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

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

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

Early life

Born in Fairview, Kansas, 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 i ...

, 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. 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. The College of Ar ...

, graduating with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

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 () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, 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 and 101.7 FM) 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 ...

, 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") transmis ...

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 breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It has spread to many countries – there are more than five million purebred Hereford cattle in over fifty nations worldwide. The bre ...

; 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, 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 Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

to Kansas residents attending

Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for American Indian children, the school has developed into a university operated by t ...

, 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 may ...

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, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

Booth's obituary
Republican Party Kansas state senators 20th-century American politicians 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 {{US-radio-bio-stub