US Congressman, North Dakota Governor. He was born to Norwegian emigrant Soren Jorgen "Samuel" Aandahl and his American-born wife Mamie C. Lawry Aandahl in Litchville, North Dakota, the eldest of two sons. The family later moved to Kingsbury, California, where they owned and operated a five-acre fruit farm before moving back to Litchville, North Dakota, where the family constructed a farmhouse on 960 acres of land and engaged in diversified agriculture for a number of years. He was educated locally and attended the Model High School in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1917, where he won a position on the debating team and gained widespread campus recognition, and the Litchville High School in Litchville, North Dakota, where he later graduated. He later attended the prestigious University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (or BA) in Law and History in 1921. He was also a member of the Delta Sigma Rho and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He then returned to farming and went into a partnership with his father which lasted until his father's death in 1922. He also worked as a teacher for five years, a principal at the Svea Township Consolidated School, and as the Superintendent of Schools in Litchville, North Dakota, beginning in 1922. He married Luella Brekke in Forman, North Dakota, on June 28, 1926, and the couple would have three daughters together. He finished out his job as Superintendent of Schools in Litchville, North Dakota, in 1927. During this time he and his wife owned and operated the Aandahl Livestock and Grain Farm and he served on the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) Boards by supplementing his income. He then became interested in politics. He became a Member of the North Dakota State Senate and served in that position in 1931, 1939, and again in 1941. He next secured the Republican Gubernatorial Nomination and was elected the Governor of North Dakota in the General Election in 1944. He then went onto win reelection to a second term in 1946, and a third term in 1948, serving in that position from January 4, 1945, to January 3, 1951. During his tenure as the Governor of North Dakota, he made sure conservation programs were promoted and that the State of North Dakota's natural resources were protected. The state benefited from wartime prosperity and adequate rainfall. He was also one of the first officials to see the possibilities of desalting and using seawater, utilizing the Office of Saline Water for this purpose. He also concerned himself with agricultural matters, implementing federal farm legislation, improving relations between farmers and businessmen, and seeking new ways to finance public education. He was the leader of the Republican Organizing Committee (or ROC) a conservative faction within the Republican Party, and a staunch supporter of the Rural Electrification Administration and Garrison Diversion. He also sponsored the State School equalization fund. After his term in the office of Governor of North Dakota was finished he was succeeded in office by Clarence Norman Brunsdale on January 3, 1951. He then ran for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Republican Party, he served North Dakota as At-Large (Eighty-Second Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from 1951 to 1953. He was not a Candidate for the Eighty-Third Congress in 1952, but was an unsuccessful Candidate for the United States Senate, losing 58%-42% to incumbent William Langer in the Republican Primary. He then ran in the General Election against William Langer and Democrat Harold A. Morrison and finished in third place and 10% of the vote. While serving in the United States Congress he had voted to cut appropriations to the Tennessee Valley Authority and favoured state control of offshore oil drilling and advocated granting private companies a larger role in distributing power from government-built projects. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Oscar Krueger on January 3, 1953. He was then appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior in a position he served from 1953 to 1961. He then retired from public service shortly thereafter. On December 2, 1965, he underwent surgery for a cancerous brain tumour at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He passed away from cancer at his farm in Fargo, North Dakota, on April 7, 1966, two days before what would have been his 69th birthday. His funeral was held at the Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Valley City, North Dakota, on April 11, 1966, and he was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Valley City, North Dakota. His wife Luella passed away on January 29, 1993, at the age of 90, and she was buried beside him, as are his daughters Margaret who passed away in 1968 and Louise who passed away in 2014. At the time of his passing one of many colleagues said "Fred Aandahl was a kind and sincere person, always humble even in the light of his many achievements. His life was one of serving his fellowmen." "In recent years, his leadership on the legislature research constitutional revision committee was outstanding." "I mourn Governor Aandahl's death as the passing of a good friend."