Happy Chandler
Happy Chandler | |
---|---|
44th and 49th Governor of Kentucky | |
In office December 13, 1955 – December 8, 1959 | |
Lieutenant | Harry Lee Waterfield |
Preceded by | Lawrence Wetherby |
Succeeded by | Bert Combs |
In office December 10, 1935 – October 9, 1939 | |
Lieutenant | Keen Johnson |
Preceded by | Ruby Laffoon |
Succeeded by | Keen Johnson |
2nd Commissioner of Baseball | |
In office November 1, 1945 – July 15, 1951 | |
Preceded by | Kenesaw Mountain Landis |
Succeeded by | Ford Frick |
United States Senator from Kentucky | |
In office October 10, 1939 – November 1, 1945 | |
Preceded by | M. M. Logan |
Succeeded by | William A. Stanfill |
36th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky | |
In office December 8, 1931 – December 10, 1935 | |
Governor | Ruby Laffoon |
Preceded by | James Breathitt Jr. |
Succeeded by | Keen Johnson |
Member of the Kentucky Senate from the 22nd district | |
In office January 8, 1929 – December 8, 1931 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Albert Benjamin Chandler July 14, 1898 Corydon, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | June 15, 1991 Versailles, Kentucky, U.S. | (aged 92)
Resting place | Pisgah Presbyterian Cemetery, Versailles, Kentucky |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Mildred Lucille Watkins
(m. 1925) |
Children | 4 |
Relatives | Ben Chandler (grandson) |
Alma mater | Transylvania University Harvard University University of Kentucky |
Occupation |
|
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1918–1919 |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Baseball career |
|
Member of the National | |
Baseball Hall of Fame | |
Induction | 1982 |
Election method | Veterans Committee |
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from
A multi-sport athlete during his college days at
Convinced that he was destined to become President of the United States, Chandler challenged
Following his term as commissioner, Chandler returned to Kentucky and won a second term as governor in 1955. The major accomplishments of his second term were enforcing the
Early life
Albert Benjamin Chandler was born in the farming community of Corydon, Kentucky, in 1898.[2] He was the eldest child of Joseph Sweet and Callie (Saunders) Chandler.[3] Chandler's father allegedly rescued his mother from an orphanage and married her when she was 15, but no record of their marriage has ever been found.[4] In 1899, Chandler's brother Robert was born. Two years later, their mother, still in her teens and unable to cope with raising two young children, abandoned the family. She fled the state and left her sons with their father.[4] In his autobiography, Chandler said that his mother's leaving them was his earliest memory.[4] Years later, he sought his mother and found her living in Jacksonville, Florida. She had married again and he had three half-siblings.[4] His full brother, Robert Chandler, died when he fell from a cherry tree when he was 13 years old.[5]
Chandler was raised by his father and relatives, and by age 8, he virtually supported himself financially from his paper route and doing odd jobs in his community.[6] In 1917, he graduated from Corydon High School,[3] where he had been captain of the baseball and football teams.[7] His father wanted him to study for the ministry, but Chandler instead entered Transylvania College (now Transylvania University) in Lexington, Kentucky.[2][8] It was there that he received his lifelong nickname "Happy" because of his jovial nature.[7] He paid for his education by doing chores for the local citizens.[9] Chandler was captain of Transylvania's basketball and baseball teams and the quarterback of the football team. He was a teammate of Dutch Meyer, a future member of the College Football Hall of Fame.[9][10] He also joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society.[11] In 1918, during World War I, the United States Army started a Student Officers' Training Corps at Transylvania, and Chandler began training to be an officer. The war ended before he was called to active duty.[10]
In 1920, Chandler pitched a
After a year, Chandler was not able to afford Harvard.[15] He returned to Kentucky and continued at the University of Kentucky College of Law,[3] coaching high school sports in Versailles and served as the head coach of the women's basketball at the University of Kentucky in 1923.[12][17] He was an assistant coach and scout for Charlie Moran at Centre, and he coached the freshman football team there.[16] A member of the Order of the Coif, he received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1924.[11] He was admitted to the bar the following year and opened his law practice in Versailles.[2][11]
On November 12, 1925, Chandler married Mildred Lucille Watkins, a teacher at the Margaret Hall School for Girls.[18] They would have four children: Marcella, Mildred ("Mimi"), Albert Jr., and Joseph Daniel.[19] Mimi Chandler played one of the four singing sisters in the 1944 film And the Angels Sing, appearing with Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, and Diana Lynn before abandoning acting and working for the Kentucky Department of Tourism.[20]
For the next five years, Chandler simultaneously practiced law, coached high school sports, and served as a scout for Centre.
