Alfred Landon

Alf Landon
From the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division
26th Governor of Kansas
In office January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937
Lieutenant	Charles W. Thompson
Preceded by	Harry H. Woodring
Succeeded by	Walter A. Huxman
Personal details
Born	Alfred Mossman Landon (1887-09-09)September 9, 1887 West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	October 12, 1987(1987-10-12) (aged 100) Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Hope Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Margaret Fleming (died 1918) (2) Theo Cobb(survived Alf, died in 1996)
Children	Margaret Anne (first marriage),Nancy, John (both from second marriage)
Alma mater	University of Kansas
Profession	Banker, oilman, politician
Religion	Methodist
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	c. 1917–18
Rank	First lieutenant
Battles/wars	World War I

(1) Margaret Fleming (died 1918)

Alfred Mossman “Alf” Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12, 1987) was an American Republican politician, who 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.

Landon was born in 1887 in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, the son of Anne (Mossman) and John Manuel Landon. Landon grew up in Marietta, Ohio. He moved with his family to Kansas at age 17 and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1908. Alfred first pursued a career in banking, but in 1912 he became an independent petroleum producer in Independence, Kansas. During World War I, Landon served in the Army as a first lieutenant in chemical warfare.

By 1929, the oil industry had made Alf a millionaire, and he was instrumental in the establishment of the Kansas-Oklahoma division of the United States Oil and Gas Association, then known as the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, a petroleum lobbying organization.

Landon supported Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party in 1912, and by 1922, was private secretary to the governor of Kansas. He later became known as the leader of the liberal Republicans in the state. He was elected chairman of the Republican state central committee in 1928 and directed the Republican successful presidential and gubernatorial campaigns in Kansas in that year.