Myron T. Herrick

Myron T. Herrick
42nd Governor of Ohio
In office
January 11, 1904 – January 8, 1906
LieutenantWarren G. Harding
Preceded byGeorge K. Nash
Succeeded byJohn M. Pattison
U.S. Ambassador to France
In office
1912–1914
Preceded byRobert Bacon
Succeeded byWilliam Graves Sharp
In office
1921–1929
Preceded byHugh Campbell Wallace
Succeeded byWalter Evans Edge
Personal details
Born
Myron Timothy Herrick

(1854-10-09)October 9, 1854
Huntington, Lorain County, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 31, 1929(1929-03-31) (aged 74)
Paris, France
Resting placeLake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCaroline Marina Parmely
Children1
Alma materOberlin College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Signature

Myron Timothy Herrick (October 9, 1854 – March 31, 1929) was an American banker, diplomat and Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 42nd governor of Ohio and United States Ambassador to France on two occasions.

Biography

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Herrick was born in Huntington, Lorain County, Ohio, the son of Mary (Hulburt) Herrick and Colonel Timothy Robinson Herrick, a local farmer and businessman.[1] He studied at Oberlin College and Ohio Wesleyan University, but graduated from neither.[2][3] He married Caroline Marina Parmely of Dayton, Ohio on June 30, 1880. They had one son, Parmely Webb Herrick (1881–1937).[3]

Career

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Myron T. Herrick

Admitted to practice law in Cleveland in 1878, Herrick joined the bank Society for Savings as secretary and treasurer in 1886, and became the bank's president in 1894.[4]

From 1885 to 1888, Herrick was a member of the Cleveland City Council.[2][3] In 1886, in Cleveland, he helped to finance the founding of The National Carbon Company, along with W. H. Lawrence, James Parmelee, and James Webb Cook Hayes, son of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.[5] This company, a predecessor of Union Carbide, Energizer, and Eveready, would come to figure prominently in the history of the consumer battery and the flashlight.

Herrick was a Presidential elector in 1892 for Harrison/Reid.[6]

In 1902, Herrick gave the village of Wellington, Ohio, a grant of $20,000, which they used to build the library now known as the Herrick Memorial Library. Herrick later bequeathed $70,000 for an addition.[7]

Herrick served as the governor of Ohio from 1904 to 1906; (future United States President) Warren G. Harding served as his lieutenant governor. He had been a protégé of political boss Mark Hanna, but in 1906 was defeated by the efforts of Wayne Wheeler and the Anti-Saloon League after he refused to support their plan for the prohibition of alcohol in Ohio.

Herrick is known for his role in contributing French-American amity in the lead-up to and during World War I.[8] He was United States Ambassador to France from 1912 to 1914 and again from 1921 to 1929. He is the only American ambassador to France with a street named after him in Paris, in the 8th arrondissement. Herrick was the ambassador who hosted Charles Lindbergh in Paris after his successful New York-to-Paris Atlantic crossing in 1927.[9]

Time cover, January 1928

Upon his return to the United States in 1914, Herrick's prominent role in aiding Americans stranded by the outbreak of World War I led to discussion within the Republican Party of Herrick as a possible nominee in the upcoming 1916 presidential election. Herrick himself felt his business background would prove a liability, however, and when his candidacy failed to gain traction he chose instead to mount a challenge to incumbent Democratic Senator Atlee Pomerene in 1916, which proved unsuccessful.[10]

Death

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Herrick was serving as United States Ambassador to France at the time of his death on March 31, 1929. He died from a heart attack.

He was interred at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.[11]

References

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  1. ^ TIM HERRICK Died last night at his home in Wellington. A leading businessman, The Daily Chronicle, July 9, 1901.
  2. ^ a b Wright, G. Fredrick, ed. (1916). A standard history of Lorain county, Ohio: an authentic narrative ... Vol. 1. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co. p. 245.
  3. ^ a b c Upton, Harriet Taylor (1910). Cutler, Harry Gardner (ed.). History of the Western Reserve. Vol. 3. New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 1340–1341.
  4. ^ The Book of Clevelanders: A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men of the City of Cleveland. Cleveland: The Burrows Bros. Company. 1914. pp. 129-130.
  5. ^ Eveready Battery Company Records Collection at Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
  6. ^ Taylor 1899 : vol. 2, 136
  7. ^ Village of Wellington. "Herrick Library". Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  8. ^ Berliner, Brett A. (2024). "'Active Neutrality': Myron T. Herrick and the Forging and Commemoration of Franco-American Amity in the Era of the First World War". The International History Review. doi:10.1080/07075332.2023.2298438. ISSN 0707-5332.
  9. ^ "Ohio Governor Myron Timothy Herrick". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  10. ^ Lewis L. Gould, The First Modern Clash Over Federal Power: Wilson versus Hughes in the Presidential Election of 1916 (2016) pp 38-40.
  11. ^ Theiss, Evelyn (October 18, 2009). "Former Ohio Gov. and U.S. Ambassador Myron Herrick was much beloved by French: Elegant Cleveland". Cleveland.com.

Further reading

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Myron T. Herrick.
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican Party nominee for Governor of Ohio
1903, 1905 		Succeeded by
First Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Ohio
(Class 1)
1916 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to France
1914–1919 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Ambassador to France
1921–1929 		Succeeded by
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