Since 1939, Kansas has consistently had two Republican senators. However, this hasn’t always necessarily meant that Kansas has had two conservative senators…the Kansas Republican Party has in the past had significant divides between the conservative and moderate wings, and had moderate governors as well as moderates on the national stage. One of these was Governor Alf Landon, the 1936 Republican nominee for president, and another was James Blackwood Pearson (1920-2009). On January 21, 1962, Senator Andrew Schoeppel, a conservative stalwart, died of abdominal cancer. Governor John Anderson tapped attorney Pearson, who had worked on his campaign, as his replacement. Although Pearson got a significant challenge in 1962 from former Governor Edward F. Arn, a letter to the editor to The Atchison Daily Globe (1962) noted, “Actually, so far as issues are concerned, there was little or nothing to choose from. Both Arn and Pearson followed a conservative line, opposing increased federal spending and taxation. Both wanted to curb the growing bureaucracy in Washington” (4). And indeed, for a time, Pearson was the more conservative of Kansas’s two senators. He often opposed key Great Society legislation including the War on Poverty and voted against Medicare, having done so without regret (Seaton, 300). However, Pearson also supported key civil rights measures. He wrote to his constituents on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “I believe the principles embodied in this bill are morally right. We are confronted with a national problem and Federal action is justified because we are dealing with rights guaranteed under the Federal Constitution” (Seaton, 302).

In 1966, Pearson was challenged for renomination by Congressman Robert Ellsworth, who really wasn’t ideologically different from him at this time. Ellsworth ran a campaign based on Pearson’s significant absences in the 89^th Congress in put out a radio ad for a search by a “Missing Pearson Bureau”, but the charge was rather unfair and out of context as Pearson had taken significant time off due to his son suffering from a serious emotional issue that required medical treatment, and Ellsworth knew that this was the reason (303-304). He defeated Ellsworth 54-45, and faced an even tougher contest against former Democratic Congressman J. Floyd Breeding, who he bested 52-45.

The governor who had appointed Pearson, John Anderson, was known as part of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party, and had backed Nelson Rockefeller at the Republican National Convention in 1964. Anderson was a moderate, and Pearson would move increasingly to the center. During the Nixon Administration, Pearson supported a number of socially liberal positions, such as opposing efforts to curb busing as a means of desegregation and the contrast between him and Bob Dole became quite apparent; Dole was willing to be the Nixon Administration’s man in the Senate while Pearson opted for independence.

By the 1970s, he received great praise for this increasing political independence. In 1970, he voted for the Cooper-Church Amendment to halt bombing in Cambodia although did he did not support the McGovern-Hatfield “End the War” Amendment. Senator Jacob Javits of New York, one of the foremost liberal Republicans, praised him as an “enlightened conservative”.

The voters strongly approved of Pearson come 1972, and he was a shoo-in for reelection and netted 71.42% of the vote and won all countries. After his reelection, Pearson increasingly let his liberal flag fly. He supported public financing of presidential campaigns, supported a strong minimum wage increase, voted to ban importation of Rhodesian chrome, opposed restoration of the federal death penalty, and backed unsuccessful legislation to create the Consumer Protection Agency and successful legislation to create the Legal Services Corporation. Some matters in which he continued to be conservative were on defense spending, curbing OSHA enforcement on small businesses, and opposed the common site picketing bill.

In 1975, Pearson, along with Senator Walter Mondale (D-Minn.) sponsored the successful Senate resolution to reduce the threshold needed to end debate from 67 to 60 senators. Liberals had been fighting for this measure for years. However, Pearson also still from time to time led the charge on a conservative cause; he sponsored with Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) a measure to end price controls on oil. In 1976, Pearson voted against the Hyde Amendment. Pearson was also known as one of the friendlier Republicans to the agenda of President Carter, and he backed him on foreign policy, including voting to confirm Paul Warnke to head up SALT II talks with the USSR, voting for the Panama Canal Treaties, and voting for the sale of jet fighters to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

On October 14, 1977, Pearson stunned his voters by his announcement that he would not run for reelection, as he wanted to return to the private sector. He was praised in The Iola Register (1977), “Pearson’s brand of moderate, humane, thoughtful, and non-belligerent Republicanism let him be effective in Washington regardless of what party was in the White House. Because he accepted or rejected ideas on their merit rather than joining or opposing men according to the party label they wore he was welcome in both camps” (4). Pearson agreed with the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action 49% of the time and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 34% of the time, while his DW-Nominate score is a 0.134, indicating his moderate Republicanism. Pearson got a successor who also a moderate Republican in Nancy Landon Kassebaum, daughter of 1936 Republican presidential contender Alf Landon. Pearson died on January 13, 2009, at the age of 88.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

Voting Records

Jim Pearson’s bombshell. (1977, October 17). The Iola Register, 4.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/image/636191813

Pearson, James Blackwood. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://www.voteview.com/person/10817/james-blackwood-pearson

Seaton, F.D. (Winter 2011-2012). Man in the Middle: The Career of Senator James B. Pearson. Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains, 34: 296-315.

https://www.kansashistory.gov/publicat/history/2011winter_seaton.pdf

Time to Close Ranks [Letter to the Editor]. (1962, August 19). The Atchison Daily Globe, 4.

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https://www.newspapers.com/image/33917811