[3] Manning was among the first students of William Aberhart's Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute (CPBI), which opened in 1927, and became its first graduate in April 1930,[4] having heard of it over a radio broadcast.

There he met his future wife, Muriel Preston, who was the institute's pianist and later served as the National Bible Hour's musical coordinator.

"[5] In 1930, he began preaching on Aberhart's weekly "Back to the Bible Hour" radio program, a practice that he continued throughout his life, even after he had entered politics.

The broadcasts were eventually aired on over 90 radio stations across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver and had a large listening audience.

Together, they created the Social Credit Party with the aim of bringing financial relief to Albertans, who were suffering because of the Great Depression.

The United Farmers of Alberta, which had governed the province for fourteen years, lost every one of its seats and would never return to the legislature.

At the outbreak of World War II, Manning joined the Edmonton Regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia, qualifying as a lieutenant.

The policy was widely criticized, and the next year, Manning agreed to use oil royalties on public works and social programs instead.

He led Social Credit to an incredible seven consecutive election victories between 1944 and 1967, usually with more than 50% of the popular vote, and only once had to face more than 10 opposition MLAs.

"[11] However, an ominous sign came during Manning's last victory, when the once-moribund Progressive Conservatives, led by Peter Lougheed won six seats, mostly in Calgary and Edmonton.

One likely explanation may have been pragmatic; many of Social Credit's policy goals infringed on responsibilities reserved to the federal government under the British North America Act.

The policy was widely criticized, and the next year, Manning agreed to use oil royalties on public works and social programs instead.

He even went so far as to convince the entire Alberta Legislature to visit the Bitumount plant in 1949 since he believed that they would agree to continue development after it had witnessed the success in separating the oil sands.

Manning also commissioned a petroleum engineer by the name of Sidney Robert Blair to prepare a report on the economic feasibility of the separation process.

Manning remained a staunch anti-communist, and encouraged strong religious, individual, and corporate initiatives in addressing and solving social issues.

"[11] His views on health care and social issues were heavily shaped by his elder son, Keith, who suffered from cerebral palsy.

the premise embodied in your proposed resolution, namely, that there is such a thing as democratic socialism, contradicts itself in that it attempts to associate two concepts of life which are diametrically opposed and opposite.

'"[16] He also said that socialists were trying to "enslave the ordinary people of the world, whose only real salvation lay in the issuance of Social Credit.

This isn't by chance, it's because communism has been smart enough to see... that there are always a goodly number of men in that field who are sympathetic to the socialistic and even communistic philosophy.

"[17] The Manning administration, now re-elected with a resounding majority of seats as a result of the 1944 election, devoted itself to an antisocialist crusade.

[15]: 131 In 1946, Manning's government extended censorship to included 16mm films in the hopes of "eliminating communist thought from Alberta-shown movies.

[15]: 133 Manning acted swiftly to avert the crisis by rewriting the province's labour laws in March to allow the government to shut down the strike.

Robert N. Thompson of Alberta won the election, but Manning's objections to Caouette led to suspicions that the vote was fixed.

In 1963, virtually all of the Socred MPs from Quebec followed Caouette into the Ralliement des créditistes and left behind a Social Credit rump in English Canada.

He married fellow nursing home resident Marilyn Brownell, and died from cardiac arrest on June 29, 1986.