Early political career
Chandler entered politics when he was named chairman of the Woodford County Democratic Committee.[8] In 1928, he was appointed master commissioner of the Woodford County circuit court.[21] The following year, he was elected as a Democrat to represent the 22nd district in the Kentucky Senate.[3][19] As a member of the Senate, he was part of a Democratic coalition that passed legislation to strip Republican Governor Flem D. Sampson of many of his statutory powers.[22]
As the 1931 gubernatorial election approached, Chandler and
Shortly after their election, the divide between Chandler and Laffoon widened over the issue of implementing a state
Free from any constitutional duties during the time between sessions, Chandler had begun laying the groundwork to succeed Laffoon as governor, almost from the beginning of his term as lieutenant governor.
Chandler feared that Laffoon, who controlled the State Democratic Central Committee, would attempt to handpick the Democratic gubernatorial nominee by calling a nominating convention instead of holding a
Laffoon knew that the primary bill would be widely supported in the General Assembly since both the legislators and their constituents had grown to distrust party nominating conventions.[29] Accordingly, he proposed a bill enacting a mandatory two-stage primary in which a runoff election would be held between the top two candidates in the first round.[24] Historian Lowell H. Harrison maintained that Laffoon expected his rival faction to nominate the aging Beckham to oppose Rhea and that Laffoon hoped that a two-stage primary would wear Beckham down.[24] Journalist John Ed Pearce, however, contends that Beckham had already declined to become a candidate, citing his own ill health and that of his son, before the special session convened.[30] Whatever the case, the legislature passed the bill that Laffoon proposed.[29]
First term as governor
After Beckham declined to run for governor, the anti-Laffoon faction supported Chandler against Rhea.[24] During the primary campaign, Chandler seized upon the unpopular sales tax, labeling Rhea "Sales Tax Tom" and calling on the electorate to redeem the state from "Ruby, Rhea, and Ruin".[24] In the first round of the primary, Rhea garnered 203,010 votes to Chandler's 189,575.[31] Frederick A. Wallis received 38,410 votes, and Elam Huddleston received 15,501.[30] The votes for Wallis and Huddleston meant that neither Rhea nor Chandler had achieved a majority, which triggered the runoff primary.[31] Both Wallis and Huddleston backed Chandler in the runoff, and Chandler defeated Rhea, by a vote of 260,573 to 234,124, to secure the nomination.[30]
Chandler promised to repeal the unpopular sales tax, lower the
One of Chandler's first acts as governor was to secure the repeal of the sales tax passed under Laffoon.
Acting on recommendations from Beckham's commission, legislators helped offset the lost revenue from the sales tax by raising
Critics pointed out that the act also centralized more power in the hands of the governor and accused Chandler of ulterior motives in supporting the act.[36]
Chandler used the savings realized from his reorganization of government to eliminate the state's budget deficit and to pay off most of the state's debt.[3][21] That brought about further savings by eliminating debt service costs, which were applied to improvements in the state's infrastructure and educational institutions.[37] Chandler allocated funds for free textbooks for the state's school children, created a teacher's pension fund, and provided extensive funding for the state's colleges and universities.[37] Because segregation prevented blacks from attending graduate school in the state, Chandler secured an allocation of $5,000 annually to help blacks attend out-of-state graduate schools.[38] He stopped short of desegregating the state's universities, however, and told a group of black and white educators that "it is not wise to educate the white and colored in the same school in the South. It is not prepared for it yet."[39]
In 1939, he appointed the first woman trustee on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, Georgia M. Blazer of Ashland. She served from 1939 to 1960.[40]
In 1936, Chandler urged implementation of the state's first rural roads program and development of electrical infrastructure with assistance from the federal Rural Electrification Act.[37] He implemented an old-age assistance program authorized by an earlier constitutional amendment, and in 1938, he proposed another amendment that would add dependent children and needy blind people to the state's assistance rolls.[37] He increased funding to the state's hospitals and asylums, and he personally aided with the evacuation of the Frankfort Penitentiary during the Ohio River flood of 1937.[41] Following the flood, Chandler convinced the legislature to construct the new Kentucky State Reformatory, at La Grange.[38]
Generally a friend of
In the 1936 US Senate contest in Kentucky, incumbent Democrat
In 1936, Chandler was awarded an
U.S. Senator
Aspirations
Both Robert Bingham and Percy Haly died in 1937. With J. C. W. Beckham aging (he would die in 1940), Chandler moved to fill the leadership void in the faction.
