4 hours ago
3
1 / 5
Linda Bond walks retired of the Missouri Capitol Rotunda with an authoritative escort aft the memorial work for her precocious husband, erstwhile Missouri Gov. and U.S. Sen. Christopher Kit Bond connected Tuesday, May 20, 2025, successful Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Christopher “Kit” Bond, a Republican who was Missouri's youngest politician earlier serving 4 presumption successful the U.S. Senate, was remembered Tuesday arsenic a beloved statesman who helped bid a procreation of leaders.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol escorted his assemblage from St. Louis, wherever helium died past week astatine the property of 86, to the Missouri Capitol successful Jefferson City, wherever hundreds of radical gathered for a memorial service. Bond is to prevarication successful authorities done Wednesday truthful members of the nationalist tin wage their respects.
“Over and implicit again, Kit launched the careers of young people, talented, committed, dedicated radical who later, aft appointment, recovered accidental beckoning them to accomplishment levels they hadn’t anticipated,” said John Ashcroft, who was a governor, legislator and lawyer wide nether President George W. Bush. “Kit was a idiosyncratic of some idiosyncratic and governmental integrity. I person nary recollection of anytime wherever Kit failed to unrecorded up to his commitments.”
As a subordinate of the almighty Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond secured national wealth for large and tiny projects successful Missouri, scoffing astatine authorities watchdog groups that considered him a maestro of pork-barrel spending.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver recalled that portion helium was serving arsenic politician of Kansas City, a monument to grant World War I veterans known arsenic Liberty Memorial had fallen into disrepair. He likened the 217-foot (66-meter) gangly operation that was built aft a burst of postwar patriotism to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He said Bond stepped successful with national dollars to assistance reconstruct it.
“Working unneurotic arsenic friends was the propellant that allowed us, with others, to change the scenery of Kansas City,” Cleaver said.
Early successful his career, Bond was considered a governmental wunderkind. When helium took bureau astatine property 33 arsenic Missouri’s youngest governor, helium was besides the state’s archetypal Republican main enforcement successful astir 3 decades and garnered information arsenic a vice statesmanlike candidate. His aboriginal occurrence stalled erstwhile helium mislaid a reelection bid, but helium aboriginal rebounded to triumph different word arsenic politician earlier being elected to the Senate successful 1986 and yet becoming the patriarch of the Missouri Republican Party.
Testaments to Bond’s longevity successful the nationalist arena are stamped crossed Missouri. A national courthouse successful Jefferson City and a beingness sciences halfway astatine the University of Missouri-Columbia are named aft him. A road span crossing the Missouri River successful Hermann and 1 successful Kansas City besides transportation his name.
“Kit Bond was an exceptional idiosyncratic who was blessed with galore talents," said erstwhile U.S. Sen. John Danforth. “He was precise smart. He was highly educated. He had boundless energy. He wanted for nothing. He could person clung connected to what was his and lived comfortably lone for himself. But that was not what helium did. He invested his talents, enactment them astatine risk, and helium produced specified a large instrumentality to the state.”
___
Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.
English (US) ·