Manuel Herrick

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Manuel Herrick (September 20, 1876 - January 11, 1952) was a United States Representative from Oklahoma for one term, from March 4, 1921 to March 3, 1923.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Congressional Career 3 Late life and death 4 Bibliography

[edit] Biography

Manuel Herrick born in Perry, Tuscarawas County, Ohio on September 20, 1876. He moved with his parents to Greenwood County, Kansas in 1877. Herrick was self-educated and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Later, he settled in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma Territory. In 1893, Herrick moved to Perry and became interested in agriculture and stock raising.

[edit] Congressional Career

At the age of 42, Herrick was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress. He served from March 4, 1921 to March 3, 1923. He unsuccessful ran for reelection in 1922. One of the more colorful members of the United States Congress, Herrick was elected after the popular incumbent Republican congressman died unexpectedly on the last day of filing, allowing Herrick to take the seat with a little more than a hundred votes. During his one-and-only term, Herrick scandalized his fellow legislators by soliciting marriage proposals from beauty queens, only to claim that he was gathering information for intended legislation banning beauty pageants. Herrick took a similar approach to his 1925 arrest for moonshining, claiming to be an undercover agent for the IRS. Herrick was also notable for his prowess as a barnstorming aviator, and for claiming to be Jesus Christ reborn (his given name was Immanuel).

[edit] Late life and death

After leaving Congress, Herrick moved to California in 1933. He would settle in Plumas County, California in 1937 and ran unsuccessfully for Congress several times while in California. Herrick mysteriously disappeared during a Sierra blizzard on January 11, 1952, while on a trip to his mining claim eight miles northeast of Quincy, California. A month later, Herrick was found dead in a snowbank two miles from his cabin on February 29, 1952. His remains were cremated and the ashes interred in Quincy Cemetery in Quincy.

[edit] Bibliography

• Aldrich, Gene. Okie Jesus Congressman (The Life of Manuel Herrick). Oklahoma City: Times-Journal Publishing Co., 1974.
• taken from public domain website: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000540

Preceded by: Charles Swindall

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 8th congressional district 1921–1923

Succeeded by: Milton C. Garber