Robert Blackwell Docking (October 9, 1925October 8, 1983) was an American politician who served as the 38th

governor of Kansas 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 r ...

from 1967 until 1975.

Early life

Born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, Docking attended public school in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, before attending the University of Kansas, and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, Docking moved to

Arkansas City, Kansas Arkansas City () is a city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Walnut River in the southwestern part of the county. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,974. The n ...

, where he became a successful banker, and was elected mayor.

Political career

Docking was elected governor in 1966 as a member of the Democratic Party over the incumbent Republican, William Avery, whom Docking harangued for leaving the state when there was work to be done in Kansas. Docking served more terms than any other Kansas governor, but is tied for length of service because of a constitutional amendment approved during his final term which provided that Kansas governors serve four-year terms, and are constitutionally prohibited from running for more than two terms. He was known for his commitment to

farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...

, small business owners, and the environment. The son of former Gov. George Docking (1957–1961), he was married to Meredith and they had two sons, William and Tom, the latter of whom served as lieutenant governor and ran unsuccessfully for the governorship in 1986. After his service as governor, Docking resumed his former profession of banking in Arkansas City. He donated his papers to the University of Kansas rather than give them to the Kansas State Historical Society, where the papers of his 34 predecessors are stored, with the exception of his father, who burned his gubernatorial papers.

Death and legacy

He died of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

in 1983 in Merriam, Kansas, the day before his 58th birthday, and is interred in Highland Park Cemetery in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the ...

, in a plot adjoining his parents'. A state office building across the street from the capital in Topeka, Kansas, bears his name, and his bank in Arkansas City (Union State Bank), which is still owned by the Dockings, is on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, the entire length of U.S. Route 77 in Cowley County, Kansas (which contains Arkansas City) is known as the Robert B. Docking Memorial Highway. His son,

Thomas Docking Thomas Robert Docking (August 10, 1954 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician. He was the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Kansas from 1983 to 1987. A lawyer, he was an alumnus of the University of Kansas. His father, Robert Docking, and ...

, was Lt. Governor of Kansas during the tenure of

John Carlin John Carlin may refer to: * John Carlin (actor) (1929–2017), Scottish actor * John Carlin (painter) (1813-1891), American painter * John Carlin (businessman) (born 1955), American entrepreneur, art historian and record producer * John Carlin (fo ...

as governor. His daughter-in-law, and Thomas' wife, Jill Docking, was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee to succeed

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

in the 1996 U.S. Senate election, losing to Sam Brownback. She was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor in the 2014 elections ( Paul Davis was the gubernatorial candidate and her running mate).

External links

Governor's mansion tour guide information

*
http://www.kansas.govPublications concerning Kansas Governor Robert Docking's administration available via the KGI Online Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Docking, Robert 1925 births 1983 deaths Politicians from Kansas City, Missouri American Presbyterians Democratic Party governors of Kansas Politicians from Lawrence, Kansas University of Kansas alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II People from Arkansas City, Kansas American bankers Mayors of places in Kansas Deaths from emphysema 20th-century American politicians Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri Docking family 20th-century American businesspeople