Eager to augment his power and angered by the refusal of Roosevelt and Barkley to accept his suggestion of appointing Logan to the Supreme Court, Chandler did not attend a long-planned dinner in Barkley's honor on January 22, 1938. Instead, he held an event of his own at
Barkley, who had been recently chosen as
In late May 1938, Chandler's campaign manager publicly claimed that federal relief agencies, especially the
The negative effects of the investigation on Barkley's campaign were minimal because of Chandler's own use of his gubernatorial power and patronage on behalf of his own campaign. Dan Talbott, one of Chandler's chief political advisors, encouraged supervisors of state workers to take punitive action against employees who made "pessimistic expressions" on Chandler's chances in the primary. Furthermore, Chandler initiated a rural road-building project in the state, employing loyal supporters to construct and maintain the new roads. State workers who supported Chandler were employed to deliver pension checks to the state's elderly citizens, and Talbott did not deny charges that the workers threatened to withhold the checks if the recipients did not pledge their support to Chandler.[49]
Roosevelt personally visited Kentucky to campaign on Barkley's behalf on July 8, 1938. As governor of the state, Chandler was on hand to greet Roosevelt on his arrival in Covington. Seeking to benefit from being nearest to the president, Chandler sat between Roosevelt and Barkley in the back seat of the open-topped vehicle that transported them to Latonia Race Track, the site of Roosevelt's first speech. Throughout his tour of the state, Roosevelt endorsed Barkley but remained friendly with Chandler. After Roosevelt's departure, Chandler played up Roosevelt's complimentary remarks about him but downplayed or ignored critical remarks.[50]
Late in the campaign, Chandler fell ill with chills, stomach pains, and a high fever.[51] After first claiming the symptoms were similar to those that he had experienced a year earlier, Chandler later described his malady as "intestinal poisoning".[51] His doctor announced that Chandler, Dan Talbott, and a state police officer had all been sickened after drinking "poisoned water" that had been provided to Chandler for a radio address.[51] Chandler maintained that someone from the Barkley campaign had tried to poison him, but the charge never gained much credence with the press or the electorate.[52] Barkley frequently mocked it on the campaign trail by first accepting a glass of water offered to him and then shuddering and rejecting it.[52] He pointed out to audiences that it was the young Chandler and not Barkley who had broken down first under the strain of the grueling campaign.[53]
With Chandler ally Robert Bingham no longer at its helm, The Courier-Journal supported Barkley, and organized labor, a key Chandler supporter in 1935, also threw its support to Barkley.[38] Former Chandler ally John Y. Brown Sr. also took an active part in the Barkley campaign.[54] Ultimately, Barkley defeated Chandler by a vote of 294,391 (56%) to 223,149 (42.6%).[52] The remaining 1.4% of the vote was dividing among minor candidates.[55] Chandler's 70,872-vote loss was the worst loss for a primary candidate in state history.[55]
Appointment
On October 9, 1939, following the death of Senator Logan, Chandler resigned as governor, elevating Lieutenant Governor Keen Johnson to the governorship. The following day, Johnson appointed Chandler to Logan's vacated seat in the Senate.[2][3] In a special election to fill the remainder of the unexpired term, Chandler then first defeated Charles R. Farnsley in the Democratic primary and Republican Walter B. Smith by a vote of 561,151 to 401,812 in the November 5, 1940, general election.[56] Although he never forgave Roosevelt for backing Barkley in the 1938 senatorial primary, he generally supported the Roosevelt administration except for parts of the New Deal.[57]
Chandler's mentor, Harry F. Byrd, led a group of
Chandler upset many in the black community by voting against an anti-
At the expiration of his partial term in 1942, Chandler faced a challenge from former ally John Y. Brown Sr. in the Democratic primary.
