A. S. J. Carnahan
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Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan (January 9, 1897-March 24, 1968) was an American politician. He was a US House member from southwestern Missouri for 14 years, as well as the first member of the Carnahan family to serve in public office.
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[edit] Early life
Carnahan was born near Ellsinore, Missouri, and attended public schools in Ellsinore and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Carnahan entered the Navy in 1918, serving for two years before returning home. He attended the Missouri State Teachers College in Cape Girardeau, now Southeast Missouri State University where he has a building named in his honor which houses the school's Political Science department among others. Carnahan taught in southeastern Missouri for several years before enrolling at the University of Missouri, from which he graduated in 1934. For the next several years, Carnahan was a high school administrator, rising to the post of superintendent of schools in Ellsinore.
[edit] Political career
In 1944, Carnahan was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat. He served only one term before being defeated in 1946, but ran again in 1948 and won. Carnahan served in the House for six consecutive terms, but failed to win the Democratic Party's nomination for his own seat in 1960. In 1961, Carnahan was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as the first American ambassador to Sierra Leone; he retired from this post in 1963. Carnahan died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 1968.
[edit] Family legacy
A.S.J. Carnahan was the first of three generations of the family to serve in public office, and the Carnahans have become one of the best known and most enduring families in Missouri politics. He was the father of Mel Carnahan, who went on to become the Governor of Missouri from 1993 to 2000; his daughter-in-law (Mel's wife) was appointed a United States Senator following Mel's death just before his election to that body. His grandson Russ Carnahan is now a Congressman, and his granddaughter Robin Carnahan is Missouri Secretary of State.
