John Hamilton

Who was John Hamilton?

John Daniel Miller Hamilton was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Kansas.

Hamilton was raised in Topeka, Kansas, where his father was general counsel of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Upon graduation from preparatory school in 1913, he stopped in Chicago to see his father’s friend, Dean Wigmore, who promptly invited him to enroll in Northwestern University Law School.

Hamilton went on to become Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1928 and 1929, Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party from 1934-1936, and National Committeeman for Kansas from 1931 to 1940. In 1936, following the nomination of then-Governor Alf Landon to run against President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mr. Hamilton was appointed chairman of the Republican National Committee. His picture was on Time's cover on September 23, 1936. Landon lost the election in a landslide, but Mr. Hamilton continued as chairman of the Republican National Committee until 1940, due in large part to the considerable help of a freshman Illinois congressman, Everett Dirksen, whose eloquent support turned back several efforts to replace Mr. Hamilton.

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