Kansas 1972: Decision 1972

Explore the election year 1972 in Kansas. Republican President Nixon won re-election by a landslide, including carrying every single county in Kansas. Hear about the connection between the Catholic Volga German community, a noted Democratic political strategist from Ellis County, and the 1972 governor's race. 1972 also saw the re-election of the controversial, and popular, Kansas attorney general Vern Miller. What does the "folklore" surrounding Miller make us miss about his larger legacy?

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Archival Audio Sources

• CBS Evening News - November 7, 1972
• Nixon Now campaign commercial, 1972
• Robert Docking for KS Governor TV Ad, 1972
• KANU, The Kansas Immigrants series, Episodes 9, Funded by a grant from the Kansas Committee for the Humanities, 1981-1982 (courtesy of The Kansas Public Media Preservation Project)
• KMUW 837, JFK Campaign Speech, 10-22-1960 (courtesy of The Kansas Public Media Preservation Project)
• Docking: An Odyssey, 1974 documentary
• Morris Kay for KS Governor TV Ad, 1972
• Vern Miller for KS Attorney General TV Ad, 1972
• Vern Miller, Interviewed by XXX
• NBC News - Feb. 26, 1971
• CBS News - Feb. 26, 1971
• NBC News - July 19, 1972
• Robert Hoffman for KS Attorney General TV Ad, 1972
• NBC News - Feb. 20, 1973 
• The First Civil Right, Nixon campaign TV ad, 1968

Primary Sources

• The Parsons Sun, “Dreiling: Angry Cat to GOP,” by Lew Ferguson. Associated Press, Topeka, Kansas, October 17th, 1972. 
• Garden City Telegram, “Miller’s Leap into Lawrence Ignites Controversy,” Associated Press, Topeka Kansas, March 3rd, 1971.
• The Wichita Eagle, “Kansas Law Enforcer,” Letter to the Editor, March 5th, 1973.
• Rep. Jerry Moran, “Honoring Norbert Dreiling of Hays, Kansas” Congressional Record Vol. 150, No. 100 (House of Representatives - July 19, 2004).

Secondary Sources

• Randy Gonzales, “The Kennedy Effect: John F. Kennedy's 1959 Trip to Kansas and Its Relationship to His National Campaign,” MA Thesis, Fort Hays State University, 2019.
• “Kansas Drinkers Can Thank This Tough Guy,” A People’s History of Kansas City, KCUR podcast, March 5, 2020.

Interviews

• Randy Gonzales - newspaper reporter; historian, Fort Hays State University
• Jeremy Gill - historian who is the Kansas Room Coordinator at the Hays Public Library
• Jonathan Hagel - Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of History, University of Kansas
• John Frieden - Attorney

Music by Clelia Walking