A final conversation with a Kansas political icon: In praise of local newspapers and community ties

Robert Blaemire, author of a book about former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, moderates a discussion with former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum in 2022 at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

In September 2024, I spoke to former U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker for one of her last interviews.

I didn’t know that at the time, of course. Kassebaum died Friday at age 94, nearly two years after our conversation. But given her somewhat fragile health at the time, I understood the retired politician had chosen a life outside the public eye.

Her willingness to speak with me — for my upcoming book about Kansas opinion writers — came as a welcome surprise. I used only a small amount of our conversation in the book, but the rest seems more relevant now than it did before the reelection of Donald Trump and despicably partisan wrangling in state government.

Kassebaum was a fervent booster of local newspapers, and the reporting and commentary they contained. During our roughly 20-minute phone conversation, she was at pains to talk about how much she valued the insight they provided.

She began by talking about advice shared with her by her father, former Kansas Gov. and presidential candidate Alf Landon, about campaigning for office. Landon believed the road to power traveled straight though local journalism.

“Dad very much felt it was important, and he told me that when I started out, the first thing you ought to do is to go by the newspaper office,” Kassebaum told me.

She added: “I wonder how far I would get if it hadn’t been for him, because dad knew so many of the newspaper people.”

Local newspapers, in her telling, weren’t just megaphones. They were receivers. Reporters and editors at The Iola Register or El Dorado Times or Hutchinson News understood their role in the democratic process. They kept up on politics and their important role in educating readers.

That could prove daunting, even to the daughter of a political icon.

“I used to get kind of embarrassed just to go walking in and say, ‘Hi,’ because I’m running for office, and tell them who I am,” Kassebaum said. “And a lot of people knew — probably not in your bigger communities — but if you went into smaller communities, they knew who you were. When you walked in and said who you were, then they’d say, ‘Oh yes, you’re running for office.’ ”

Landon also advised his daughter to ask journalists what issues were troubling the people in town. Local news served as a critical channel between everyday folks and a would-be senator.

“You came to find out a lot about the community by spending some time, not just always with the editor, but around the the newspaper,” Kassebaum told me.

And while she might have felt a bit tense in newspaper offices, Kassebaum still rhapsodized about the experience of meeting everyday people. Her instinct toward connection served her well during three terms in Washington, D.C.

“I really enjoyed campaigning, to tell you the truth. I liked to go door-to-door in a town and stop and just say, ‘Hi, I’m campaigning and would appreciate your support,’ or visit,” she said.

After her election in 1978, Kassebaum prioritized hometown connections.

“I had a very fortunate staff in Washington, because I liked to have people who knew Kansas and enjoyed knowing politics and Kansas,” she said. “It wasn’t always somebody looking for what’s the next step up. And I came home frequently. I came home nearly every weekend.”

Kassebaum returned to her home state in late 2014 and spent the rest of her life here. She kept up with what was going on throughout the state. She regularly read the Wall Street Journal and Council Grove Republican.

And yes, she told me, she was familiar with Kansas Reflector.

She made a handful of high-profile endorsements in her later years, backing Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Those stances might have put her at odds with GOP faithful, but our conversation only underscored how Kassebaum saw herself as a supporter of state and community rather than as a partisan.

That’s why she returned time and again during our talk to the vital importance of local journalistic institutions. They help bind people together — much as she once did.

“It’s important for people who are not just running for office, but are involved in the community in all kinds of ways, to be able to have a newspaper that’s there and available and keep the community together,” Kassebaum said. “Once the community loses their newspaper, it’s a different community.”

Kassebaum did more than her part to bring Kansans together over 94 remarkable years. Now, it’s up to the rest of us.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. His first book, “Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters — Then and Now,” comes out Sept. 29 from the University Press of Kansas. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.