Born in West St. Paul , Minnesota , Stassen was elected as the district attorney of Dakota County , Minnesota after graduating from the University of Minnesota . He won election as Governor of Minnesota in 1938 . Stassen was then and remains the youngest person elected to that office . He gave the keynote address at the 1940 Republican National Convention . He resigned as governor to serve in the United States Navy during World War II , becoming an aide to Admiral William Halsey Jr . After the war , he became president of the University of Pennsylvania , holding that office from 1948 to 1953 . Stassen sought the presidential nomination at the 1948 Republican National Convention , winning a significant share of the delegates on the first two ballots of the convention . During the Republican primaries preceding the convention , he engaged in the Dewey – Stassen debate , the first recorded debate between presidential candidates
1940 Republican National Convention
1940 Republican National Convention
Harold Stassen