U.S. Congressman. He served in the United States House of Representatives from the 5th District of Minnesota from January 3, 1963 to January 3, 1979. He also served as the 44th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota from January 2, 1980 to January 3, 1994. He attended the University of Minnesota and earned his B.A. degree in 1944. While at the University of Minnesota, he was a part of their Naval R.O.T.C. program and later served in the Pacific theater during the latter part of the Second World War. After the war, he went back to the University of Minnesota and earned his law degree in 1948. He was admitted to the bar that same year and started a law practice in Minneapolis. He would continue his law practice until 1962 when he was elected to Congress. In 1954, he was elected to the Minnesota State Senate and served in this legislative body until 1962, when he decided to run, as a Democrat, against nine-term incumbent Republican Rep. Walter Judd. He was successful in the general election in November of 1962 and went on to serve the 5th District of Minnesota for eight terms before giving up his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate in 1978. During his House tenure, his main interests were in the areas of foreign relations and human rights. Also during his House tenure, he served as both the chairman of the Americans for Democratic Action and as a chairman of the committee to write new rules on how the Democratic Party selected their presidential candidate. In 1979, he ran for the position of mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota and was successful in the November general election. He served in this post for fourteen years until stepping down in 1994. After leaving office, he was both a consultant to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and a Institute of Politics Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.