Abstract
The scope of this thesis is two-fold. First, it will seek to depict in Arthur Mullen the rise to political power of a man who thoroughly represents the political and economic hopes and aspirations of the north central tier of states. This is the same area which generated the grassroots movements of the Grange, the Alliance, and, most especially, Populism. In the 1920’s, this land produced the so-called Western Progressive who is probably best described as a man embodying in Progressive dress the Populist solution to agricultural distress. Having been destroyed as a third-party movement, the Populists drifted back into the major parties seeking always to have their political remedies applied on a national level.