Dahlberg still objects to his portrayal in the movie as fearful and flustered: “If everything in that movie is as phony as my part, the whole thing is phony.”

Yet Dahlberg soon became uneasy enough. “The FBI got on me; I was interrogated like mad. They had me pegged as the conduit of money from all over the world. Some was coming in from Mexico. Did I have any connections in Mexico? Yes, we had a subsidiary there. Aha! Did I have a Swiss bank account? Yes, I owned part of a hearing-aid company there. Aha!

“That was really not nice. But I never worried. I suspect that on the larger scene, I’m suspected of being one of those bums. But I was not involved in any hanky-panky.”

Prosecutors agreed, as did a Washington grand jury before which Dahlberg was called. He was never accused of wrongdoing.


Higher Power

In 1983, the Reagan administration lifted restrictions on the hearing-aid industry that had prevented companies from operating their own exclusive retail outlets. Dahlberg Electronics took off, opening a thousand Miracle Ear stores and growing from thirteen million dollars in sales in 1982 to about one hundred million in 1994. That year, Dahlberg retired and sold the firm to a major manufacturer.

The battle-scarred veteran of campaign-finance troubles watches the current campaign-finance reform debate with, well, special interest. He believes full and immediate disclosure of political contributions, not restrictions, is the answer.

“It’s very corrupting,” he says of money in politics. “But it’s nondisclosure that’s the seed of corruption.”

The war hero and patriot sees broader “damage to our moral fiber” in modern Americans’ eagerness to blame “corruption not on corrupt people but always on the system.” He worries about a declining work ethic, a growing sense of entitlement, and a waning spirit of individual duty.

“An individual is an incredible thing,” Dahlberg says, “individuals who understand that they have power over themselves and power to do good for others.”

Ken Dahlberg Timeline

1917   Born in St. Paul.
1918–1934   Grew up on a farm in Wilson, Wisconsin.
1935–1941   Began a successful career in the hotel food and beverage industry.
1941   Inducted into the Army.
1942   Earns his wings in the Army Air Force. Befriends ground-school instructor Barry Goldwater.
1944   Ships out to England. Begins flying missions over France six days after the Allies’ D-Day attack on the Germans there.
August 1944   Shot down the first time northwest of Paris behind German lines. Rescued by Denis and Madeleine Baudoin (she’s with Dahlberg at right), members of the French Resistance who help him return to American-held territory.
December 1944   Shot down a second time behind Ger-man lines near Bastogne. Rescued by American tank commander Martin Dardis.
February 1945   Shot down a third time in western Germany and held as a prisoner of war in Moosburg until his camp is liberated in April.
1945   Hired as an assistant to the president of Telex, a maker of medical electronics.
1948   Starts an electronics company, Dahlberg, Inc. Develops and markets hearing aids, pagers, and patient-monitoring devices.
1955   Introduces the Miracle Ear to the market, the first all-in-the-ear hearing aid.
1960s   Frustrated by regulation of his industry, becomes engaged in Republican fundraising. Works for Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.
1972   Is a target of Watergate investigators, who eventually realize Dahlberg had no involvement in the scandal. But it earns him a prominent spot in All the President’s Men.
1983   Helped by regulatory changes, Dahlberg’s company begins to grow dramatically, eventually opening 1,000 Miracle Ear stores.
1993   Dahlberg sells his business to Bausch and Lomb for $139 million. Next year, forms a venture investment firm, Carefree Capital. Buffalo Wild Wings is an early investment.
2003   Inducted into the Twin Cities Business Minnesota Business Hall of Fame.
2007   Revisits Normandy, as he’s done over the years and maintained a friendship with the Baudoin family. Celebrates his 60th wed-ding anniversary. Orders a new plane, on which he’ll take delivery in November 2009.


 

« Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10