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E. James Ladwig

American politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ16104902 ↗
Source-derived summary

Eldor James "Jim" Ladwig (April 13, 1938 – March 28, 2023) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Racine County, Wisconsin. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for twelve years, representing Wisconsin's 63rd Assembly district from 1979 to 1983, and from 1985 to 1993. Earlier, he served on the Racine County Board of Supervisors.

His wife, Bonnie Ladwig, succeeded him in the State Assembly. Their son, Jim, served as Racine County executive.

Early life and career

Ladwig was born on April 13, 1938, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Riverside University High School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Ladwig served in the United States Army, worked as a high school teacher, and later became an investment broker.

Political career

Ladwig was first elected to the Assembly in 1978, defeating incumbent Democrat Marcel Dandeneau. Additionally, he was Supervisor of the Town of Caledonia, Wisconsin, from 1971 to 1973, and a member of the Racine County Board of Supervisors from 1974 to 1978.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “E. James Ladwig” is american politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through James, Ladwig and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938, 2023, 1979, 1983—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, James, Ladwig and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16104902. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2023, 1979 and 1983.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “E. James Ladwig”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow E. James Ladwig primary sources, E. James Ladwig archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “E. James Ladwig”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “E. James Ladwig” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.