Harold Knutson
American politician (1880-1953)

Harold Knutson (October 20, 1880 – August 21, 1953) was an American politician and journalist who represented Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives from 1917 to 1949 as a member of the Republican Party. From 1919 to 1923 he was the Republican majority whip.
Early life
Knutson was born in Skien, in Telemark county, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. At the age of 6 he and his family moved to the United States. They initially settled in Chicago, Illinois, but later moved to Sherburne County, Minnesota.
Journalist career
Knutson became the editor for the St. Cloud Daily Journal-Press. Later, he was president of the Northern Minnesota Editorial Association.
U.S. House of Representatives
From 1917 to 1949 he served as a Republican Party Congressman in the 65th, 66th, 67th, 68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, and 80th congresses. On April 5, 1917, he voted against declaring war on Germany.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Harold Knutson” as american politician (1880-1953). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1880-1953). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q200806. VIAF identifies the subject as 41463766. The Library of Congress control number is no98106916. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1953, 1917 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harold Knutson” 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.