Remembering the "Minnesota Miracle"

Fifty years ago this month, then-DFL Governor Wendell Anderson worked with the conservative-controlled Minnesota Legislature to pass significant fiscal policies that transformed the state’s educational system. Though the process required the longest special session in the state’s history, the bipartisan effort and the commitment to economic and social equality became known as the “Minnesota Miracle.” We take a look at this monumental time in Minnesota’s history and revisit the iconic 1973 Time magazine cover where Minnesota became nationally known as “the state that works.” In today’s bitterly partisan political atmosphere, one wonders if a similar miracle could possibly come together again. On this episode of Dialogue Minnesota, we discuss Governor Wendell Anderson’s legacy, the Minnesota Miracle and what has happened to the miracle in the ensuing decades. Our guest is Tom Berg, a Minneapolis attorney who served as a state legislator from 1971 through 1978. He is the author of the book Minnesota’s Miracle: Learning From the Government That Worked. We spoke with him in 2016 shortly after the book was published.