Kenneth S. Wherry

(1892-1951) born at Liberty, Gage County, lived at Pawnee City. Lawyer, businessman, politician, elected to two terms as U.S. Senator, known for authoring 1947 legislation that altered previous 1886 law on Presidential succession to interpose Speaker of the House and president pro tem of the Senate between the Vice President and members of the cabinet, considered instrumental in persuading the U.S. Congress in 1951 to approve the. constitutional amendment limiting the presidency to two terms, advocated the importance of American Air Force superiority to the nation's security and deterrence to war, credited with locating headquarters of Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, was made Republican Party whip in 1944, the only first-term senator ever to assume that position. Consult Current Biography (1946) 634-637 and New York Times obituary, November 30, 1951, pp. 1, 24 and National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol 40 (1955) 493 and Sunday /Omaha/ World Herald Magazine of the Midlands, January 4, 1981, pp. 4, 13 and American National Biography, Vol 23 (1999) 155-156.

Back to Public Affairs
Back to Categories