The Sixty-First Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 11, 1933, to July 25, 1933, in regular session, and reconvened in a special session from December 11, 1933, to February 3, 1934.[1]
This was the first legislative term after the redistricting of the Senate and Assembly according to an act of the previous session—although there are barely any changes from the previous map. This was also the first legislative term since 1893–1894 in which the Democratic Party of Wisconsin held a majority of one of the chambers. This session also coincided with the formal schism of the Wisconsin Progressive Party from the Republican Party of Wisconsin. It was the beginning of a major political realignment in the state.
Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 8, 1932. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 4, 1930.[1]
January 23, 1933: The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, moving the start of the congressional terms from March to January and moving the presidentual inauguration to January 20, was ratified by the requisite number of states to come into force.
April 5, 1933: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps by executive order, utilizing the recently passed Emergency Conservation Work Act.
May 27, 1933: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Securities Act of 1933, establishing critical new regulation of securities trading.
June 21, 1933: The Nazi government in Germany outlawed all other political parties.
October 10, 1933: A bomb destroyed United Air Lines Trip 23 in air near Chesterton, Indiana. It was the first proven case of sabotage in civil aviation, no perpetrator was ever identified.
October 14, 1933: Nazi Germany announced it would withdraw from the League of Nations.
October 17, 1933: Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
November 16, 1933: The United States and the Soviet Union established formal diplomatic relations.
December 5, 1933: The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, repealing the language allowing prohibition of alcohol, was ratified by the requisite number of states to come into force.
January 30, 1934: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Gold Reserve Act, nationalizing the gold supply in order to stabilize currency value.
April 15, 1934: Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Walter C. Owen died in office.
August 2, 1934: German president Paul von Hindenburg died of lung cancer. Due to a law passed the previous day, the office of president was abolished and its powers passed to the chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, under the new title Führer und Reichskanzler.
Wisconsin voters ratified an amendment to the state constitution making technical changes to the section on suffrage, eliminating references to gender.
November 15, 1934: Wisconsin governor Albert G. Schmedeman appointed Theodore G. Lewis to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to succeed the deceased justice Walter C. Owen.
November 20, 1934: Retired U.S. Marine Corps general Smedley Butler revealed to Congress a conspiracy of several wealthy businessmen to initiate a fascist coup in the United States.
December 5, 1934: Recently appointed Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Theodore G. Lewis died in office.
December 31, 1934: Wisconsin governor Albert G. Schmedeman appointed Joseph Martin to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to succeed the deceased justice Theodore G. Lewis.
Major legislation
January 28, 1933: Joint Resolution ratifying an amendment to the Constitution of the United States fixing the commencement of the terms of President and Vice President and Members of Congress and fixing the time of the assembling of Congress, 1933 Joint Resolution 5. Wisconsin's ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
May 4, 1933: Joint Resolution to amend section 11 of article XIII of the constitution relating to free passes, 1933 Joint Resolution 63. First legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to create exceptions to the prohibition on free passes for candidates where they are earning less than $300 of income and would otherwise receive such passes from their employer. This amendment was eventually ratified by voters at the November 1936 election.
June 8, 1933: Joint Resolution to amend section 1 of Article III of the constitution, relating to suffrage, to eliminate obsolete provisions and to submit this amendment to a vote of the people at the general election in November 1934, 1933 Joint Resolution 76. Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to make technical fixes to the section on suffrage, eliminating references to gender. This amendment was ratified by voters at the November 1934 election.
