Clyde LaVerne Herring

• General Notes
  • Clyde LaVerne Herring (1879 - 1945) of Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. Born in Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan, May 3, 1879. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War; member of Democratic National Committee from Iowa, 1924 - 1928; Governor of Iowa, 1933 - 1937; defeated, 1920; U.S. Senator from Iowa, 1937 - 1943; defeated 1922, 1942; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Iowa, 1940. Congregationalist. Died in Washington, D.C., September 15, 1945. Interment at Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa. See also: congressinal biography.
    Leave it to a couple of country-bumpkin Midwestern schools to play a football game for a pig. Thanks to a bet between Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring and Minnesota Gov. Floyd B. Olson in 1935, the legend of "Floyd of Rosedale" was spawned and the trophy has been given to the winner each year since. The original bet was for an actual pig, a product of the Rosedale Farms near Fort Dodge, Iowa and named for the Minnesota governor. After the Gophers won the 1935 game 13-6, Herring and the pig made the trip to the state capital to present Olson with his trophy.
    Clyde LaVerne Herring was born on May 3, 1879, in Jackson, Michigan. He was part of Company D, 3rd Michigan Regiment during the Spanish-American War. After trying his hand at ranching in Colorado and farming in Iowa, Herring entered the automobile business in Atlantic, Iowa in 1908, and in 1910, he moved his business to Des Moines. As a member of the Iowa National Guard Herring was stationed on the Mexican border during WWI. In the early 1920s, Herring was the Iowa Democratic Party's unsuccessful candidate for the offices of governor and senator. However, in 1932, he defeated the incumbent governor, Dan Turner. He won a second term, again defeating Turner. As governor through the worst of the Great Depression, Herring ordered a moratorium on foreclosures and signed a law to help banks that were in danger of closing. Iowa next elected Herring to the U.S. Senate where he began his term in 1937. Losing his bid for reelection in 1942. Herring worked as a senior administrator in the Office of Price Administration for most of 1943. Returning to his automobile business in Des Moines, Iowa, Clyde L. Herring died on September 15, 1945