Chandler believed that he had enough support at the
Commissioner of baseball
After the death of Baseball Commissioner
Other candidates being considered included
Chandler remained in the Senate for several months after his election as commissioner because he wanted to cast his vote on the Bretton Woods Monetary Agreement and the Charter of the United Nations.[63] He received only his Senate salary until his resignation on November 1, 1945, despite claims to the contrary by the press.[63] Nevertheless, his delay in assuming the commissioner's job upset many team owners, as did his late arrival to Game 3 of the 1945 World Series, which rendered him unavailable to rule on whether the weather was clement enough to begin the game.[63] Many owners believed Chandler had been attending a political meeting, but he had actually been at a Detroit Athletic Club luncheon, where he was representing Major League Baseball.[64]
Chandler's election was also met with disdain from much of the press in the Eastern United States, where most of baseball's teams resided at that time.[65] His Southern drawl and his willingness to sing "My Old Kentucky Home" with very little encouragement led some sportswriters to opine that he was too undignified for the office.[65] Others resented his folksy, political style, calling him "a preening politician", "the Kentucky windbag", and "a hand-shaking baby-kissing practitioner of the arts".[65] Chandler further alienated the press by moving the commissioner's office to Cincinnati from Chicago in 1946.[65]
In early 1946,
Shortly after the Mexican league incident, Robert Murphy, a former negotiator for the National Labor Relations Board, attempted to organize the Pittsburgh Pirates into a guild for purposes of collective bargaining.[68] Murphy decried the reserve clause in player contracts, which gave team owners unlimited control over the player's services, and he demanded more rights for players, including the right of contract and the right of salary arbitration.[68] Chandler worked with Pirates officials to avoid a threatened strike by the players.[69] Part of Chandler's intervention included organizing a team of replacement players as a contingency plan; the team would have included Honus Wagner, then 72.[69]
The defections to the Mexican league and the threat of a strike by the Pirates prompted owners to form an advisory committee, chaired by Larry MacPhail, to suggest needed changes that would calm the discontent among the players.[70] On August 27, 1946, the committee presented a draft a document outlining the changes.[69] Language in the original draft admitted that baseball was operating as a monopoly and that racial bias was the sole reason for segregation in baseball.[69] Baseball's attorneys stripped the controversial language from the version that was eventually adopted by the owners.[69]
Breaking baseball's color line
Days prior to Chandler's assumption of the commissionership, the
Chandler, who was also allegedly at the meeting, made no public mention of it until a 1972 interview.
That Chandler supported Robinson and the racial integration of baseball is evidenced by his actions during the 1947 season. First and foremost, as commissioner, Chandler had the power to void Robinson's contract, but he chose to approve it.[72] Further, after extreme, race-based jeering at Robinson by the Philadelphia Phillies and their manager, Ben Chapman, Chandler threatened both the team and Chapman personally with disciplinary action for any future incidents of race-based taunting.[76] Later that season, he decisively supported Ford Frick's decision to suspend indefinitely any members of the St. Louis Cardinals who followed through on their threat to strike against racial integration.[77]
Other matters
During the 1946 postseason, rumors began to swirl that Yankees owner Larry MacPhail was lobbying Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher to leave the Dodgers and manage the Yankees. The move angered Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, who encouraged Chandler to begin an investigation into the gambling habits of Durocher and his associate, actor George Raft. In the offseason, Chandler and Durocher had a meeting; Chandler counseled Durocher to abandon his gambling.[78] Branch Rickey charged Chandler with maintaining a double standard, however, when the commissioner took no action after seeing MacPhail with two known gamblers at a Yankees–Dodgers preseason exhibition in Havana, Cuba.[78] MacPhail then signed two Dodgers assistant coaches (Chuck Dressen and John Corriden) as aides to Yankee manager Bucky Harris while they were still employed by the Dodgers.[7] Chandler suspended Dressen for 30 days and levied $2,000 fines against MacPhail and the Yankees.[7]
