Clyde Edsel Herring

• General Notes
  • Clyde Edsel Herring was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of former Governor and U.S. Senator Clyde L. and Pearl S. Herring. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Iowa in 1937 and his law degree from Drake University in 1940. He was admitted to the Iowa Bar that same year. A reserve officer since 1937, he was accepted into active duty in 1941. He served with the 168th Infantry, 34th Division in the European Theater of Operations during WWII. In 1943 he was taken as a prisoner in Tunisia and spent until May, 1945 in Prisoner of War camps in Europe.
    Returning to Iowa after the war he entered into a private law practice in Des Moines. In 1947 he was appointed Assistant County Attorney for Polk County. He resigned this post in 1949 to become a district supervisor for the U.S. Bureau of the Census. In 1950, he was elected County Attorney for Polk County. In 1954, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor. He was a delegate to the 1956 Democratic National convention. Herring was appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1959, by President Eisenhower. He served on the Division of Operating Rights and the Division of Rates and Practices. He remained there until 1964 when he was succeeded by Virginia Mae Brown. After leaving government service, Mr. Herring opened his own law firm in Washington, D.C. Clyde E. Herring died of a heart attack at the age of sixty-one.