Victor Christgau, Director of MN WPA

Victor Christgau is worth a biography of his own. Suffice it to say, Christgau was a formidable political force before the Great Depression in Minnesota, during the Great Depression and afterwards. His family gave boxes and boxes of his papers to the State Historical Society, a resource historians have underused. In his papers are transcripts of phone calls - which I do not know how he pulled off. This is where I found the congratutory phone call to the Benson Golf Course chief promoter.

He should be credited with saving hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans lives and careers. He directed the WPA in Minnesota when it didn't have any workers to its maximum of 62,000 men and women being gainfully employed.

He was fired by the President of the United States. Pure politics as far as I can tell. But, I found in his papers, the original letter telling him he was terminated. See blow.

This collection has additional information about how busy this man was to Minnesota.