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"Carl Rivinius vs. John Fast:
A Claim Contest Overshadowed by Machine Politics."
January 12, 2008
Presented by Jim Gessele
While researching hometown county newspapers for a recent writing project, James Gessele unearthed an intriguing 1906 account of an immigrant farmers pending loss of homestead through procedural contest. Digging deeper, he discovered the contest was only one facet of a larger storm to hit McLean County, North Dakota, in a year the state put it's newly enacted local primary election law to the test. We heard about Alexander McKenzie's machine politics death grip on the North Dakota scene and the insurgency that arose against bossism. We learned how German-Russians were both players and pawns in the battle and that they were not quite as apolitical as we have assumed.
Jim Gessele is a longtime North Star Chapter member, most recently serving as Chapter President. A former German Language teacher, Gessele has translated many scholarly articles. He is past editor of the GRHS Heritage Review and has researched and written extensively for historical publications. Most notable among his projects is the translation of the memoir of Magdalina Hecker from the Black Sea village of Munchen that became "THOUGH, MY SOUL MORE BENT, Memoir of a Soviet German."
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