WHEREAS, Edward F. Arn, 91, of Wichita, former attorney general, Kansas Supreme
Court justice, and governor of the state of Kansas, died January 22, 1998; and
WHEREAS, Edward F. Arn served as governor from 1951 to 1955. He became attorney
general in 1946 but resigned during his second term in 1949 to accept an appointment to
the Kansas Supreme Court. He resigned from the Kansas Supreme Court in 1950 to run
for governor. As governor, he started construction of the Kansas Turnpike by lifting the
first scoopful of dirt for the bridge to be built over the Kansas River near Lawrence. As
attorney general, he enforced the state's liquor laws so strictly that ``Kansans didn't want
it any longer,'' thereby leading to the repeal of the state's prohibition laws in 1948 by Kansas
voters. After touring Kansas towns and farmlands ravaged by the 1951 flood, he helped
gain federal funding to repair the damage and supported other flood-control projects. He
helped persuade Dwight Eisenhower to run for president on the Republican ticket in 1952
and gave the seconding speech for his nomination; and
WHEREAS, The administration of Governor Arn was particularly noted for its progress
in many fields of government, examples are: Creation of the Kansas Department of Ad-
ministration which created budget control over all state agencies, centralized purchasing,
uniform accounting and auditing and centralized personnel administration; creation of the
State Office Building Commission and the erection of the (now Docking) State Office
Building in Topeka; enactment of the judicial retirement system for Supreme Court Justices
and District Court Judges; enactment of the Fair Employment Practices Act; enactment
of a teachers' retirement program; upgrading of the level of care for mentally ill from a
one-time ranking of 46th to 3rd among the 48 states; and enlargement of the Kansas
Highway Patrol--all with no increase in taxes and with a fiscal year 1955 budget of 236.9
million dollars; and
WHEREAS, Subsequent to his years of public service Edward F. Arn returned to Wich-
ita and to a thriving law practice. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1962 but lost in the primary
to the incumbent James Pearson. In May 1973, he was appointed by the Kansas Supreme
Court as Chairman of the Judicial Study Advisory Committee constituted by the 1973
Kansas Legislature to make a survey and study of the Kansas Court system. In 1974, he
was the recipient of the Herbert Harley award by the American Judicature Society in
recognition of his service in promoting the effective administration of Justice. He served
from 1974 to 1984 as a member of the Kansas Supreme Court Judicial Qualifications
Commission. He retired from his law firm, Arn, Mullins, Unruh, Kuhn and Wilson, L.L.P.,
in 1988; and
WHEREAS, At age 37, Edward F. Arn volunteered for military service during World
War II and became a Lieutenant in the Navy serving for nearly three years on an aircraft
carrier in the South Pacific; and
WHEREAS, Edward F. Arn is survived by two daughters, Dolores Arn Underhill and
Barbara Arn Smith, a stepdaughter, Susan Sheets, seven grandchildren, three stepgrand-
children and 10 great-grandchildren: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas: That we extend
our deepest sympathy to the family of Edward F. Arn.
I hereby certify that the above Resolution originated in the House, and was adopted
by that body