Landon, Alfred M. (Alfred Mossman), 1887-1987

<p>Alfred Mossman Landon was born September 9, 1887, in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania to John Manuel and Anne (Mossman) Landon. The elder Landon was an oilman and moved the family to Marietta, Ohio, where Alfred Landon attended preparatory school. When he was 17 Landon moved with the family to Independence, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1908 with a law degree. Landon married Margaret Fleming on January 9, 1915. They had one child, Margaret. After her death in 1918, Landon devoted himself to managing his oil interests and raising his young daughter.</p>

<p>A supporter of Theodore Roosevelt, Landon’s help with the Bull Moose campaign earned him the respect of the progressive arm of the Republican Party. After a short stint as Governor Henry Allen's secretary in 1922, Landon became a leader in the state's progressive faction and in 1928 won election to the state Republican chairmanship.</p>

<p>Landon married Theo Cobb on January 15, 1930. They had two children, Nancy and John. He ran a successful campaign for the governorship in 1932. During the time of the Great Depression, Landon was one of two Republican governors west of the Mississippi to win a gubernatorial contest. He introduced programs to bring economic relief that included tax reductions, a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures, state supported local relief, and a series of emergency banking laws; all without increasing the state debt.</p>

<p>The national Republicans looked to Landon to challenge President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was selected as the party’s nominee for the 1936 presidential election. Roosevelt proved invincible in 1936, and Landon was defeated. Landon continued to be an adviser for the Republican Party. He was the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas' Distinguished Kansan of the Year in 1969. He was inducted into the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1974.</p>

<p>He marked his 100th birthday with a visit from President Ronald Reagan. Landon died October 12, 1987. His daughter Nancy was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1978 and served until 1996. The Landon State Office Building is named in his honor.</p>

<p>Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12, 1987) was an American politician from the Republican Party. He served as the twenty-sixth Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. He was the Republican Party's nominee in the 1936 presidential election, but was defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt who won the electoral college vote 523 to 8.</p>

<p>Born in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, Landon spent most of his childhood in Marietta, Ohio before moving to Kansas. After graduating from the University of Kansas, he became an independent oil producer in Lawrence, Kansas. His business made him a millionaire, and he became a leader of the liberal Republicans in Kansas. Landon won election as Governor of Kansas in 1932 and sought to reduce taxes and balance the budget in the midst of the Great Depression. He supported many components of the New Deal but criticized some aspects that he found inefficient.</p>

<p>The 1936 Republican National Convention selected Landon as the Republican Party's presidential nominee. He proved to be an ineffective campaigner and carried just two states in the election. After the election, he left office as governor and never sought public office again. Later in life, he supported the Marshall Plan and President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs. He gave the first in a series of lectures, now known as the Landon Lecture Series, at Kansas State University. Landon lived to the age of 100 and died in Topeka, Kansas, in 1987. His daughter, Nancy Kassebaum, represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997.</p>