Alf Landon

Alf Landon
Landon, c. 1936
26th Governor of Kansas
In office January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937
Lieutenant	Charles Thompson
Preceded by	Harry Woodring
Succeeded by	Walter Huxman
Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party
In office August 27, 1928 – August 26, 1930
Preceded by	Seth G. Wells
Succeeded by	John Hamilton
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
Political party	Republican
Other political affiliations	Progressive "Bull Moose"
Spouses	Margaret Fleming ​ ​ (m. 1915; died 1918)​ Theo Cobb ​ (m. 1930)​
Children	4, including Nancy
Education	University of Kansas (LLB)
Profession	Oil producer
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1918–1919
Rank	Captain
Unit	Chemical Corps
Battles/wars	World War I

Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12, 1987) was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential election, and was defeated in a landslide by incumbent president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The margin of victory in the electoral college was the largest of Roosevelt's four elections to the office of president, as Landon won just 8 electoral votes to Roosevelt's 523. Landon died on October 12, 1987, becoming the only presidential candidate from either of the major parties to live to the age of 100 until Jimmy Carter in 2024, and is to date the only Republican candidate to do so.

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 components of the New Deal but criticized aspects that he found inefficient.

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, neither of which was Kansas despite him being the sitting governor of that state. 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.