State Web Site

Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War II

JOHN B. McCUISH, the thirty-fourth governor of Kansas, was born in Leadville, Colorado on June 22, 1906. His education was attained at the Kemper Military School in Missouri and at Washburn University, where he graduated in 1925. McCuish established a journalism career, first as a newspaper-advertising salesman, and later becoming the owner and editor of the Hillsboro Star and the Harvey County News, the last of which he owned for over twenty-five years. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, served as a private in the Anzio landings, and later aided the American Red Cross in Germany. McCuish entered politics in 1936, serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, a position he held again in 1948. He also served as treasurer of the Kansas Republican Committee in 1948, was the chairman of the Kansas Commission on Revenue and Taxation from 1939 to 1943, and served as the lieutenant governor of Kansas from 1954 to 1957. On January 3, 1957, Governor Fred L. Hall abruptly resigned from office, and McCuish, who was lieutenant governor at the time, assumed the duties of the governorship. He served in this capacity for eleven days. During his short tenure, he promptly appointed ex-Governor Hall to a vacated seat on the Kansas Supreme Court, which caused a controversy. After leaving office, McCuish retired from public service, and returned to his publishing duties. After suffering a stroke, Governor John B. McCuish passed away on March 12, 1962, and was buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Newton, Kansas.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The Political Graveyard

Kansas State Historical Society