[1] Floyd B. Olson was born on the north side of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the only child of a Norwegian father, Paul Olsen, and a Swedish mother, Ida Maria (Nilsdotter).

Heading west, Olson worked a series of odd jobs in Canada and Alaska before settling briefly in Seattle, Washington, where he became a stevedore and joined the Industrial Workers of the World.

During that period, he made his first foray into politics when he helped form the Committee of 48, an organization that attempted to draft Senator Robert M. La Follette to run for president on a third-party ticket.

Olson's vigorous pursuit of the Citizens Alliance made him a hero to the local labor movement, which encouraged him to run for the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party's gubernatorial nomination in 1924.

Having secured the endorsement of the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Central Committee, Olson narrowly won the nomination in a bitterly fought primary.

Forming a coalition of farmers, organized labor, and small businessmen, Olson swept to a landslide victory in the election, receiving 59% of the vote in a four-way race and winning 82 of the state's 87 counties.

[citation needed] Nevertheless, Olson soon proved himself skilled at the art of politics and managed to fulfill the vast majority of his campaign promises.

During his three terms as governor, Olson proposed, and the legislature passed, bills that instituted a progressive income tax, created a social security program for the elderly, expanded the state's environmental conservation programs, guaranteed equal pay for women and the right to collective bargaining, and instituted a minimum wage and a system of unemployment insurance.

If the Senate does not make provision for the sufferers in the State and the Federal Government refuses to aid, I shall invoke the powers I hold and shall declare martial law. ...

A lot of people who are now fighting [relief] measures because they happen to possess considerable wealth will be brought in by provost guard and be obliged to give up more than they would now.

The violence ebbed and flowed for the next two months until Governor Olson declared martial law on July 26, and mobilized 4,000 National Guardsmen under the command of Adjutant General Ellard A. Walsh.

Roosevelt was building the New Deal coalition and wanted the solid base Olson could promise in Minnesota, where the Democrats were a weak third party.

Thus reassured of his "good health", Olson proceeded to further weaken himself by not only resuming his duties as governor but also beginning to organize his party's state convention and returning to his senatorial campaign.

A proposal by the Taxpayers League in late 2004 to rename the highway after the recently deceased President Ronald Reagan met with widespread public condemnation and was soon abandoned.