Alf Landon's Podium Former
Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker has donated many items to the Kansas
Museum of History, most of which are related to her father, Governor
Alf Landon.
The donation includes many political items relating to Landon's unsuccessful run for the U.S. presidency in 1936, including political cartoons, sheet music of songs written especially for the candidate, campaign novelties, and the ¨Kansas¨ delegation sign from the 1936 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. One of the larger items is a podium Landon used during the campaign. An August 27, 1984, issues of U.S. News and World Report reports Governor Landon as saying of this podium: "My entire security consisted of a bulletproof-steel speaker's podium that reached up to my chin--all you could see was my head--and one bodyguard, a retired federal agent hired by the campaign committee. That podium went everywhere with me on the train. It took four big men to load and unload it." The podium (pictured here) actually is made of lead, rather than steel. The lead panels are japanned black, setting off brass highlights featuring the enduring Kansas symbols of wheat and sunflowers. To read Governor Landon's July 23, 1936 acceptance speech, click here.
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