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Keith George Sebelius (September 10, 1916 – August 5, 1982) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican.
He became active in politics following World War II and was later appointed to the Kansas Senate after narrowly losing two Republican primaries for the House of Representatives. He later entered the House of Representatives where he served for a decade before his death from prostate cancer in 1982.
During World War II he served in the United States Army and worked for intelligence agencies to detect German in the Caribbean.
In 1947, Sebelius was elected secretary of the Kansas Young Republicans Club and ran for president of the organization, but was defeated by Paul Lackie. On April 26, 1953, he was selected as the Junior American Legion Commander for the 6th district in Kansas and later became the senior commander in 1954. On September 5, 1955, Sebelius was elected Commander of the Kansas legion by a vote of 494 to 422, with his opponent being John K. Wells. In 1957, he was elected as president of Norton's Chamber of Commerce.
During the 1964 elections he served as a delegate to the Republican district convention and he announced that he would seek reelection on April 1, 1964. After facing no opposition in the Republican primary Sebelius defeated Democratic nominee Vance Templeton in the general election.
During the 1976 presidential election, Senator Bob Dole was selected as Ford's vice presidential running mate; had they won, it would have resulted in Dole's resignation from the Senate and a special election. It was speculated that Sebelius would be appointed to replace Dole. However, Governor Jimmy Carter won the presidential election causing Dole to remain in the Senate.
On November 15, 1973, he stated that "I frankly believe the man is telling the truth" after hearing Richard Nixon speak about Watergate for over an hour. On December 4, 1973, he voted in favor of House Minority Leader Gerald Ford's appointment as vice president after Spiro Agnew's resignation. After the transcript of the Nixon White House tapes were released he stated that they "are depressing to read and give an unfavorable view of the President". When asked what he thought of the possibility of Nixon refusing to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Nixon he stated that "it would be damn close to an impeachable offense". He voted in favor of a resolution allowing for live radio and television coverage of the impeachment inquiry by the House Judiciary committee. Following Nixon's resignation and Ford's accession to the presidency, Sebelius voted in favor of Nelson Rockefeller's appointment as vice president.
On April 25, 1980, Sebelius announced that he would not seek reelection to the House of Representatives and was succeeded by Pat Roberts, his administration aide.
When the House of Representatives voted on recognizing a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., Sebelius was one of the forty-eight representatives who abstained from the vote.
On July 18, 1973, he voted against the War Powers Resolution; after Nixon vetoed the bill Sebelius voted against the overriding of it on November 7, but the House and Senate voted to override Nixon's veto. On July 31, 1973, Sebelius voted in favor of a bill that would decrease the United States' military presence overseas by 100,000 and create a cap of 400,000 troops, but it was defeated by a vote of 243 to 163.
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