A. S. J. Carnahan Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan ( January 9 , 1897 - March 24 , 1968 ) was an American politician . Early life Carnahan was born near Ellsinore , Missouri , and attended public schools in Ellsinore and Cape Girardeau , Missouri . Carnahan entered the Navy in 1918 , serving for two years before returning home . He attended the Missouri State Teachers College in Cape Girardeau , now Southeast Missouri State University where he has a building named in his honor which houses the school 's Political Science department among others . Carnahan taught in southeastern Missouri for several years before enrolling at the University of Missouri , from which he graduated in 1934 . For the next several years , Carnahan was a high school administrator , rising to the post of superintendent of schools in Ellsinore . Political career In 1944 , Carnahan was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat . He served only one term before being defeated in 1946 , but ran again in 1948 and won . Carnahan served in the House for six consecutive terms , but failed to win the Democratic Party 's nomination for his own seat in 1960 . In 1961 , Carnahan was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as the first American ambassador to Sierra Leone ; he retired from this post in 1963 . Carnahan died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester , Minnesota in 1968 . Family legacy A.S.J. Carnahan was the first of three generations of the family to serve in public office , and the Carnahans have become one of the best known and most enduring families in Missouri politics . He was the father of Mel Carnahan , who went on to become the Governor of Missouri from 1993 to 2000 ; his daughter-in-law ( Mel 's wife ) was appointed a United States Senator following Mel 's death just before his election to that body . His grandson Russ Carnahan is now a Congressman , and his granddaughter Robin Carnahan is Missouri Secretary of State . References Congressional biography Categories : 1897 births | 1968 deaths | Ambassadors of the United States | Members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri | Missouri politicians | People from Cape Girardeau County , Missouri In other languages : Français 