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Leland S. McParland (December 18, 1896 – December 10, 1989) was a Wisconsin Democratic attorney and politician. He served in the Wisconsin Legislature from 1941 to 1970.[1]
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Born in Thorp, Wisconsin on December 18, 1896, he attended Thorp public schools, then studied at the then-Oshkosh State College for two years. After service in the United States Navy during World War I, he worked as a teacher in South Milwaukee from 1920 to 1927 while he studied law at Marquette University, becoming a practicing lawyer in 1927.
He was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1940 as a Democrat, representing Milwaukee County's southern suburbs. He served as the floor leader for the Democrats in the 1945-1950 sessions. He was first elected to the Senate in 1954, and was reelected in 1958, 1962, and 1966.[2] In 1970 he was unseated in the Democratic primary by Kurt Frank in a four-way race which included John Plewa, himself later to succeed Frank as senator from this district.[3]
Oak Creek Law
It was in part due to McParlan's strategic place in the Senate that the "Oak Creek Law" was passed in 1955, enabling semi-rural Oak Creek, part of his district, to incorporate as a city, thus frustrating annexation by the City of Milwaukee.[4]
Student demonstrations in Madison
When student demonstrators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison took over campus in 1967 in protest over the presence of Dow Chemical, manufacturers of napalm, McParland pronounced, "We should shoot them if necessary. I would, I would, because it's insurrection."[5]
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