CHAPTER 223 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5021 A  Concurrent  Resolution proposing to name the new state office building the Charles Curtis State Office Building.       WHEREAS,  The state has nearly completed construction of a new
office building on the southwest corner of the junction of Kansas Avenue
and 10th Street in Topeka, and it is appropriate that this building be
named after former Vice-President Charles Curtis; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis was born January 25, 1860, in North To-
peka; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis was the great-great-grandson of Chief
White Plume, a chief of the Kansa/Kaw tribe. After his mother died he
was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Julie Conville Pappan,
on the Kansa/Kaw Indian reservation in Morris County. He lived in a tipi
on the reservation for eight years, and although he attended a mission
school, didn't learn to read or write until he was nine years old; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis read law in Topeka and was admitted to
the Kansas bar at age 21. He was elected County Attorney for Shawnee
County at age 24, earning a reputation as a tough and impartial prosecutor
often quoted as saying ``If you don't want the laws enforced, don't vote
for me''; and

      WHEREAS,  Subsequently Charles Curtis served in the United States
House of Representatives from 1893-1907, and in the United States Sen-
ate from 1907-1913 and again from 1915-1929; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis served as Majority Leader of the United
States Senate from 1925-1929; and

      WHEREAS,  Throughout his Congressional career, Charles Curtis
sought to advance the causes of Native Americans, farmers and women's
rights, playing an influential role in the passage of the 19th amendment
to the United State Constitution granting women the right to vote; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis is credited with preventing the closing of
Ft. Riley and Ft. Leavenworth following the end of World War I; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis ran for President of the United States in
1928, losing his party's nomination to Herbert Hoover at the Republican
National Convention held in Kansas City; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis was subsequently nominated and served
as the 31st Vice-President of the United States from 1929-1933; and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis, having held public office for 38 years, is
the highest elected native Kansan, and the only person of Native Amer-
ican descent, to hold the office of Vice-President of the United States;
and

      WHEREAS,  Charles Curtis died in Washington, D.C. on February 8,
1936, and was honored by his state with the only funeral service ever held
in the Kansas statehouse. A plaque dedicated to his memory is located
on the south steps of the capitol; and

      WHEREAS,  It is entirely fitting to name our new office building after
Charles Curtis. He was our first statesman with Native American ancestry.
He represented the state with great distinction for many years in Wash-
ington, and locally his home and law office are within sight of the new
office building: Now, therefore,

      Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
the Senate concurring therein: That the new state office building should
be named and designated as the Charles Curtis State Office Building;
and

      Be it further resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send
enrolled copies of this resolution to the Governor and the Secretary of
Administration.

 Adopted by the House March 14, 2002.
Adopted by the Senate
March 22, 2002.
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