John Benjamin Kendrick (September 6, 1857 – November 3, 1933) was an American politician and cattleman who served as a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from Wyoming and as the ninth Governor of Wyoming as a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

WY-Sheridan-4604-82BB-10-727-A (Obverse)

John Benjamin Kendrick was born near Rusk, Texas to John Harvey Kendrick and Anna Maye on September 6, 1857. He grew up on his family's ranch and attended a public school in Florence, Texas until the seventh grade. In March 1879 he was employed by Charles W. Wulfjen to move cattle from Texas to Wyoming.Peterson, p. 5. He arrived in the

Wyoming Territory The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The bou ...

in August 1879 and settled on a ranch near Sheridan, where he raised

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

as a cowboy, ranch foreman, and later cattle company owner. In 1883 he returned to Texas and bought a cattle herd to establish his ranch in Wyoming. He married Eula Wulfjen on January 20, 1891. Kendrick worked as foreman for his father-in-law's cattle company from 1879 until 1883. He was employed by and invested into the Lance Creek Cattle Company and the Converse Cattle Company which he later became owner of in 1897. Kendrick became president of the First National Bank of Sheridan in 1900 and served until 1902.

Politics

In 1909 he moved to Sheridan and was elected President of the

Wyoming Stock Growers Association The Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) is an American cattle organization started in 1872 among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de facto ...

. He was a member of the Wyoming State Senate from 1910 to 1914. In 1911 he was given the Democratic Senate nomination by acclamation by other Democratic members of the legislature, but was defeated by incumbent Senator Clarence D. Clark. He was given the nomination again in 1912, but was also defeated by Senator Francis E. Warren. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Wyoming in 1916 and 1924. He then served as

Governor of Wyoming A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1915 until he resigned in 1917, having been elected as a Democratic candidate to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1916. Kendrick was reelected to the Senate in 1922 and 1928 and served from March 4, 1917, until his death at Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1933. In 1932 he received an honorary law degree from the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. He was credited with beginning the investigations into the

Teapot Dome scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyomi ...

, a bribery incident that took place from 1922 until 1923, and was considered as a candidate in the 1924 and 1928 presidential elections. During the 1924 presidential election, Wyoming's six Democratic delegates were instructed to vote for Kendrick at the

1924 Democratic National Convention The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominat ...

and did so for the first three ballots. During the

1928 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1928. Africa * 1928 Southern Rhodesian general election Asia * 1928 Japanese general election * 1928 Persian legislative election * 1928 Philippine House of Representatives elections * 1928 Philippin ...

, he was considered as a possible vice presidential nominee, but the nomination was later given to Senator Minority Leader

Joseph Taylor Robinson Joseph Taylor Robinson (August 26, 1872 – July 14, 1937), also known as Joe T. Robinson, was an American politician from Arkansas. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1913 to 1937, servin ...

at the convention. He served as chairman of the Committee on Canadian Relations ( Sixty-fifth Congress) and member of the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys ( Seventy-third Congress). He introduced legislation that helped create the

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton ...

in northwestern Wyoming.

Death

On November 2, 1933 Kendrick fell into a coma and was initially diagnosed with a cerebral hemorrhage, but they later determined that he suffered a

uremia Uremia is the term for high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, in the blood that would be no ...

and died the next day. Governor Edwin C. Johnson praised him for his service as senator and Kendrick was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Sheridan, Wyoming. First Assistant Postmaster General Joseph C. O'Mahoney was appointed by Governor Leslie A. Miller to fill the vacancy created by Kendrick's death and won the Senate special election to fill out the rest of Kendrick's term in 1934. Kendrick was inducted into the

Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American ...

in the

National Cowboy Hall of Fame The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Ame ...

in 1958.

Electoral history

References

External links

* Bartlett, Ichabod S. (1918). History of Wyoming. Chicago, IL, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
History of Wyoming
* Peterson, C.S. (1915). Men of Wyoming. Denver, CO, C.S. Peterson Publisher
Men of Wyoming: The National Newspaper Reference Book of Wyoming Containing Photographs and Biographies of Over Three Hundred Men Residents

Trail End State Historic Site (Kendrick Mansion)
*

* ttp://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_kendrick/406266 Govtrack.us: Sen. John Kendrick
National Governors Association

John B. Kendrick Papers
at the

American Heritage Center The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendrick, John B. 1857 births 1933 deaths 20th-century American politicians Candidates in the 1924 United States presidential election American cattlemen Democratic Party United States senators from Wyoming Democratic Party governors of Wyoming People from Rusk, Texas People from Sheridan, Wyoming Democratic Party Wyoming state senators