Frederick Rudolph Zimmerman (November 20, 1880December 14, 1954) was a German American public administrator and Republican politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as the 25th governor of Wisconsin (1927–1929), but was defeated in the 1928 Republican primary, trying to straddle both sides in the decades-long intra-party struggle between progressive and stalwart Republicans. Before and after serving as governor, Zimmerman also served as Wisconsin Secretary of State—serving a total of eighteen years in that office (1923–1927; 1939–1954). He also served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

His son, Robert C. Zimmerman, also served as Wisconsin Secretary of State from 1957 until 1975.

Background and early career Zimmerman was born in Milwaukee, son of Charles E. Zimmerman and Augusta Fiesenhauser Zimmerman. He was a grandson of German-American Forty-Eighters. His father was born in New York state and came to Milwaukee in 1875. His mother was born in Wisconsin of parents who were natives of Stuttgart. Zimmerman's father, a molder, died when he was 5 and at an early age he began contributing to the support of his family by selling newspapers. After completing grammar school, he attended night school briefly, and held various jobs until he was 22, when he started the Bee Hive Dairy, distributing milk to Milwaukee residents. He left this job, after his marriage, to take a position as a traveling salesman with the Pfister & Vogel Leather Company, and also worked as a bookkeeper for a Milwaukee lumber firm.

Elective office

Legislature Zimmerman was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly by six votes in 1908 in a three-way race, receiving 1703 votes on the Republican ticket to 1697 for Democrat Harry R. McLogan, and 1159 for Socialist Gilbert H. Poor, to represent the 8th Milwaukee County district (8th and 23d wards of the City of Milwaukee).Beck, J. D., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1909; pp. 529, 1130. He was an active member of the Progressive faction of his party, but served only one term (1909–1910), losing the 1910 election in a four-way contest to Socialist James H. Vint with 1521 votes, to 1501 for Zimmerman, 143 for McLogan, and 12 for Prohibitionist William H. Trout.Beck, J. D., Ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1911; p. 347

Secretary of State In 1922, Zimmerman (by then an industrial relations manager for Nash Motors) had moved to the Town of Lake and served two years on the Town Board. He received the Republican nomination and election as Wisconsin Secretary of State in 1922 (with 77.7% of the vote in a four-way race)The Wisconsin blue book, 1923 Madison: The State Printing Board, 1923; pp. 567, 603 and re-election in 1924 in a five-way race, earning a then-record 509,771 votes statewide.Holmes, Fred L., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1925; Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1925; pp. 484, 566, 640-641 During this period he remained closely identified with the Progressive faction of the Republican Party.

Governor When the Progressives refused to endorse him in the gubernatorial election in 1926 (because of his failure to support the 1924 presidential candidacy of Robert M. La Follette Sr.),"POLITICAL NOTES: In Wisconsin", Time Sept. 6, 1926 Zimmerman ran in the Republican primary election as an "independent" against both Progressive (Herman Ekern) and Stalwart (Charles B. Perry) candidates, as well as another "independent". Zimmerman won the Republican nomination and was elected by an absolute majority, outpolling Perry (who came in second, running as an independent), as well as the Democratic, Socialist, Prohibitionist and Socialist Labor candidates combined, with 350,927 votes out of 552,921.Holmes, Fred L., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1927. Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1927; pp. 494, 573. In 1928 he was defeated for re-nomination, running a poor third to Stalwart Walter J. Kohler Sr., and Progressive Congressman Joseph D. Beck.Anderson, William J.; Anderson, William A., eds. The Wisconsin blue book, 1929 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1929; p. 736

Thereafter he went into a political decline for several years, briefly holding a position in the Beverage Tax Commission in 1936.

Secretary of State once more Zimmerman was nominated and elected Secretary of State on the Republican ticket in 1938 and served until his death, polling a larger vote at each subsequent election and in 1952 again received the highest total ever given any candidate for any office in the state.

Private life Zimmerman was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1916, 1920, 1924, 1940, and 1944. He was attacked as a member of America First, but he denied membership therein, although he generally followed isolationist positions. He died in Milwaukee in 1954 just after again winning re-election as Secretary of State.

