Alfred m landon biography of abraham

LANDON, ALFRED (1887-1987)

Best remembered for his landslide defeat by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election, Alf Landon played a major role in Kansas Republican politics from the early 1900s through his death in Topeka–at age 100–on October 12, 1987.

Born in West Middlesex in the western Pennsylvania oil country on September 9, 1887, Landon moved with his family to Kansas when the oil industry sought to exploit the huge Mid-Continent deposits of the Southern Plains.

An astute businessman, Landon accumulated an oil-based fortune by the 1920s, and he increasingly turned his attention to Republican politics, first behind the scenes, then as state party chairman, and finally as governor during the mid-Depression years (1933 through 1937).

Landon generally supported the Progressive side of Republican politics, which he practiced in a low-key and congenial style that emphasized bridging differences without compromising principles.

As governor, he worked w