Editing Adolph Olson Eberhart

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Adolph Olson Eberhart
|image=AOEberhart-official.jpg
|order1= 17th
|office1= Governor of Minnesota
|term_start1= September 21, 1909
|term_end1= January 5, 1915
|lieutenant1=[[Edward Everett Smith]]<br>[[Samuel Y. Gordon]]<br>[[Joseph A. A. Burnquist]]
|predecessor1= [[John Albert Johnson]]
|successor1= [[Winfield Scott Hammond]]
|order2= 17th
|office2= Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota
|term_start2= January 7, 1907
|term_end2= September 21, 1909
|governor2= [[John Albert Johnson]]
|predecessor2= [[Ray W. Jones]]
|successor2= [[Edward Everett Smith]]
|office3= Member of the [[Minnesota Senate]]
|term3= 1903-1907
|birth_date= {{birth date|1870|6|30|mf=y}}
|birth_place= [[Frykerud Värmland]], Sweden
|death_date= {{death date and age|1944|12|6|1870|6|30|mf=y}}
|death_place= [[Savage, Minnesota]], United States
|party=[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]
|profession=politician
|spouse=Adele O.M. Koke
|footnotes=
}}
'''Adolph Olson Eberhart''' (June 30, 1870&nbsp;– December 6, 1944) was an [[American politician]], who served as the [[List of Governors of Minnesota|17th Governor of Minnesota]].

==Background==
Adolph Olson Eberhart was born in [[Kil, Värmland|Kil]], in [[Värmland]], Sweden, the son of Andrew and Louise Olson. Because of bad economic conditions, Andrew, Louise and all of the family except Adolph immigrated to [[St. Peter, Minnesota]]. In 1882, Adolph joined the family there. Eberhart graduated from [[Gustavus Adolphus College]], St. Peter, Minnesota (1895) and studied law in a law office in [[Mankato, Minnesota]].<ref>[http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P2205.xml ''Eberhart, Adolph Olson'' (Minnesota Historical Society)]</ref>

==Career==
[[File:1913MinnesotaGovEberhartZumbrota.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Eberhart above a crowd at the 1913 Goodhue County Fair in Zumbrota, Minnesota]]
Eberhart was a member of the [[Minnesota State Senate]] from January 1903 to January 1907. He was elected the 17th [[Lieutenant Governor]] in 1906.  He became the 17th [[Governor of Minnesota]] on September 21, 1909, when Governor [[John Albert Johnson]] died, and served until January 5, 1915. Eberhart was a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]]. [[Minnesota]] elected Governors and Lt. Governors on separate ballots until 1974, so it happened occasionally that the two were of different parties. Elected the youngest member of the state senate in 1902, the Republican Eberhart was chosen as lieutenant governor four years later in the administration of the legendary Democrat, [[John Albert Johnson]]. Although his first partial term as governor resulted from Johnson's death in 1909, he subsequently won the office twice on his own merits.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mnhs.org/people/governors/gov/gov_19.htm |title=''A. O. (Adolph Olson) Eberhart'' (Minnesota Historical Society) |access-date=September 10, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210024725/http://www.mnhs.org/people/governors/gov/gov_19.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''Minnesota Governor Adolph Olson Eberhart'' (National Governors Association) [https://web.archive.org/web/20070428172256/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=118c954990be3010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD]</ref>

An efficient administrator, Eberhart was also a consummate politician, and his detractors, including many Republicans, questioned his sincerity as well as the reputation of certain close associates. To assure his re-nomination in 1912, he called a special 13-day legislative session and deflated his critics by bulldozing through such progressive reforms as rural school consolidation and primary elections. Eberhart's strategy worked; he avoided the censure of his own party and was re-nominated for a second full term in the first statewide primary.<ref>''Eberhart, Adolph Olson  "A.O." '' (Minnesota Legislators Past and Present) [http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=12663]</ref>

Eberhart lost his re-nomination bid for a fourth term as governor. A second defeat in the 1916 [[U.S. Senate]] primary marked the end of his political career. After a career as a real estate and insurance executive in Chicago, he retired to a rest home where he died in [[Savage, Minnesota]]. 
An inventory of his gubernatorial records is maintained at the Minnesota Historical Society Library.<ref>''Minnesota Governor: Eberhart. Records'' (Minnesota Historical Society. State Archives) [http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gov031.xml]</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Adolph Olson Eberhart}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ray W. Jones]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota]]|years=[[1906 Minnesota lieutenant gubernatorial election|1906]], [[1908 Minnesota lieutenant gubernatorial election|1908]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Samuel Y. Gordon]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jacob F. Jacobson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[Governor of Minnesota]]|years=[[1910 Minnesota gubernatorial election|1910]], [[1912 Minnesota gubernatorial election|1912]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William E. Lee]]}}  
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|before=[[Ray W. Jones]]
|title=[[List of Lieutenant Governors of Minnesota|Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota]]
|years=1907&nbsp;– 1909
|after=[[Edward Everett Smith]]
}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Governors of Minnesota|Governor of Minnesota]]|years=1909&nbsp;– 1915|before=[[John Albert Johnson]]|after=[[Winfield Scott Hammond]]}} 
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Minnesota}}
{{MNLieutenantGovernors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eberhart, Adolph Olson}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:Republican Party governors of Minnesota]]
[[Category:Republican Party Minnesota state senators]]
[[Category:American Lutherans]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Minnesota]]
[[Category:Gustavus Adolphus College alumni]]
[[Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:People from Kil Municipality]]
[[Category:People from St. Peter, Minnesota]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature]]