NAFB members who know Jerry Harrington (Honorary Member, Iowa City, IA) as the former marketing public relations professional from DuPont Pioneer have enjoyed his help in pulling from the rich source of agronomic and research experts in Pioneer to offer interviews to farm broadcasters. Since retiring from Pioneer in 2014, Harrington has turned to his first love and become a full-time historian – specializing in Iowa political history. He has written several articles for Iowa History Journal, winning awards from the State Historical Society of Iowa for his series on influential Iowa governors and the early history of the Iowa presidential caucuses. Also, he has written a book on Cedar Rapids Gazette editor Verne Marshall, who won the 1936 Pulitzer Prize for exposing corruption in Iowa. In addition, Harrington has published an academic article on Iowa Governor Harold Hughes and his push for liquor-by-the-drink in Iowa in the early 1960s. Both of the latter works also have won awards from the state historical society. “I’ve always been fascinated by American history,” says Harrington, who has his 
MA in history from the University of Iowa and later worked toward his PhD in history there. Incidentally, he left the PhD program when he was offered a job as vice president in the public relations division of Bader Rutter in Milwaukee. “A real career called,” says Harrington. “It’s fun for me to rummage through old documents with the purpose of bringing stories to light of significance about the past. I’ve selected my own little world of Iowa political history as my specialty.” His research on Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Verne Marshall began when he was contacted by The History Press of Arcadia Publishing to write a book of his choice. The company contacted him because he’d written extensive articles on Iowa history. “I came across a few paragraphs about Marshall in an Iowa history book and found that his papers were at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in nearby West Branch, IA,” recalls Harrington, who now lives in Iowa City. “Combining that source with old copies of the Cedar Rapids Gazette and other research materials gave me enough to write a small book on this colorful episode in Iowa history.” In addition to exposing illegal gambling, state graft and unlawful liquor operations, Marshall’s reporting resulted in a highly publicized corruption trial of Iowa’s elected attorney general. Harrington is now researching a book on Harold Hughes, governor of Iowa from 1963 to 1969 and Iowa’s U.S. senator from 1969 to 1974. “Hughes was an amazing, charismatic figure – a recovering alcoholic and truck driver with little formal education – who was a magnetic leader with a significant impact on the state and national level,” says Harrington. “As governor, he initiated major statewide reforms and brought Iowa into modern times. As senator, he led the national effort to treat alcoholism and drug-addiction as diseases. In addition, he was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War. At the end of his senate term, he surprised the political world by 
retiring from politics and going into the ministry. He’s fascinating to research.” Harrington has also been teaching courses on the history of American comic books at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. A collector all his life, he has about 25,000 comic books in his basement, dating back to the 1960s. “With the avalanche of movies based on comic book characters, it’s now OK to be a comic geek – which I am,” says Harrington. The former PR pro also gives talks around the state on Iowa and comic book history. This October, he’s teaching a course at the University of Iowa Senior College, “Political Titans of the Hawkeye State: Iowa Political History as Biography.” “I’m a little anxious about this,” Harrington says. “Many of the students will be retired university faculty members. I’ll have to brush up on my PR presentation skills.” Harrington urges you to contact him at jharrington3233@gmail.com.
