The Sixty-Ninth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 12, 1949, to September 13, 1949, in regular session.[1]
This session saw the first legislative terms of Gaylord Nelson, Patrick Lucey, Ruth Bachhuber Doyle, and Robert T. Huber, all of whom would—over the course of the subsequent two decades—play important roles in the transition of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin from a permanent minority party to competitive status with the state Republican Party, by winning over many former Wisconsin Progressive Party voters.
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 2, 1948. 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 5, 1946.[1]
April 4, 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty was signed by representatives of twelve countries, including the United States, establishing the NATO defensive alliance.
Wisconsin voters ratified an amendment to the state constitution to allow the state to take on debt to pay for veterans' housing.
Wisconsin voters rejected an amendment to the state constitution to repeal the prohibition on taxing federal lands.
June 19, 1949: Wisconsin Supreme Court justice John D. Wickhem died in office.
August 29, 1949: The Soviet Union held their first succerssful atomic bomb test.
July 14, 1949: Wisconsin Governor Oscar Rennebohm appointed Timothy Brown to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, to succeed the deceased justice John D. Wickhem.
August 11, 1949: An Act ... relating to discontinuing the Wisconsin veterans' authority and transferring its functions to the department of veterans' affairs, a veterans' housing trust fund, veterans' housing loans, incentive grants for veterans' housing and making appropriations, 1949 Act 627. Utilized the recently ratified amendment to the state constitution to create new veterans programs.
1949 Joint Resolution 1: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to enable the state to take on debt to pay for veterans' housing. This amendment was ratified by voters at the April 1949 election.
1949 Joint Resolution 2: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to repeal a portion of the constitution which had prohibited taxing land owned by the federal government. This amendment was rejected by voters at the April 1949 election. But the same amendment was later ratified in 1951.
