Karl Rolvaag
American diplomat (1913-1990)
Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (July 18, 1913 – December 20, 1990) was an American diplomat and politician who served from March 25, 1963, to January 2, 1967, as the 31st governor of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, he was the son of the author and professor Ole E. Rølvaag.
The 1962 election was held on November 6, but the results were not known until a 139-day recount was completed in March 1963. Rolvaag won the closest gubernatorial election in state history, defeating the incumbent, Elmer L. Andersen by 91 votes out of over 1.3 million cast. He is one of only five Minnesota Democrats to win a gubernatorial election with a Democrat in the White House.
Background
A native of Northfield, Minnesota, Rolvaag lived in his hometown and graduated from. After his father's death in 1931, he traveled throughout the west, shifting between locations and professions. He considered joining the Communist Party, and joined the IWW. He returned to Northfield to attend St. Olaf College, and graduated in 1941. While attending the college, he co-founded "Patriots for Peace", an antiwar student organization.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q442622. VIAF identifies the subject as 28382583. The Library of Congress control number is n80136028. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913, 1990, 1963 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Karl Rolvaag” 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.