The Yankees–Dodgers feud continued in the New York newspapers throughout the offseason.[78] Charges were levelled by both sides, including accusations that Durocher was a philanderer because of his alleged involvement with married actress Laraine Day, which ultimately resulted in Day's divorce.[78][79] When Durocher subsequently married Day, a local Catholic priest declared that attending Dodgers games was a venial sin.[80] Prompted in part by this declaration, Chandler suspended Durocher from baseball for a year, just days before Opening Day, citing "conduct detrimental to baseball."[7]
Also in 1947, Chandler sold the rights to broadcast the
In 1949, Danny Gardella, who had left the New York Giants for the Mexican League in 1946, filed suit against Major League Baseball, claiming Chandler's ban on players who went to the Mexican League had denied him a means of pursuing his livelihood.[81] Gardella demanded $100,000 in damages from the suspension, and claimed that the award should be tripled because baseball was subject to federal antitrust laws.[81] Similar suits were filed by Max Lanier and Fred Martin, both of whom also played in Mexico.[81] On June 2, 1949, a federal court refused to reinstate the three players pending their trials but urged for the antitrust issues to be adjudicated as soon as possible.[81] Attempting to alleviate the legal pressure on Major League Baseball, Chandler lifted the bans on players who had gone to Mexico almost two years early.[81] Lanier and Martin dropped their suits, but Gardella pursued his.[81] After Gardella's lawyer publicly questioned Chandler in court about baseball's antitrust exemption for a day and a half in September 1949, baseball executives, including Chandler, agreed to settle Gardella's case for $60,000.[82]
Chandler's contract as baseball commissioner was not due to expire until April 1952, but he asked for the owners to extend it in December 1949.[83] The owners voted against offering the extension at that time but promised to reconsider the request in December 1950.[84] The vote in 1950 was nine votes for Chandler and seven against, leaving him three votes short of the necessary three-fourths majority.[84] Chandler asked for the extension to be reconsidered at the owners' meeting on March 12, 1951, but the vote was again 9–7.[84] Upset that his contract was not extended, Chandler resigned effective July 15, 1951.[7]
In an interview with The Sporting News in August 1951, Chandler cited his decision to void a trade between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox for outfielder Dick Wakefield as a major factor in his inability to secure a new contract.[85] The Yankees traded Wakefield to the White Sox for cash, but Wakefield refused to report to the White Sox after a salary dispute, which led to a disagreement between the teams over who was responsible for his salary.[86] Chandler voided the trade, making Wakefield's contract the Yankees' responsibility and angering their owner, Del Webb.[86] It was not until the 1970s that Chandler began to cite his involvement in the integration of baseball as a reason for his contract not being renewed.[84] Historian John Paul Hill considers that to be unlikely, however, because two of Chandler's strongest allies, Connie Mack and Walter Briggs Sr., were ardently opposed to integration, and Bill DeWitt, the second owner in the American League to integrate, voted against him.[84] Hill points to the Dick Wakefield dispute and Chandler's investigations of Del Webb and Cardinals owner Fred Saigh involving their rumored connections to gambling interests to be more compelling reasons for Chandler's dismissal.[86]
Following his tenure as baseball commissioner, Chandler returned to his law practice.[2] He also engaged in farming and published a newspaper, The Woodford Sun.[2][11] The Kentucky Press Association and the Kentucky Broadcasting Association both named him Man of the Year.[11] He continued his involvement in sports, presiding over the International Baseball Conference from 1952 to 1955.[11]
Second term as governor
Chandler remained involved in politics throughout his tenure as baseball commissioner. In 1948, he became the leader of the Dixiecrat movement in Kentucky.[87] He hosted Dixiecrat presidential candidate Strom Thurmond at his home when he visited the state but did not officially endorse Thurmond's campaign.[39][87] By the time that he had permanently returned to the state in mid-1951, it was too late to influence the gubernatorial contest.[88] He spent the next four years rebuilding his political base in preparation for another run at the office.[88]
1955 gubernatorial campaign
Twenty years after first holding the governorship, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race in 1955, using the slogan "Be like your Pappy and vote for Happy."
