Charles Wesley Roberts (December 14, 1902 – April 9, 1976) was a

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

businessman who was

Chairman of the Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fun ...

for four months in 1953 under

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. C. Wesley Roberts (or Wes Roberts) was born in

Oskaloosa, Kansas Oskaloosa is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1110. History Oskaloosa was founded in 1856. It was named after the city of Oskaloosa, Iowa. The fir ...

, where he died, the son of Daisy Marian (née Needham) and Francis Henry "Frank" Roberts. The Roberts family published the smalltown weekly ''Oskaloosa Independent'' for more than a century. Davis Publications currently owns The Oskaloosa Independent. He was the father of U.S. Senator

Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of Rep ...

. Alvin Scott McCoy of ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' won a Pulitzer Prize in 1954 for local reporting for a series of articles that drove Roberts to resign his RNC chairmanship. Roberts was accused of collecting a $10,000 commission on the sale of a hospital to the State of Kansas which the state already owned.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, C. Wesley 1902 births 1976 deaths Kansas Republicans People from Oskaloosa, Kansas Republican National Committee chairs