Andrew J. Volstead

Inducted: 1979

Minnesota Representative Andrew Volstead was an earnest creator and supporter of the ‘farmer cooperative Magna Charta’, the Capper-Volstead Act. He was a student of cooperatives in this country and abroad, and believed that co-ops were appropriate instruments for the advance of small farmer welfare. His tenure in Congress covered years when the nation’s farmer marketing co-ops were still in their developing stages, and when there were repeated efforts to limit their effectiveness. The struggle to enact his legislation was intense, and its final success was credited in no small measure to his legislative effectiveness.