Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon (1887-1987) was the Republican nominee opposing Franklin D. Roosevelt in the U.S. presidential election of 1936. Running against popular New Deal policies, Landon lost to Roosevelt by the largest electoral vote margin of any candidate since 1820. After his defeat, he continued to speak out on issues as a Republican Party elder statesman.

Republican presidential candidate Alfred M. Landon holds the dubious distinction of being one of the great losers in American political history. Buried in the Democratic landslide of 1936, he managed to carry only two states against Franklin D. Roosevelt, a distinction unmatched until Democrat George McGovern's loss to Richard M. Nixon in 1972. The magnitude of Landon's defeat obscured his praiseworthy record as a two-term governor of Kansas. A moderate, reasonable leader who believed in orderly political change, Landon was never comfortable in championing old-fashioned Republican conservatism, as he was obliged to do...