Emil Hurja

Emil Edward Hurja (22 January 1892 - 30 May 1953) was an American newspaper editor and political consultant. Hurja was a pioneer of political opinion polling and played an advisory role during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Biography
Hurja was born in Crystal Falls, Michigan. He was one of twelve children born to Matt Hurja (originally Pitkäkangas) (1863-1931) and Anna Liisa (Keisari) Hurja (1870-1940), both of whom were immigrants from Finland to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1917, he received his A. B. at the University of Washington. He served as a Captain in the United States Army during World War I. He worked as the newspaper editor for the Breckenridge Daily American (1921-1926) in Breckenridge, Texas. He was editor of the Pathfinder magazine (1939-1945).

Hurja was executive director of the Democratic National Committee (1932-1937) under the direction of Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley. He also provided poll analysis for the Democratic Party during elections held during 1932, 1934 and 1936. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Michigan and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in March 1936. He was a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Representative from the 12th District of the State of Michigan (1946-1948).

In 1919, he married Gudrun Andersen. He died in Washington, D.C. and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Honors
He was awarded both the Order of the White Rose of Finland and the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav.

Other sources

 * Holli, Melvin G. (2002) The Wizard of Washington: Emil Hurja, Franklin Roosevelt, and the Birth of Public Opinion Polling (Palgrave Macmillan) ISBN 978-0312293956

Related reading

 * Sabato, Larry J. (1981) The Rise of Political Consultants (New York: Basic Books) ISBN 978-0465070398