Editing List of premiers of Alberta (section)

=== Social Credit (1935–1971) ===
Albertans turned away from the United Farmers government and began to follow evangelical radio preacher [[William Aberhart]], known as Bible Bill. The Social Credit party had been founded in 1932. Voters flocked to the radical monetary reforms proposed by Aberhart  and British SC theorist  [[C. H. Douglas|Clifford Douglas]], looking for an escape to the Great Depression. Social Credit was elected with a majority (54 percent of the vote) in the [[1935 Alberta general election|1935 election]] completely wiping out the United Farmers representation (although the UFA did receive 11 percent of the vote). Aberhart had difficulty implementing the Social Credit theory and his popularity began to decline.  His government almost fell during a 1936 caucus rebellion, in which his own MLAs forced him to promise to try to reform the banking system. But it rebounded and  in the [[1940 Alberta general election|1940 election]] it garnered more votes than any other party and also captured a large majority of the seats.<ref>[http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/constitutional/premierconstitution/people_aberhart.htm The Premier vs. the Constitution] accessed April 14, 2006</ref> Aberhart died in 1943; he is the only premier to die in office in Alberta's history.

[[Ernest Manning]] succeeded Aberhart as premier. Under Manning, Social Credit moved away from the monetary theory of Douglas and towards traditional conservatism. Manning led the party through seven-straight massive majorities, (although in 1955 his government received barely more seats than Aberhart had received in 1940, due to a strong but short-lived Liberal drive). During his premiership, his government abolished the hybrid STV/[[Instant-runoff voting]] system the province had been using since 1924, and the government received a windfall of seats in the 1959 election. After 24 years as premier, Manning resigned in 1967.

[[Harry Strom]], a long time cabinet minister, replaced Manning and led the party to defeat in the [[1971 Alberta general election|1971 election]] at the hands of the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Progressive Conservatives]] under [[Peter Lougheed]]. Strom and his government looked old and tired and out of touch compared to the new Progressive Conservatives.