Evening star., 1936-06-20
The Story of Aft M. Landon
Chapter VI-Visitor of the Grass Roots.
BY RICHARD B. FOWLER.

N--NN--
~ didn't know it. He had helped
n elect one Governor and worked
for his friend William Allen White
in the latter's independent campaign
for Governor. He had done his part
in local politics, and assumed that his
political interests had reached their
limits.
In 1928, when his friend Clyde
Reed, Parsons newspaper man, asked
him to manage the Reed campaign
for Governor, he hesitated. 1t was
going into politics q little strong for
an oil producer.
Oil prices dropped, slowing produc-
ton, and Landon, wearing his old
Slouch hat, came out of the oil fields
to politics, presumably as the back
stage man. Quiet, gentlemanly Jesse
Greenleaf was asked to accept the
nominal post of campaign manager.
"The boys all know you. jesse" Reed
told him. We want your name out
in front; but you won't have to worry.
Alf will do all the work"
Puts Manager to Work.
Landon did work; so did everybody
else.
Il know you don't have a lot of
time for this, jesse" Landon told the
nominal campaign manager, 'but
while you are in Salina tomorrow
wonder if you could run on out to
Hays. It's only $50 miles farther. I
have list of people for you to see"
What could man say? "All right,
AIf."
And drop down to Larned and come
back by the way of Mcpherson. It's
only 100 miles out of the way and it
would clean up lot of territory"
In his nominal campaign as front
for Landon, Greenleaf drove more
than $4,000 miles, talked to hundreds
of individuals and made dozens of
speeches. But as compared with the
way ALI Landon worked himself, it
was not unreasonable.
After Reed was nominated, Landon
became Republican State chairman.
The campaign was successful The
progressive, blunt and uncompromis-
ing Clyde Reed moved into the Kan
Sas State house. Landon went back
to the oil business Just two years
before one of the bitterest divisions in
the history of the Republican party in
Kansas, everything was peace and
best wishes.
Sent to See Bankers Daughter.
AS far as Landon was concerned,
the world was filled with moonlight
and roses. An older woman, friend
of the family, living in New York,
had told him to look up her young
friend Theo Cobb in Topeka. Miss
Cobb was well known in Kansas as the
charming daughter of Sam Cobb,
banker She was dark-haired, de-
scribed as marvellous" rather than
beautiful, because people knew her
so well they thought more about Theo
Cobb than her looks People from
other parts of the country called her
cultivated" but they don't talk that
way in Kansas. She was a musician
who played unusually we'll especially
on the harp, but who preferred to
listen to her favorite symphonies. She
liked lovely things and collected old
luster and glass.
The night Alf Landon paid his party
call on Miss Cobb he recognized what
other people already knew. Throw
ing off the dust of the oil fields, he
became suitor in a whrilwind court
ship that surprised even himself
1t is probably no accident that the
rise of Landon in the political world
dates from approximately the time
he met Theo Cobb. She saw, more
clearly than he, that he already had
all the experience and money that
he needed out Of the oil business: that
he was capable of growing; that he
had natural way with men. 1t
was time for him to come out Of his
she'll
Married in 1880.
They were married in 1880, the year
the Republican party in Kansas hit
bottom. The uncompromising Reed
administration aroused the conserva-
tive faction of the party and part Of
its own faction. The Democrats al
ready were making capital of the 1929
stock market crash, and John r..
Brinkley, who, as Doctor" Brinkley.
combined politics with goat-gland
rejuvenation remedies. was beating the
radio drums for an independent can
didacy.
1t was in 1880 that Landon's Wash
ington friends told him he was being
considered for secretary of the Re-
publican National Committee. The job
would have meant New York or Wash
ington, where he already had many
friends 1t suited him.
At the same time Gov. Reed asked
him to manage his campaign for re-
election. Landon decided to stay.
Reed was defeated in the primary.
Frank Haucke, young Cornell grad
uate farmer from Council Grove, car
ried the ultra conservative flag through
to the Republican nomination. And
out of the final shuttle, dapper Harry
Woodring, Democrat, emerged with
the election. The State Republican
party burst wide open with accusations
and hard language.
Received G. o. p. Friend.
One Fall day in 1881 Landon was
interrupted in his Independence Office
by the arrival of a Republican friend,
a business man and conservative.
The visitor and Landon had been in
the background on opposite sides of
many a State and congressional fight,
but had remained friends.
The visitor propped his feet up on
the desk, lighted his pipe and said,
"Alf, I've been thinking about this
political situation. It's bad, isn't it?"
Landon agreed.
After thinking it over from every
angle, I have reached a conclusion
that's the smartest thing I ever
thought in my life" continued the
visitor. II have decided you are the
only Republican in the State who
could be elected Governor"
That sounds a little odd coming
al