Harry Darby (January 23, 1895January 17, 1987) was an American politician from

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 ...

Life and career

Born 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 ...

, Darby graduated from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, rising to the rank of captain. After the war he became successful in business ventures in several different fields including insurance, steel, railroads, utilities and banking. He served on the Kansas State Highway Commission from 1933 to 1937. In 1938 Darby, the owner of Darby Steel Company, purchased Kaw Steel Construction Company, in the

West Bottoms The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas it sits at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one ...

at Kansas City, Kansas and formed The Darby Corporation from the two companies. The plant built most of the

landing craft tank The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ver ...

s (LCTs) that were used in various amphibious invasions. The plant built one craft a day and floated them more than 1,000 miles down the

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

and

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

s to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, prompting their "Prairie Ships" nickname. Darby's plant at the mouth of

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

could hold 8 135í LCTs and 16 Landing Craft Mechanizeds (LCMs) in various stages of construction. Darby served as the Republican National Committeeman for Kansas from the 1940 National Convention to early 1964, when he resigned the position. Gertrude Laughlin McSorley was his personal secretary during his career. On December 2, 1949, he was appointed to fill a

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

seat to replace Clyde M. Reed (who had died on November 8) by Governor

Frank Carlson Frank Carlson (January 23, 1893May 30, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 30th governor of Kansas, Kansas State representative, United States representative, and United States senator from Kansas. Carlson is the only Kansan to ...

, despite the fact that his only prior government experience was four years on the state highway commission. As a senator, Darby was a friend of General

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, ...

, a fellow Kansan. He kept his seat until November 28, 1950, when he was succeeded by Frank Carlson, the very man who had appointed him to the seat. Darby returned to Kansas City and lived there until his death. He was buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

Legacy

Interstate 635 (Kansas–Missouri) Interstate 635 (I-635) is a connector highway between I-35 in Overland Park, Kansas, and I-29 in Kansas City, Missouri, approximately long. It is mostly in the US state of Kansas, servicing the city of Kansas City, Kansas, but extends i ...

is named the Harry Darby Memorial Highway for him in both Kansas and Missouri. The bronze statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower, by Robert L. Dean, Jr., on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas is a gift of the Harry and Edith Darby Foundation.

References

Retrieved on 2008-07-02

External links

Finding aid for Harry Darby Oral History, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Harry 1895 births 1987 deaths Politicians from Kansas City, Kansas American people of English descent Republican Party United States senators from Kansas Kansas Republicans 20th-century American politicians University of Illinois alumni United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army officers