Nelson G. Kraschel

Nelson George Kraschel (October 27, 1889 – March 15, 1957) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 27th governor of Iowa from 1937 to 1939.

Early life

He was born on a farm near Macon, Illinois, in 1889, the son of Fred K. Kraschel and Nancy Jane (Poe) Kraschel. He ran against Republican Julius A. Nelson. Murphy won over 51,000 votes while Kraschel won only just over 18,000 votes. He was the 27th governor of Iowa from 1937 to 1939.

In 1942, he made another, and final, unsuccessful bid for governor.

Maytag Strike

On July 21, 1938, Kraschel sent the Iowa National Guard to assist at the Maytag Plant in Newton, Iowa, to resolve a labor strike. He declared martial law, saying it was "only for the benefit of the public". The national guard also had sharpshooters on rooftops to help, armed with "bayoneted rifles, tommy submachine guns, tear gas weapons, and automatic pistols". and his other son, Sergeant James Kraschel, died at Okinawa, Japan in a plane crash in September 1945. They had a third son, Major Frederick Kraschel, who served and survived World War II, dying in 2000.

Kraschel died in Harlan, Iowa of a heart attack, in 1957 and he was buried in the Harlan Cemetery in Harlan, Iowa. His wife, Agnes, died in 1983, aged 97, in Harlan, and was buried next to her husband and sons.