TOPEKA — The last five of the 25 most Notable Kansans were named by Gov. Sam Brownback and they have a distinctively political flavor. They are Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, former U.S. Sen. and presidential candidate Bob Dole, Emporia publisher William Allen White and saloon smasher Carrie Nation. The fifth, Jack Kilby, is the least known of the 25 notable Kansans but had the biggest impact on the Computer Age. Before he was elected to two terms as president, Eisenhower was supreme commander of the Allied forces in western Europe during World War II. Dole served as senator from Kansas 27 years. White won two Pullitzer Prizes and hosted U.S. presidents while he was publisher of the Emporia Gazette. After her first husband died from alcoholism, Nation fought demon rum through the women’s temperance movement. She often wielded her trademark hatchets in bars and saloons, including in Ottawa. Kilby invented the microchip and other electronic devices that made the Computer Age possible. The 25 Notable Kansans list is part of the state’s 150th anniversary.
Monday, Sept. 19, 1 p.m.
