Born in 1895 in Appleton, Minnesota, he studied law at William Mitchell College of Law and served for a year in the U.S. Army during World War I. Benson never practiced law after returning from active duty, choosing instead to pursue a banking and business career.
Olson's ally
He was a close ally of Governor Floyd B. Olson, another member of the Farmer-Labor Party, who helped orchestrate Benson's political rise. Olson appointed Benson state Commissioner of Securities before choosing him to replace Thomas D. Schall in the United States Senate after Schall's death in December 1935. Benson served in the 74th congress, until November 3, 1936.
After Olson's premature death from cancer in 1936 and the interregnum of Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen, Benson stepped into the breach and was elected the 24th Governor of Minnesota by the largest margin in state history. He served as the 24th Governor of Minnesota from January 4, 1937, to January 2, 1939. He lost his bid for reelection in 1938. His defeat by a record margin in 1938 is seen as the end of the Farmer-Labor Party as an independent political force, and a setback for progressive politics in Minnesota. In 1940, he ran for the United States Senate against Henrik Shipstead, an incumbent senator who defected from the Farmer Labor Party to join the Republicans. Benson took second place, receiving 25% of the vote, in a race that also involved a Democrat, while Shipstead was reelected. He ran for the Senate for the last time in 1942, and was defeated by Republican Joseph H. Ball in a four-way race.
Benson was also the chief figure behind a schism within the DFL Party in Minnesota between 1946 and 1948. The DFL had been created in 1944 with the merging of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party. Benson and his supporters actively took control of the party's main committee in 1946, but were displaced by the supporters of Hubert H. Humphrey two years later in 1948. The influence of Humphrey and his supporters had grown significantly within the party between 1946 and 1948 due to Humphrey's popularity and his work through the ADA, the state farm co-ops, and support from the national arm of the CIO. Humphrey's group of supporters - which included such future DFL political stars as Arthur Naftalin, Orville Freeman, and Walter Mondale - wrested control of the DFL Party from Benson's supporters in a party convention held in February 1948. Humphrey's later successful Senate campaign signaled a significant victory for his faction within the fledgling DFL Party and the defeat of Benson's candidates in the DFL primaries. This schism in 1948 eventually led to the defeated Benson and his supporters permanently exiting the DFL Party.
