Freeman was born on May 9, 1918, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Orville and Frances (Schroeder) Freeman.[1] He attended Central High School in Minneapolis.[2] In 1940, Freeman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota, where he met his lifelong friend and political ally Hubert Humphrey. He also met his wife, Jane Charlotte Shields,[3] in college. They married on May 2, 1942, and had two children.
Military service
Figuring that the United States would eventually become involved in World War II, Freeman signed up for the Marine Reserve in 1940 with the understanding he could finish law school before he fulfilled his required service. The attack on Pearl Harbor ended that arrangement, and on December 31, 1941, he received orders to report to Officer Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico.[4]
On November 1, 1943, Freeman saw his first combat when his unit came ashore at Torokina on Bougainville in what were the first battles of the Bougainville Campaign. A few days later, while he was leading a patrol, he encountered a group of five or six Japanese soldiers in a clearing. An exchange of gunfire followed, and Freeman was wounded in the jaw and left arm. He was evacuated to a US Army hospital on New Caledonia and then to a Naval hospital on Nouméa. He returned to the U.S. in 1944 but never recovered enough movement in his arm to pass a Marine Corps physical to return to combat.[4]
Political career
Freeman as governor
Freeman earned his LL.B. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1946. He then practiced law in Minneapolis.[5] He ran unsuccessfully for attorney general of Minnesota in 1950 and for governor in 1952.[5]
Freeman was elected governor in 1954 and reelected in 1956 and 1958. He took the unusual action of declaring martial law in the city of Albert Lea on December 11, 1959, to maintain law and order during a strike at the Wilson Packing Company. After 12 days, a federal court ruled that martial law was inappropriate.[6] On November 13, 1955, Freeman was a guest on the variety show Toast of the Town, which was later called The Ed Sullivan Show.
Following his defeat for reelection as governor in 1960, Freeman was appointed as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by the newly elected President Kennedy, and he was retained in that post by President Lyndon B. Johnson. He served until January 21, 1969.
Freeman’s name was mentioned in a 1963 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. In the Season 2 episode “Granny’s Garden”, the main characters are about to mule-plow their estate's front lawn in order to plant a garden. The character Jane Hathaway drives up and exclaims “What in the name of Secretary Freeman are you doing?!”
Berry, Henry (1982). Semper Fi, Mac – Living Memories of the U.S. Marines in World War II. New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company. ISBN0-688-14956-1.
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