Alfred M. Landon and Nancy Landon Kassebaum to Be Inducted Into Kansas Walk of Honor
Joe Denoyer - November 8, 2016 3:45 pm
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TOPEKA, KS—When he accepted his party’s nomination to be a candidate for President of the United States, Alfred M. Landon clearly stated his platform. “The time has come to pull together,” he began. “The whole American people want to work at full time and at full pay. They want homes, and a chance for their children, reasonable security, and the right to live according to American standards. They want to share in a steady progress. We bind ourselves with a pledge we shall not ignore, thrust aside, or forget, to devote our whole energy to bringing these things about.”
Alfred M. Landon (1887-1969) was born in Pennsylvania, spent his boyhood in Ohio, and moved to Kansas when he was 17. He followed in his father’s footsteps, managing oil fields until he was elected the state’s 26th governor in 1932. With the nation engulfed in the Great Depression, he was the only Republican west of the Mississippi River to win a gubernatorial contest. His party selected him as the standard-bearer in the 1936 election.
Nancy Landon Kassebaum (1932) was an infant when her father became governor. She studied diplomacy and worked for U.S. Senator James B. Pearson. When he chose not to seek reelection in 1978 she entered the race and won. She was the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate and the first woman in the Senate elected on her own right.
The public is invited to join in celebrating Alfred M. Landon and Nancy Landon Kassebaum as the newest inductees into the Kansas Walk of Honor. The program will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, November 18, 2016, at the Kansas State Capitol. Their bronze plaques will join 14 other notable Kansans.
The walk was established in 2011 and highlights people who contributed on a state and national level and have significant connections to Kansas. The previous honorees are Clyde Cessna, Walter Chrysler, Samuel Crumbine, John Steuart Curry, Charles Curtis, Bob Dole, Amelia Earhart, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Fred Harvey, Jack Kilby, Joseph McCoy, Karl Menninger, Gordon Parks, and William Allen White.
The Kansas Historical Foundation, a 501(c) (3), serves as the caretakers of funds for the Kansas Walk of Honor. People can donate to this fund. The Historical Foundation, which supports the Kansas Historical Society, established the walk fund so people can offer donations to cover the cost of plaques.