About

ANDREW F. SCHOEPPEL, the twenty-ninth governor of Kansas was born near Claflin, Kansas on November 23, 1894. After graduating from Ransom High School in 1915, he attended the University of Kansas, but left school early, enlisting in the U.S. Naval Reserve Flying Corps during World War I. After his military service, he finished his education, earning a law degree from the University of Nebraska in 1922. He was admitted to the bar in 1923, and then established a legal career in Ness City, serving as city attorney, city councilman, and mayor. Schoeppel entered state-wide politics in 1939, with an appointment as chairman of the Kansas Corporation Commission, a position he held for four years. He won the 1942 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governorship on January 11, 1943. He was reelected to a second term in 1944. During his tenure, World War II issues were addressed, a new building code was initiated, a new absentee voting law was sanctioned, a state common school program was established, a receiving home for delinquent children was approved, and financial support was secured for a social welfare program, as well as for the reinstatement of state programs. Also, the issues of capital punishment and prohibition were dealt with. After leaving office on January 13, 1947, Schoeppel moved to Wichita and reestablished his legal career. He later was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from January 3, 1949 until his death on January 21, 1962. Governor Andrew F. Schoeppel was buried at the Old Mission Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.

Source

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Kansas State Historical Society

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress