View source for Dick Nichols

{{Short description|American politician and banker (1926–2019)}}
{{for|persons of a similar name|Richard Nichols (disambiguation)}}

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{{Infobox officeholder
| name           = Dick Nichols
| image          = Dick Nichols.jpg
| image_size     = 180px
| state          = [[Kansas]]
| district       = [[Kansas's 5th congressional district|5th]]
| predecessor    = [[Bob Whittaker]]
| successor      = District eliminated in [[United States congressional apportionment|reapportionment]] following the [[United States Census, 1990|1990 Census]]
| birth_name     = Richard Dale Nichols<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gliddenedigerfuneral.com/obituaries/Richard-Nichols-11/|title=Richard Dale "Dick" Nichols - View Obituary & Service Information}}</ref>
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1926|4|29}}
| birth_place    = [[Fort Scott, Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2019|3|7|1926|4|29}}
| death_place    = [[McPherson, Kansas]], U.S.
| party          = Republican
| term_start     = January 3, 1991 
| term_end       = January 3, 1993
| spouse         = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Connie Weinbrenner|1951|1994|end=her death}}
* {{Marriage|Linda Nichols|1996}}<ref name="Wichita_Eagle"/>
}}
| alma_mater     =  [[Kansas State University]]
| profession     =  Banker
}}
'''Richard Dale Nichols''' (April 29, 1926 – March 7, 2019) was an American banker and politician who served [[one-term congressmen|one-term]] as the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] from [[Kansas's 5th congressional district]].

==Life and career==
Born in [[Fort Scott, Kansas]], Nichols attended the public schools. He earned his B.S. from [[Kansas State University]] in 1951, after serving as an ensign in the [[United States Navy]] from 1944 to 1947.

Nichols was informational counsel to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, served as associate farm director of radio and television stations in [[Topeka, Kansas]], and was agricultural representative of a bank in [[Hutchinson, Kansas]]. From 1969 until he resigned in 1990 after being elected to Congress, Nichols served as president and chairman of the board of Home State Bank in [[McPherson, Kansas]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://rotarydistrict5670.org/stories/sen--moran-pays-tribute-to-congressman-dick-nichols |title=Sen. Moran Pays Tribute to Congressman Dick Nichols &#124; District 5670 |access-date=2019-03-09 |archive-date=2017-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301050508/http://rotarydistrict5670.org/Stories/sen--moran-pays-tribute-to-congressman-dick-nichols |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He served as a member of the Kansas State Republican Executive Committee, was a delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention, and was the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] chair for the Fifth Congressional District from 1986 to 1990.

In July 1986, Nichols and his wife were stabbed by an insane man aboard the [[Staten Island Ferry]] while touring [[New York City]]. He fully recovered from his wounds and was visited by Mayor [[Ed Koch]] in the hospital.<ref>{{cite web|title=MAN WITH SWORD KILLS 2 AND WOUNDS 9 ON S.I. FERRY|date=July 8, 1986|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/08/nyregion/man-with-sword-kills-2-and-wounds-9-on-si-ferry.html?pagewanted=all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nichols first speaker in series|date=October 24, 2011|work=McPherson Sentinel|url=https://www.mcphersonsentinel.com/article/20111024/NEWS/310249974|access-date=March 10, 2019|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208010347/https://www.mcphersonsentinel.com/article/20111024/NEWS/310249974|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Wichita_Eagle"/>

Nichols was elected as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to the [[102nd United States Congress|One Hundred Second Congress]] (January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993), representing [[Kansas's 5th congressional district]]. He narrowly beat future [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] Chairwoman [[Sheila Bair]] in a 6-way Republican primary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=412575|title=KS District 5 - R Primary - August 7, 1990|publisher=Our Campaigns|access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref> In the reapportionment following the [[United States Census, 1990|1990 Census]], Kansas was reduced from five House seats to four. Nichols' district was dismantled, with its territory split between the neighboring [[Kansas's 2nd congressional district|2nd]] and [[Kansas's 4th congressional district|4th]] districts. Nichols had his home drawn into the 4th district and ran for the Republican nomination to challenge [[Dan Glickman]] in the 1992 election. He lost in the primary to state Senator Eric R. Yost, who lost to Glickman in the general election.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=362267|title=KS District 4 - R Primary - August 4, 1992|publisher=Our Campaigns|access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Nichols married Connie Weinbrenner in 1951, and together had three children. Connie earned four degrees and was a professor at [[McPherson College]] before her death from cancer in 1994. Two years later, Nichols married his second wife, Linda.<ref name="Wichita_Eagle">{{cite web|title=Dick Nichols, Kansas' last Fifth District congressman, 'put service to others above self'|date=March 9, 2019|last=Finger|first=Stan|work=Wichita Eagle|access-date=March 9, 2019|url=https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article227341179.html}}</ref>

Dick Nichols died at his home in [[McPherson, Kansas]], on March 7, 2019, at the age of 92.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard D. Nichols |url=https://www.salina.com/obituaries/20190308/richard-d-nichols |website=Salina Journal |access-date=9 March 2019 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Wichita_Eagle"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{CongBio|N000094}}
* {{C-SPAN|1002102}}

{{KansasUSRepresentatives}}
{{USCongRep-start
| congresses= 102nd [[United States Congress]]
| state= [[United States congressional delegations from Kansas|Kansas]]}}
{{USCongRep/KS/102}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Bioguide}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Richard}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:American bankers]]
[[Category:Politicians from Fort Scott, Kansas]]
[[Category:People from McPherson, Kansas]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Kansas]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kansas]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:Kansas State University alumni]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]