27th Governor of Minnesota. He was born one of eight children (his sister Bothilda Selma was born in 1886. his sister Nora Louis was born in 1888, his sister Mabel was born in 1890, his brother Oscar Ferdinand was born in 1893, his brother Benjamin Emmanuel was born in 1897, his sister Myrtle V. was born in 1899, and his brother Reuben K. was born in 1911) to Swedish immigrants Jöns Carlsson Ljungdahl (later John Youngdahl) and Emma Oliva Persdotter Ljungdahl (later Emma Youngdahl) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was educated at local common public schools, and high schools. At the outbreak of the First World War, he put his education on hold to fight for his country. He served with the rank of Second Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War I from October 30, 1918, to December 17, 1918. Following the war, he resumed his education and attended the prestigious Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he graduated with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1919. He also attended the Minnesota College of Law (later the Mitchell Hamline School of Law) in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he graduated his Bachelor of Laws Degree in 1921. Following his education, he decided to enter public service and he was named the Assistant City Attorney for Minneapolis, Minnesota, and served in that position from 1921 to 1924. On June 23, 1923, he married Irene Anne Engdahl and the couple had at least two children including (Luther William Andrew Youngdahl who was born in 1927 and Paul David Youngdahl who was born in 1929). He then began his private practice of law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1924 to 1930. He also served as Judge of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Municipal Court from 1930 to 1936, Judge of the Minnesota District Court for the Fourth Judicial District from 1936 to 1942, and as an Association Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1942 to 1946. A Member of the Republican Party, he then decided to run for the office of the Governor of Minnesota and was elected. He replaced the outgoing Governor of Minnesota Edward John Thye, and served as the 27th Governor of Minnesota from January 8, 1947, to September 27, 1951. During this time, he also served as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention from Minnesota in 1948. After his term as the Governor of Minnesota expired on September 27, 1951, he was replaced in office by the incoming Governor of Minnesota Clyde Elmer Anderson. On July 6, 1951, while serving as the Governor of Minnesota he was personally chosen by then-President Harry S. Truman for a seat as a Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia which was vacated by the outgoing Judge Thomas Alan Goldsborough. He was then confirmed to this post by the United States Senate on August 28, 1951, and received his commission the following day on August 29, 1951. He served in that position from August 29, 1951, to May 29, 1966, when he assumed senior status. He lastly served as a Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from May 29, 1966, to June 21, 1978. While serving as a Federal District Court Judge, he earned national fame for his court rulings against the United States Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. He also achieved notoriety when he dismissed unconstitutional key parts of the United States Government's case against the author, educator, and scholar Owen J. Lattimore, the prime target of the anti-Communist campaign of United States Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in 1952. On his ruling in the case against Owen J. Lattimore, he said, "When public excitement runs high as to alien ideologies is the time when we must be particularly alert not to impair the ancient landmarks set up in the Bill of Rights." He passed away from cancer on June 21, 1978, at the age of 82, while still in office and due to this, his service was terminated. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. His wife Irene passed away on November 25, 1992, at the age of 96, and she was interred with her husband. His brother Reuben Youngdahl later joined the ministry and he became Senior Pastor of the Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and later a world traveler.