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NELSON GEORGE KRASCHEL, Iowa's twenty-seventh governor, was born in Macon, Illinois on October 27, 1889. His education was limited and attained in the public school system of Illinois. In 1910, he moved to Iowa, and settled in Harlan, where he established careers as a farmer and a livestock auctioneer. Kraschel entered politics in 1932, serving as lieutenant governor of Iowa, an office he held for four years. He won the 1936 Democratic gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 14, 1937. During his tenure, a new social welfare board was instituted; a farm to market road bill was vetoed; and a strike at a Maytag factory was negotiated. After running unsuccessfully for reelection, Kraschel left office on January 12, 1939. He made one more run for the governor's office in 1942, but was defeated. He served as an agent for the Farm Credit Administration from 1943 to 1949, and then retired to his farm in Harlan. Governor Nelson G. Kraschel died on March 15, 1957.

Sources:

The Political Graveyard

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

University of Iowa: Papers of Nelson G. Kraschel, 1932-1950