Edward Thye was bom 26 April 1896 in Frederick, South Dakota to Bertha (Wangan) and Andrew J. Thye. A few years later the family moved to a farm near Northfield, Miimesota. Thye attended public schools at Northfield. Later, he received a law degree from Carroll College. During World War I, Thye served in the Air Corps. From 1919- 1922, he was a salesman for Deers and Webber. In 1922, he acquired a farm near Northfield and engaged in extensive farming operations.

Thye, a Republican, had a long public career, beginning as Mirmesota deputy commissioner of agriculture. He was elected lieutenant govemor in 1942, succeeding to the govemorship in April 1943 when Harold Stassen resigned. In 1944, he was elected Govemor and subsequently served two terms (1947-1959) as a United States Senator from Minnesota. Defeated in this bid for a third term in the Senate, Thye retumed to his Northfield farm where he died on 27 August 1969.

Information obtained from Who's Who in Minnesota, Centennial Edition, 1958, 80; Congressional Directory 85^ Congress, 2^^ Session. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1958; and the Minneapolis Tribune, 29 August 1969.