Frederick Lee Hall (July 24, 1916 – March 18, 1970) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 31st

lieutenant governor of Kansas The lieutenant governor of Kansas is the second-ranking member of the executive branch of Kansas state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. The lieutenant governor succeeds to the off ...

from 1951 to 1955 and 33rd

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 1955 until 1957. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Biography

Hall was born in

Dodge City Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...

and graduated from Dodge City High School where his participation on the debate team and his academic achievements earned him a scholarship to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. While attending U.S.C., he was a member of the International Debating Team, finished his B.A. degree in 1938, stayed on and earned his J.D. degree. He married Leadell Schneider and they had one child.

Career

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 opposin ...

, Hall enlisted and was rejected when he failed to pass his physical. From 1942 to 1944, he served as an assistant director of the

Combined Production and Resources Board The Combined Production and Resources Board was a temporary World War II government agency that allocated the combined economic resources of the United States and Britain. It was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston ...

, coordinating

production planning Production planning is the planning of production and manufacturing modules in a company or industry. It utilizes the resource allocation of activities of employees, materials and production capacity, in order to serve different customers.Farghe ...

with Britain and Canada, and based in Washington. Hall established his law practice in

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...

and

and served as the Ford County attorney from 1947 to 1949. Elected Lieutenant Governor of Kansas, he served from 1951 to 1955. Elected in 1954, Hall was sworn into the governorship on January 10, 1955. During his tenure, the director of the state purchasing agency was fired, a high school aid law was authorized, a water resource commission was organized, and a "right to work" bill was vetoed. Hall resigned to become a justice of

Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the sta ...

in 1957 after being defeated in the primary for re-election to office, in what is known as the "triple-play of 1956". Warren Shaw defeated Hall in the Republican primary for governor, and Shaw lost the subsequent Gubernatorial general election to

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

George Docking George Docking (February 23, 1904 – January 20, 1964) was an American businessman who served as the 35th governor of Kansas (1957–1961). He was a member of the Democratic Party. Biography Born in Clay Center, Kansas, Docking was educated i ...

. Sitting Chief Justice Bill Smitha strong supporter of Hallwas seriously ill and contemplating a retirement from his position as Chief Justice; however, he was concerned that if he retired after Docking took office in January 1957, Docking would appoint a Democrat as chief justice. Smith, Hall, and Lieutenant Governor John McCuish devised a plan to prevent this from happening. Chief Justice Smith resigned effective January 3, 1957. Smith's resignation was quickly followed by Governor Hall's resignation also effective on January 3, 1957. As a result of Hall's resignation, Lieutenant Governor McCuish was sworn in as Kansas Governor. On the same day Walter G. Thiele became Chief Justice and Hall replaced Thiel as an associate justice of the

. Thiel left the court the same day Docking became governor and Jay S. Parker replaced Thiel as chief justice. Hall served on the Supreme Court bench until April 7, 1958, when he resigned to again run for the governorship where he lost the primary. Defeated in his bid, he retired from politics and moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

where he became an executive in the management control of the Aerojet General Corporation. In 1964, he ran for the Republican nomination for the 1964 United States Senate election in California, losing to George Murphy, a retired Hollywood star. He returned later to

and resumed his law practice.

Death and legacy

He was a member of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and a member of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity and elected to a term on the Phi Kappa Tau National Council in 1956. Hall died at

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

and is interred at Maple Grove Cemetery in Dodge City.

References

External links

*
The Political GraveyardPublications concerning Kansas Governor Hall's administration available via the KGI Online Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Fred 1916 births 1970 deaths People from Dodge City, Kansas University of Southern California alumni Kansas lawyers Republican Party governors of Kansas Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court Lieutenant Governors of Kansas 20th-century American lawyers USC Gould School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges American United Methodists 20th-century Methodists California Republicans