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Higher Office(s) Served: Representative

NATHAN EDWARD KENDALL, Iowa's twenty-third governor, was born in Greenville, Iowa on March 17, 1868. His early education was limited and attained in rural schools, however, he later went on to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1887, and established his legal career in Albia, Iowa. He served as the city attorney from 1890 to 1892 and the prosecuting county attorney from 1893 to 1897. Kendall entered politics in 1899, serving as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, a position he held five terms, and the last of which he served as speaker. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1909 to March 3, 1913. Kendall won the 1920 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 13, 1921. He was reelected to a second term in 1922. During his tenure, the state government was restructured; several state agencies were combined; security brokers were assessed and required to be licensed; orphaned, handicapped and abused children were protected and provided for; the state's park and highway systems were expanded; and the Warehouse Act was sponsored. Kendall left office on January 15, 1925, and retired from public service due to his failing health. Governor Nathan E. Kendall died on November 5, 1936, and his cremated ashes were buried on the lawn of his home in Albia, Iowa.

Sources:

Annals of Iowa, 33 (1956): 377-80.

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

Iowa History Project

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.