John T. Clawson Papers

John T. Clawson, Minnesota state legislator from District 19A  (1975-1980) and District 19B (1981-1984), was born August 7, 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His family, of Danish lineage from the Lincoln Co-Tyler area, moved around Minnesota until settling in Bloomington, Minnesota. His great-grandfather, J. T. Clawson, was elected Superintendent of Schools in Lincoln Co. around the turn of the century. His paternal grandfather was appointed as the Minnesota House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms in the mid 1950's by Senator Joseph Vonheim of Tyler, Minnesota.

After finishing at Bloomington High School in 1963, Clawson attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, majoring in Latin and Greek. He graduated in 1967, and began attending Northwestern Theological Seminary in St. Paul. Upon graduation in 1971, Clawson accepted a "two-point" parish in Harris, Minnesota, which included the First Lutheran of Harris and Calvary Lutheran in Stanchfield, and served in this capacity until 1974. In 1974 he was also hired as pastoral consultant to Hazelden, a rehabilitation center in Center City, Minnesota.

Clawson's interest in politics had its roots in his early appreciation of history and world affairs, as well as college activism at the seminary in the late 1960's. Labelling himself both Conservative and Republican, he attended his first Republican Caucus in 1972. Upon sensing the local party to be more "reactionary ideologues" than they were politically conservative, Clawson caucused with the DFL party in 1974. Clawson endorsed and won the 1974 state representative race over incumbent Republican Mike Olmstead with a 52% of the vote. In the Minnesota House he was appointed to the Judiciary, Local and Urban Affairs, and the Health and Welfare Committees. One of the major pieces of legislation he co-authored involved the reorganization of the Minnesota court system. Clawson won as the incumbent in 1976, and became involved in the House Orientation Committee and in creating the Department of Economic Security. Clawson was re-elected in 1978, 1980, and 1982.

Clawson was married to Susan Luetje from Red Wing in 1968. They had two daughters together, Jennifer and Amanda. He was remarried around 1987 to Christine Halvorson, and then again around 1999 to Annette Roth.