Quick Facts
Biography
Byron Gilchrist Allen (September 13, 1901 - June 10, 1988) was a Minnesota and Iowa politician who was the first nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party for governor.
Born in Laurens, Iowa, Allen was a newspaper editor by trade, and served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1927 to 1932. He unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa in 1940.
In 1944, Allen was the first nominee for governor of Minnesota's newly formed Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, a merger of the state's Democratic and Farmer–Labor parties. He lost to incumbent Republican governor Edward John Thye.
Allen later served as Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture from 1955 to 1961 under Governor Orville Freeman, and as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969, also under Freeman, who was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President John F. Kennedy.
Allen was married to Elsa Ellanora Erickson.