George Docking


George Docking was the 35th Governor of Kansas.

Biography

Born in Clay Center, Kansas, Docking was educated in the public schools of Lawrence, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1925. He married Mary Virginia Blackwell, and they had two children. Docking was a Presbyterian.

Career

Docking changed party affiliations when Franklin D. Roosevelt was first nominated for president. In 1952, he became the fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson.
Docking was elected Governor of Kansas in 1956 and reelected in 1958, making him the first member of the Democratic Party to serve more than a single term as governor in Kansas. In the election of 1960 he lost to Republican candidate John Anderson, Jr. perhaps in part because of his stance on the death penalty. He was known to say "I just don't like killing people." His tenure was marked by his battles with a Republican controlled legislature, and a three-year dispute with the Kansas University Chancellor Franklin Murphy was settled, resulting in Murphy's resignation.
Docking was a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed him Director of the Export-Import Bank in Washington D. C. He served in that office until his death.

Death and legacy

Docking died from emphysema in 1964 in a hospital in Kansas City, Kansas and is interred at the Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City. Docking's son Robert served four terms as Governor of Kansas, from 1967 to 1975, and the Docking family remains one of the most prominent in Kansas politics. Docking was a champion amateur tennis player and a master bridge player.