alfred mossman landon
governor of kansas
biography
Alfred Landon was born in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1887. A graduate of the University of Kansas, he embarked upon a banking career, but four years after it he found it distasteful and in 1912 became an independent petroleum producer. During World War I he served as a first lieutenant in the Chemical Warfare Service, United States Army.
Landon’s interest in politics began early, as in 1912 he supported Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party and in 1922 he was appointed the private secretary to Governor Henry Allen of Kansas. Subsequently he became known as the leader of the liberal Republicans in Kansas.
Landon was elected chairman of the Republican State Central Committee in 1928 and directed the Republican presidential and gubernatorial campaigns in Kansas in that year. From 1933 to 1937 he served two terms as a governor of Kansas, gaining a reputation for reducing taxes and balancing the budget.
At the Republican National Convention in 1936, Landon was nominated for the presidency on the first ballot, with Frank Knox of Illinois as his running mate. In the following election, President Roosevelt won by a landslide, Landon only carrying Maine and Vermont with a combined total of eight electoral votes.
Subsequently, Landon was appointed the United States delegate to the Pan-American Conference in Lima, Peru in 1938 and remained active in the petrolium industry and Republican politics. His daughter Nancy Landon Kassebaum was elected U.S. senator from Kansas in 1978 and reelected in 1984 and 1990.