Electoral history Wisconsin Assembly (1908, 1910) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1908 General Republican 1,703 37.35% Dem. 1,697 37.22% 4,559 6 Soc.D. 1,159 25.42% 1910 General 1,521 47.88% Rep. 1,501 47.25% 3,177 20 Dem. 143 4.50% Proh. 12 0.38%

Wisconsin Secretary of State (1922, 1924) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1922 Primary Republican 282,913 62.47% Rep. 169,984 37.53% 452,897 112,929 General Republican 353,596 77.71% Soc. 41,975 9.22% 455,046 311,621 Ind.D. 40,388 8.88% Proh. 19,000 4.18% 1924 Primary Republican 226,476 58.55% Rep. 70,379 18.19% 386,835 156,097 Rep. 45,60511.79% Rep. 44,375 11.47% General Republican 509,771 68.04% Dem. 174,769 23.33% 749,249 335,002 Soc. 46,606 6.22% S.Lab. 10,100 1.35% Proh. 7,962 1.06%

Wisconsin Governor (1926, 1928) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1926 Primary Republican 215,546 46.77% Rep. 178,252 38.68% 460,842 37,294 Rep. 41,856 9.08% Rep. 25,188 5.47% General Republican 350,927 63.47% Ind. 76,507 13.84% 552,912 274,420 Dem. 72,627 13.14% Soc. 40,293 7.29% Proh. 7,333 1.33% S.Lab. 4,593 0.83% 1928 Primary Republican 224,421 43.66% Rep. 203,359 39.56% 514,065 21,062 Rep. 82,837 16.11% Rep. 3,448 0.67%

Wisconsin Secretary of State (1938–1954) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1938 Primary Republican 152,475 74.22% Rep. 31,326 15.25% 205,423 121,149 Rep. 21,622 10.53% General Republican 421,044 44.79% Prog. 391,150 41.61% 939,986 29,894 Dem. 120,221 12.79% Union 6,185 0.66% S.Lab. 1,380 0.15% 1940 Primary Republican 272,467 76.84% Rep. 82,100 23.16% 354,567 190,367 General Republican 712,267 55.74% Prog. 332,505 26.02% 1,277,763 379,762 Dem. 230,433 18.03% S.Lab. 2,386 0.19% 1942 General Republican 434,979 58.01% Prog. 196,287 26.18% 749,861 238,692 Dem. 107,535 14.34% Soc. 9,434 1.26% S.Lab. 1,290 0.17% 1944 General Republican 776,430 63.38% Dem. 421,944 34.44% 1,225,061 354,486 Soc. 13,898 1.13% Ind. 12,681 1.04% 1946 General Republican 681,659 68.04% Dem. 307,591 30.70% 1,001,921 374,068 Soc. 12,580 1.26% 1948 Primary Republican 329,018 73.62% Rep. 78,630 17.59% 446,937 250,388 Rep. 39,289 8.79% General Republican 705,040 57.32% Dem. 500,589 40.70% 1,229,960 204,451 Prog. 12,777 1.04% Soc. 11,548 0.94% 1950 General Republican 689,356 62.36% Dem. 408,790 36.98% 1,105,515 280,566 Prog. 3,705 0.34% Soc. 3,658 0.33% 1952 Primary Republican 483,505 66.06% Rep. 230,528 32.29% 714,033 252,977 General Republican 1,039,317 66.06% Dem. 534,017 33.94% 1,573,395 505,300 1954 Primary Republican 208,579 58.60% Rep. 147,341 41.40% 355,920 61,238 General Republican 631,034 55.65% Dem. 502,910 44.35% 1,133,944 128,124

Wisconsin Supreme Court (1945) Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1945 General Nonpartisan 220,145 57.75% Non. 138,756 36.40% 381,192 81,389 Non. 22,271 5.84%

Notes

References

Further reading "Former Governors of Wisconsin, 1848-1960: Fred R. Zimmerman" in Toepel, M. G.; Kuehn, Hazel L., eds. The Wisconsin blue book, 1960 Madison: State of Wisconsin, 1960; pp. 167-170.