16 Facts About Arthur Capper

Arthur Capper was an American politician from Kansas.

Arthur Capper was the 20th governor of Kansas from 1915 to 1919 and a United States senator from 1919 to 1949.

Arthur Capper owned a radio station, and was the publisher of a newspaper, the Topeka Daily Capital.

Arthur Capper attended the public schools and learned the art of printing.

Arthur Capper became a newspaper publisher, eventually owning several newspapers and two radio stations.

Arthur Capper's continues today as a bimonthly glossy magazine that focuses on rural living.

Arthur Capper first entered politics in 1912 when he became the Republican candidate for governor of Kansas.

However, Arthur Capper was elected governor in the next election in 1914 and served as governor of Kansas from 1915 until 1919, winning re-election in 1916.

Arthur Capper was the first native Kansan to serve as the state's governor.

Arthur Capper became a long-serving senator, representing Kansas for five 6-year terms.

Arthur Capper was in the Senate from 1919 to 1949 and was prominent among Republicans who supported the relief efforts and other policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration.

In 1923 Senator Arthur Capper brought forward a constitutional amendment with an anti-miscegenation provision outlawing mixed-race marriages, but struck out the passage after protest from African-American organizations and stated it was an unnecessary troublemaker.

Arthur Capper became chairman of the Senate's Agriculture Committee in 1946; by that point, at the age of 81, he was nearly deaf and his speech was difficult to understand.

Arthur Capper joined the Congressional Flying Club in 1947 at the age of 82 and took up flying lessons, as the oldest member of Congress, from Pearle Robinson, part owner of the Hybla Valley Airport just outside of Washington, DC.

Arthur Capper was buried in Topeka Cemetery in a plot adjacent to Governor Crawford.

Arthur Capper was the owner of the Capper Building in Topeka, Kansas, and the Capper publications, which over time included the Daily Capital, the North Topeka Mail, the Kansas Breeze, Missouri Valley Farmer, Capper's Weekly, Nebraska Farm Journal, Missouri Ruralist, Oklahoma Farmer, and The Household Magazine.