r Biography of THE HONORABLE RICHARD DEAN ROGERS Senior United States District Judge r By Homer E. Socolofsky 1 1 Copyright © 1995 by The United States District Court, Kansas District This biography is made available for research purposes. All rights to the biography, including the right to publish, are reserved to the United States District Court, District of Kansas. No part of the biography may be quoted for publication without the permission of the Court. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Clerk of the Court, United States District Court, District of Kansas, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. ff^ It is recommended that this biography be cited as follows: Richard DeanDean Rogers, Rogers, "Biography "Biography of the of Honorable the Honorable Richard RichardDean Rogers, Dean Senior Rogers, United Senior States United States "1 District Judge,*Judge," aa historyhistory prepared 1994-1995 by Homer Socolofsky, United States District Court, DistrictT C i a + T »of i # Kansas, * + 1995. A f l T o n e o o 1 Q O R - > Printed in U.SA. by Mennonite Press, Inc., Newton, Kansas 67114 'v.r The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers | in m ftp) PI TTie United States District Court gratefully ^1 acknowledges the contributions of the Kansas Federal Bar jpt v. W\ spp ifS 1*1 53} p The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers - r r r r r The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers vii ipfy ij$B| Preface wi legal terms and procedure in extended tape- 1B^ last December, inviting me to write recorded sessions. And they were always When Judgea biography Monti of BelotJudge telephonedRichard D. prompt in response to mailed in questions. Rogers, I was interested. But I wanted more Thank you all for willingly providing your information, what should a judicial biogra time and also to Cindy Rogers, who helped phy contain, how long should it be, were pic to fill in the details of the past ten years. tures to be included, and was there an The expert editing by Patty Stones, Penny already completed biography to serve as a and Tom Socolofsky is appreciated. guide? Also, I needed to contact Dick Rogers, A love of Kansas history is one of the fas ji^fj whom Fd known since 1940. cinating qualities about Dick Rogers, a trait Answers were soon received to many of which I share. In spite of all the care taken to my questions. I met with Judge Rogers and be fully accurate in this Kansas-based biog he showed me some of the materials from raphy, a biographer is ever aware of steps not which a biography could be drawn. It is his taken and areas not explored. In some ways fS} fashion to downplay his eventful life. With I'm like William Allen White who prefaced out his help and his frank and full answers his Autobiography with the statement: to my many questions the results would This Autobiography, in spite of all the have been scant indeed. Much can be pains I have taken and the research I have gleaned from contemporary newspapers, put into it, is necessarily fiction. The fact from local and state histories, from personal that names, dates, and places seem to corre accounts of people living in Oberlin, Clyde, spond with such things that may have occurred in real life does not guarantee the Wamego, Manhattan, and Topeka, and from truth of these stories. So, in all candor, I maps and pictures of these areas. All of wish to warn the reader not to confuse this these sources and others have been story with reality. For God only knows the employed in this biography. truth. I am hereby trying, in my finite way, IS Judge Rogers and his law clerks, Jim to set down some facts which seem real and Prentice and Pat Haley, have provided care true to me. And best, this is only a tale that ful and extended tutelage on the opinions, is told! p| both published and unpublished, that are Homer E. Socolofsky, July 20,1995, Man discussed here. They patiently explained hattan, Kansas » viii I The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers ppj The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers | ix m^ Wsj Contents ispi I . B E G I N N I N G S 1 pp II. GROWING UP IN WAMEGO 13 I I I . K - S T A T E A N D W O R L D W A R I I 2 9 IV. BEGINNING ALAW CAREER 51 ■p^ V . N O N P A R T I S A N A N D P A R T I S A N P O L I T I C S 6 5 V I . M U S I C , L I T E R A T U R E A N D H U M O R 8 5 VII. UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE, ■SSI A U G U S T 7 , 1 9 7 5 - D E C E M B E R 3 1 , 1 9 8 8 9 5 VIII. SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE, S I N C E J A N U A R Y 1 , 1 9 8 9 I l l F o o t n o t e s f o r C h a p t e r s I - V I I I 1 2 5 m A P P E N D I X A I n s t a l l a t i o n a s U . S . D i s t r i c t C o u r t J u d g e 1 2 9 A P P E N D K B C i t a t i o n f o r D i s t i n g u i s h e d F l y i n g C r o s s 1 3 3 APPENDIX C Response by Judge Rogers on being named the 1985 » "Distinguished Kansan of the Year" by the Native Sons and Daughters 135 A P P E N D I X D R e m a r k s o n G e o r g i a N e e s e G r a y 1 3 9 p^ A P P E N D I X E E u l o g y t o W a r r e n W . S h a w 1 4 1 ,^j A P P E N D I X F A f fi l i a t i o n s , H o n o r s a n d A w a r d s 1 4 5 I n d e x 1 4 7 J! The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers t*^' cs 1*3 p^ The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers | 1 ipi Chapter I i^pi Beginnings ichard Dean Rogers took the oath of office as the newest federal district judge ipR! in Kansas on Thursday afternoon, August 7, 1975. Judge Delmas C. Hill, from R1fthe; Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, presided at the swearing in cer emony in the Federal District Court in Topeka. The "sometimes relaxed 40-minute cer emony," was attended by personal friends, family, and by more than a hundred mem bers of the Kansas Bar Association. Taking part in the ceremony were a mixture of state and federal participants, including Governor Robert F. Bennett and Presiding Judge Wesley E. Brown of the Kansas District Court, who spoke briefly.1 'ifPty Judge Hill noted that both he and Rogers "came from Wamego. ... I first remember him as a handsome, well-groomed youngster in knee pants . able to get the best job in town for a boy his age" and who courted and won as his wife "not only one of the nicest but also the prettiest girl in town." Leonard O. Thomas, a past president of the Kansas Bar Association, recognized Rogers for his unique qualifications and J. C. Tillotson, chairman of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee, presented the new judge with his presidential commission. Retiring Kansas District Judge George Templar helped Judge Rogers put on his new black judicial robe. In reality, Richard D. Rogers had prepared for this appointment to the federal bench all of the fifty-three 'in years of his life.2 Richard Dean Rogers was born at home were always well dressed, and they knew in Oberlin, Kansas, on December 29, 1921, and understood quality clothing. When they i#l the third son of William Clark Rogers and were married, according to a news account, Evelyn Mae Christian Rogers. William and William C. was the Kansas representative Evelyn were married in Clyde, Kansas, on for the North Ridge Brush Company and April 27,1916. William had grown up on the was instructing and appointing agents for Rogers farm, three miles south of Clyde. various parts of the state. jfPj Evelyn's family also farmed near Clyde. Evelyn Mae Rogers' parents were Valen- Both William and Evelyn had an eighth tine (known as Vol) and Jenette Parker grade education, although Evelyn spent Christian. Vol had come to Kansas in the MR another year at a Catholic school. Both had early 1870s from South Bend, Indiana, in a worked in a clothing store in Clyde; they covered wagon. He was married to Laura S. were intelligent, used excellent English, Fitch in Marysville, Kansas, on June 29, fi^ 2 | The Honorable Richard Dean Rogers 1871, and she died Nov 4, 1874 after the miles east of Oberlin.