Brief biography of Charles Curtis

On his radio show Friday, Michael Medved mentioned in passing former Vice President Charles Curtis. Mister Curtis was the United States' thirty-first v.p. after being swept into office in a landslide as President Herbert Hoover's running mate.

Curtis was born in Kansas Territory in 1860 and he has a pretty typical resume for a vice president. An attorney by trade and a Republican by party affiliation, he was elected to six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from his district in Topeka, Kansas. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate where he first served as Senate Minority Whip (1915-1924) and later, when the Republicans held a majority, Senate Majority Leader (1925-1929). When Hoover became president in 1929, Curtis resigned from the senate and took the office of vice president. Charles Curtis left office in 1933 after the Hoover-Curtis ticket lost their bid for re-election.

Yep. Nothing unusual about his political career. In fact, his entire biography is pretty darn typical for a vice president of the U.S.A. Only thing is, Charles Curtis was an American Indian. At least on his mother's side (his ma was three-fourths American Indian). He was raised by his maternal grandparents on a Kaw Indian reservation in Kansas. And he eventually obtained the office of vice president.

Why more people aren't aware of Charles Curtis is something of a puzzle to me. I think it may be because he was a Republican and Hoover's vice president. That's a double whammy against Mr. Curtis in this age of leftist totalitarianism and political correctness that has invaded are public school system. Sad, really, because if one feels the need to acknowledge the accomplishments of minorities, Charles Curtis should not only be acknowledged but currently be in the forefront of current news as Barak Obama is about to take the oath of president. I'd bet my iPod (and I love my iPod) that there isn't more than one in ten mainstream media journalists or college graduates who knows who Charles Curtis is.