He graduated from Fredonia High School in 1887 and took one term at Kansas University.

[1] He took a course at Bryant and Stratton Business College in Saint Louis, Missouri, and then worked in his father's merchandise store in 1889.

Paulen received support from the Ku Klux Klan during the Republican gubernatorial primary election in 1924.

[2] Paulen was elected and reelected to serve two terms as Governor of Kansas from 1925 to 1929.

During that time, he signed the 1927 Kindergarten Bill into law,[3] cigarette sales became legal and taxed, a state gasoline tax was sanctioned, an insurance code was established, and a banking board was organized.