Resilience and writing history: The first woman lieutenant governor of Minnesota

Marlene M. Johnson’s memoir is an essential record of the ascension of women in American politics. In Rise to the Challenge: A Memoir of Politics, Leadership, and Love, Johnson chronicles her life of learning and leadership in activism, entrepreneurship, politics, and public service, weaving professional play-by-plays with candidness about navigating personal loss. Here, Johnson is joined in conversation with Lori Sturdevant and Elisabeth (Betsy) Griffith.

Marlene M. Johnson was Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor, serving in Governor Rudy Perpich’s administration from 1983 until 1991. She is cofounder of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Minnesota Women’s Campaign Fund and was executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators for nearly two decades. She is on the advisory board of Kakenya’s Dream, a board member of the Washington Office on Latin America, and a trustee of The Alexandria Trust. She lives in Washington, DC.

Lori Sturdevant is a retired Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist who has written about Minnesota government and politics since 1978.

Elisabeth Griffith is an American historian, educator, and activist. She is author of Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920–2020 and In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

OTHER WORKS REFERENCED:
Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief / Pauline Boss

Turnout: Making Minnesota the State That Votes / Joan Anderson Growe with Lori Sturdevant

Loving Someone who has Dementia / Pauline Boss

Praise for Rise to the Challenge:

“Marlene M. Johnson wasn’t just the first woman to be Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor. She was also the first Lieutenant Governor to have a specific policy portfolio. She had access and influence in ways that laid the groundwork for me and others to follow. Marlene is of a class of women who made important strides in DFL politics, and I'm grateful for her place in Minnesota's history and for this book that tells that story”.

—Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan

“An essential document of the midcentury rise of women into American politics. In this memoir of a remarkable public life, Marlene M. Johnson braids a love story tragically turned into caregiving and the domestic devotion of guardian and advocate. She proves that faithfulness in love and commitment to the betterment of the world are not opposites after all.”

—Patricia Hampl, author of The Art of the Wasted Day

“In the dynamic mid-twentieth-century women’s movement, Marlene M. Johnson stood out and stood up with clarity of vision and purpose. Her multiple public service initiatives propelled her to a national presence and then into international education leadership.”

—Judge Harriet Lansing, retired, Minnesota Court of Appeals

“An important read for aspiring public servants, male or female.”

—J. Brian Atwood, former administrator, US Agency for International Development