1923–1924 and subsequently served as the Minnesota Attorney General during the Farmer-Labor administration of Floyd B. Olson, 1933–1936. During the Great Depression, Peterson drafted and subsequently defended the constitutionality of the Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Act, a signature Depression-era reform which sustained the principle that States could adopt moratoria on bank foreclosures.[2]

Peterson went from the Attorney General's office to the Minnesota Supreme Court serving there from 1938–1950, resigning to run for Minnesota Governor. Defeating Orville Freeman in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary election, he lost the 1950 general election to the Republican candidate, Luther W. Youngdahl.[_citation needed_]

Upon retirement, Peterson was active in the formation of the Midwestern School of Law where he served as Dean prior to its reorganization as the Hamline University School of Law. Peterson donated his personal law library to the new school and served on its faculty, later dying of a stroke in 1985.[_citation needed_]

1. ^ "Peterson, Harry Herbert". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
2. ^ "Peterson, Harry H. (Harry Herbert)". Minnesota Territorial and State Attorneys General 1849-present. Retrieved April 25, 2016.

• Minnesota State Law Library Archive of Judicial Biographies