[1] Youngquist was born near Gothenburg, Sweden, and moved to the United States as a small child with his family.

Following graduation, he entered into partnership with Charles Loring, a future Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In February 1928, he was appointed Minnesota Attorney General by Governor Theodore Christianson to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Albert F.

Instead, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell convinced Youngquist to accept a position at the Department of Justice, where he was charged with enforcing national prohibition laws of the Volstead Act.

[5] He remained there until 1933, having argued between sixty and seventy cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and overseen the trial and sentencing of Al Capone.