George Arden Booth (December 4, 1911–March 10, 2000) was an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as the Kansas State Senator from the 2nd district from 1971 to 1976.

Early life

Born in

Fairview, Kansas Fairview is a city in Brown County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 240. History Fairview was founded on October 27, 1886, on land purchased in 1872 by W. F. Lambertson. It was named for its scen ...

, Booth was the eighth of nine children. He was an active member of

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

, and showed an early interest in music and broadcasting; he made his radio debut in 1927, after winning a contest whose prize was singing on-air. Booth attended

Baker University Baker University is a private university in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it was the first four-year university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools. Th ...

, graduating with a B.S. in music in 1936. After spending several years teaching music in Kansas and a short time studying voice in New York City, he joined the military and was stationed in

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where he worked in the entertainment division of the Special Services. While in Hawaii, he married Bette Mills in 1946, and shortly thereafter returned to Kansas.

Career

Settling in

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, Booth and his wife cofounded

KLWN KLWN (1320 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. It is licensed to Lawrence, Kansas, United States. The station is currently owned by Great Plains Media, Inc. and features programming from Fox News Radio, Fox Sports ...

, an

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

station, in 1951 (the station expanded to also broadcast in FM in 1963). Booth was a broadcaster as well as owning the station, once appearing on-air for 62 hours straight during a flood weeks after the station began transmitting. He would go on to serve as the president of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, and remained active in radio until his death. In addition to his radio work, Booth was a rancher, owning a registered herd of horned

Hereford cattle The Hereford is a British List of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It was the result of selective breeding from the mid-eighteenth century by a few famil ...

; this experience led to his being selected as president of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.

Politics

In 1970, Reynolds Shultz resigned the 2nd District Senate seat after being elected as

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, and Booth was selected to fill out the remainder of his term, taking office in 1971. He successfully ran for re-election in 1972. During his time in the State Senate, Booth introduced legislation that would grant in-state tuition to Kansas residents attending

Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell or HINU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for Native American children, the school has developed into a univ ...

, and was instrumental in creating Kansas' first

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it ma ...

References

External links

Archive of Booth's papers
maintained by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

Booth's obituary
Republican Party Kansas state senators Politicians from Lawrence, Kansas Radio personalities from Kansas American cattlemen Ranchers from Kansas 1911 births 2000 deaths Baker University alumni People from Brown County, Kansas 20th-century members of the Kansas Legislature {{US-radio-bio-stub