Robert S. Kerr

Infobox Governor
name = Robert S. Kerr


order = 12th
office = Governor of Oklahoma
term_start = 1943
term_end = 1947
lieutenant =
predecessor = Leon C. Phillips
successor = Roy J. Turner
birth_date = September 11, 1896
birth_place = Ada, Oklahoma
death_date = January 1, 1963
death_place = Washington, D.C.
party = Democrat
spouse =
profession =
religion =
order2= United States Senator
from Oklahoma
term_start2= 1949
term_end2= 1963
predecessor2= Edward H. Moore
successor2= J. Howard Edmondson

Robert S. Kerr (September 11 1896–January 1, 1963) was an American businessman from Oklahoma. Kerr formed a petroleum company before turning to politics. He served as Governor of Oklahoma and was elected three times to the United States Senate. Kerr worked natural resources, and his legacy includes water projects that link the Arkansas River via the Gulf of Mexico to the oceans of the world.

Early years

Kerr was born in a log cabin near what is now Ada, Oklahoma in Indian Territory. He enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee as a junior in high school. He later attended East Central State College in Ada and the University of Oklahoma. He served the United States Army late in World War I, then returned to study law under an Ada judge. Kerr passed the bar exam in 1922.

His twin daughters died at birth, then his business burned to the ground, then his first wife, Reba Shelton, and son died shortly after childbirth.

Kerr and his brother-in-law formed the Anderson-Kerr Drilling Company. After Anderson retired, Kerr convinced Dean McGee to leave Phillips Petroleum Company to become his partner, and the name of the company was changed to Kerr-McGee.

Politics

Kerr first held elective office when he was elected governor of Oklahoma in 1942. He was the first native-born governor.

During World War II, despite the tendency of Oklahomans to keep the Federal government at arm's-length, Kerr promoted ties to the government, knowing how important the jobs and activity were to create prosperity. Oklahoma became home to many wartime industries and was a training site for military personnel. After the war, he called for increased spending to allow for post-war development of the state. Kerr traveled around the country to promote Oklahoma at his own expense.

Kerr ran for election to the Senate as a Democrat in 1948. In a closely contested race, Kerr became the first Oklahoma governor elected to the Senate. He had Presidential aspirations briefly in 1952, but he failed to win the Democratic nomination. Kerr devoted his energies to building his Senate career.

Kerr served on several key Senate committees, most notably the Finance and Public Works committees. He forged alliances to key senators including Lyndon B. Johnson, who was the Senate Majority Leader. As a petroleum executive, Kerr also championed petroleum and natural gas interests, and advocated for the conservation of natural resources. His father had told him “To raise a family, you have to have three things – land, wood and water." [ cite web|title=Robert S. Kerr|work=Kerr Conference Center|publisher=Carl Albert State College|url=http://www.carlalbert.edu/kerr_center/robert_s_kerr.htm|accessdate=2007-10-02]

Death and legacy

Kerr suffered a fatal heart attack on January 1, 1963. Shortly after he died, an article written by an Associated Press reporter agreed with the title of the "The Saturday Evening Post" tribute. Both called Kerr “The Uncrowned King of the Senate.” cite web|last=Pett|first=Saul|title=Robert S. Kerr Exhibit|work=The Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma|publisher=Associated Press|year=1962|url=http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/kerr/KERRPN1.HTM|accessdate=2007-10-02]

Kerr's chief legacy for the state of Oklahoma is a series of water projects and dams that made the Arkansas River into a navigable inland waterway system. During his term as governor, Kerr witnessed the devastation caused by flooding of the Arkansas River and its tributaries due to the river's shallowness, which prevented river traffic from reaching Oklahoma. His first bill in Congress created the Arkansas, White and Red River Study Commission, which planned the land and water development in this region. He died before he saw the commission's work come to fruition as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, a series of 17 locks and dams making the waterway navigable from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa to the Gulf of Mexico.

Dozens of Oklahoma schools, buildings, roads, streets, parks, organizations, and events are named in Kerr's honor. The Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma houses Kerr's papers; most are from his years in the Senate, but some gubernatorial papers and his political and Senate speeches are also included.

References

* Morgan, Anne Hodges. "Robert S. Kerr: The Senate Years" (1977).
* [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3581550 Salter, J. T. "Public Men in and out of Office"(1946)] ch 25.

External links

* [http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/kerr.htm Robert S. Kerr Collection] – Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma