Emil Edward Hurja (22 January 1892 Crystal Falls, Michigan-30 May 1953 Washington) was an American politician.[1] He founded a newspaper called "Breckenridge" in a Texas oil town, and is known to have bummed his way to Seattle in the hayrack of a cattle car from Michigan.[2] Hurja was 6'1" and weighed 218 pounds. He married a blonde girl named Gudrun whose father was a miner in the Yukon.
Hurja was a pioneer of political opinion polling, and an important person during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency in respect of social and economic reforms. He was a son of Finnish immigrants.[3]
Hurja appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in March 1936.[4] He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[3]