Henry Justin Allen


Henry Justin Allen was the 21st Governor of Kansas and U.S. Senator from Kansas.

Life and career

Allen was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, to John and Rebecca Elizabeth Allen. In 1870, his family moved to Kansas, where it settled in Clay County.
Before becoming active in politics, Allen acquired ownership of newspapers throughout Kansas, beginning in 1894 with the Manhattan Nationalist in Manhattan, Kansas. He owned the Topeka State Journal with Arthur J. Carruth Jr. and William P. Snyder. Generally forward-looking in his outlook, he hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design his home in Wichita, Kansas. Allen's home is the only residence designed by Wright in Kansas.
Allen was in France with William Allen White inspecting the facilities provided to Kansas soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I when his party nominated him for the office of governor. During the campaign in 1918, Allen never spent any of his own money and learned about his nomination from a Paris newspaper. He served from 1919 to 1923.
Allen expressed some admiration for Benito Mussolini's policies in the 1920s and pushed through a similar industrial court provision. When publisher William Allen White objected, he was arrested in a free speech battle. White won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for his editorial "To an Anxious Friend," published July 27, 1922, opposing the law.
After leaving the governorship, Allen was U.S. Special Commissioner for Near East Relief in Armenia, Turkey, Greece, and Southern Russia. In 1928, he was Director of Publicity for the Republican National Committee.
In April 1929, he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused when Charles Curtis resigned to become Vice President. Allen served from April 1, 1929 to November 30, 1930. He ran unsuccessfully for the remainder of Curtis' term, and was succeeded by George McGill.
Allen died in 1950 following a cerebral thrombosis in Wichita, Kansas. He is buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita. Allen was posthumously inducted into the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame two years later.