W. D. Herridge

William Duncan Herridge was an Ottawa lawyer and decorated veteran of the First World War. He broke with the Liberals during the King–Byng controversy and became a speechwriter and adviser to Conservative leader R. B. Bennett. In 1931 Bennett appointed him minister to the United States; that year Herridge also married the prime minister's sister, Mildred Bennett, whose entertaining became part of the legation's social life. ^{1, 2}

In Washington, Herridge pressed for a St. Lawrence waterway treaty and a reciprocal trade agreement. The waterway treaty failed in the United States Senate, while the trade negotiations continued beyond Bennett's electoral defeat in 1935. Watching Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Herridge urged Bennett to adopt a more interventionist program and a persuasive message of economic recovery. His influence on Bennett diminished during the election year, and he returned to Ottawa after the Conservative government fell. ^{2, 1}