Frank Carlson

Frank Carlson (January 23, 1893 – May 30, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 30th governor of Kansas, Kansas State representative, United States representative, and United States senator from Kansas. Carlson is the only Kansan to have held all four offices. His political career spanned 40 years, beginning in November 1928 and ending in January 1969.

Carlson was born in 1893 near Concordia, Kansas, the son of Anna (Johannesson) and Charles Eric Carlson, both Swedish immigrants. He attended public schools and Kansas State University before serving in World War I as a private.

After the war, he returned to Concordia to farm. He was elected as a Republican to first the Kansas House of Representatives in 1928 and then to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1935 to 1947.

In 1946 he was elected governor of Kansas. As governor, he pushed mental health programs as well as a long-term highway project. In 1949, Kansas U.S. Senator Clyde M. Reed died, and Carlson appointed Harry Darby to fill the seat. Darby continued his service in the Senate until Carlson himself was elected to fill the seat in 1950. Instead of waiting until January to be sworn in, he took his seat on November 28, 1950, leaving the office of governor to Frank L. Hagaman who served less than two months.

In 1952, he campaigned for Dwight D. Eisenhower, and then brokered a deal through Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft and became Senate majority leader. According to Billy Graham's biography Just As I Am, Carlson invited Eisenhower to the Senate Prayer Breakfast, which thus became the first Presidential Prayer Breakfast, thereafter an annual assembly of all three branches of government, continuing to this day. Carlson was re-elected twice, in 1956 and 1962, before returning to Concordia for retirement.

Carlson served a term as president of the United States Senate Prayer Breakfast Group. He was therein featured by U.S. News & World Report on July 1, 1968, by editor David Lawrence, for his strong moral and spiritual influence in the nation's capital. He was also a member of the board of directors of World Vision.

Carlson voted in favor of the Senate amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1957 on August 7, 1957, but did not vote on the House amendment to the bill on August 29, 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Carlson voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Carlson died in 1987 in Concordia and was buried there in Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The federal court building in Topeka is named in his honor, US 81 from the Nebraska state line north of Belleville to Salina is named the Frank Carlson Memorial Highway, the Frank Carlson Library in Concordia is named in his honor, and Wichita State University hosts the Frank Carlson Lecture Series.