David Morgan, great-grandson of early six-term Oklahoma U.S Congressman Dick T. Morgan, will be visiting Guymon on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17 for three engagements to give presentations on the late former congressman.
Dick T. Morgan practiced law in Guthrie for 4 1/2 years from April 1889 to September 1893, the moved to represent homesteaders in the Cherokee Outlet Run. In 1901, he moved to El Reno for the great land lottery in southwest Oklahoma. He relocated to Woodward in 1904 when appointed as Register of the U.S. Land Office. He was president of the Oklahoma Christian Missionary Society, was president of the Free Home League and authored the book ‘Morgan’s Manual to U.S. Homestead Laws’.
During his time, he was considered a progressive Republican in his support of farmers and consumers. Morgan introduced a bill in 1913 that would have guaranteed bank deposits, 20 years before the FDIC was introduced during the New Deal. He wrote ‘Land Credits; A Plea for the American Farmer’ in 1915, and sponsored the Rural Credits Act signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. He was a passionate advocate of the war effort, relief to solders and generous benefits to returning servicemen during World War I. 20 years before the Veteran’s Affairs program was established following World War II, Morgan also introduced legislation that would have created the VA loan program for World War I veterans.
David Morgan will be speaking before the Guymon Rotary Club at the Ambassador Restaurant at 1909 U.S. Highway 64 on Oct. 16 at 12 p.m.; before the Panhandle State University History Club on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Centennial Theater inside Hughes-Strong Hall at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell; and before the Guymon Chapter meeting of the No Man’s Land Museum on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church at 310 NW 7th St. in Guymon at the Fellowship Hall.