The inexperienced Combs did little to help his campaign. His first campaign speech, which he dryly read verbatim from his notes, included the candid admission that it might be necessary to re-institute the state sales tax to balance the budget.[88] Following that speech, a disappointed observer remarked, "Combs opened and closed [his campaign] on the same night."[88] That speech also gave Chandler his main issue for the campaign. He charged that Combs would raise taxes while promising that he would lower them as he had in his first term.[90]
Chandler's strategy in the campaign was to launch an attack upon the Wetherby administration and, before the Clements-Wetherby-Combs faction could react to it, to launch a new one.[88] He claimed that Wetherby had used the state's money frivolously by installing air conditioning in the state capitol and installing a $20,000 rug in his office.[88] (An invoice showing that carpeting for the entire first floor of the capitol had cost one tenth that amount did not stop Chandler from repeating the claim, which he said "didn't hurt anybody, and people liked to hear it".)[91] After a Wetherby administration official approved the purchase of African mahogany paneling for the governor's office, Chandler charged that Wetherby had gone "clear to Africa" to find paneling for his office and promised that, if elected, he would use good, honest Kentucky wood for decoration.[91] He also denounced the construction of a turnpike connecting Elizabethtown and Louisville, the state fairgrounds, and Freedom Hall as unnecessary.[88]
Chandler won the Democratic primary by 18,000 votes over Combs.[88] In the general election, he defeated Republican Edwin R. Denney by a vote of 451,647 to 322,671, then the largest margin of victory for a gubernatorial candidate in the state's history.[89]
Governorship
Soon after Chandler took office, it became clear that he could not fund the social programs initiated by Clements and Wetherby and Chandler's own proposed programs, with the revenue then being brought into the state treasury.
Although Democrats held a majority in both houses of the General Assembly, they were divided by factionalism, which made it difficult for Chandler to find sufficient support for his programs.[95] Some of the factionalism came from Clements and Combs supporters who were not willing to co-operate with Chandler, their chief political enemy.[96] Still other resistance to Chandler came from a group of more liberal lawmakers, like John B. Breckinridge, who simply had philosophical differences with the governor.[96] Near the end of the 1958 legislative session, that group demanded a special session to deal with the need for more money for schools and welfare programs, but Chandler refused to call the session when the liberals would not agree to pass only the measures he put before them.[96] Because of the factionalism, Chandler had to ally with Republican legislators throughout his term to pass many of his proposals, including his tax plan.[95] Frequently, that meant promising to build or repair roads in Republican districts in return for their support of his programs.[96]
During his campaign, Chandler had promised that he would fund a medical school at the University of Kentucky although the
Just as when he had been baseball commissioner, Chandler faced the issue of racial integration during his second term as governor. Among his first actions upon his election was to issue an executive order, ensuring that blacks and whites would have equal access to the
Still convinced that he was destined to become president, Chandler attended the
In the 1959 gubernatorial primary, Chandler threw his support to Lieutenant Governor Harry Lee Waterfield.[100] The anti-Chandler forces eventually put forth Bert Combs as their nominee again.[101]
Having learned from his previous campaign, Combs now attacked Chandler for allegedly requiring state employees to donate 2% of their salaries to his campaign.[101] According to Combs, Chandler had deposited the money in a bank in Cuba, but the money was lost when Fidel Castro overthrew the government during the Cuban Revolution.[101] Ultimately, Combs prevailed in the primary by a vote of 292,462 to 259,461.[101]
Republicans nominated John M. Robsion Jr. to oppose Combs. Combs ultimately won the general election by a wide margin.[102]
Later life
In 1957, Chandler was one of ten inaugural members of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.[11] A vestryman at St. John's Church in Versailles, he was awarded the Bishop's Medal of the Episcopal Church in 1959.[11] The same year, he received the Cross of Military Service from the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[11] He served as a trustee of the Ty Cobb Foundation and Transylvania University.[2] At the 1960 Democratic National Convention, he again sought the party's presidential nomination, as he considered that the front-runner, John F. Kennedy, was "a nice young fellow ... (but) too young for the nomination".[15] Chandler proposed for him to be the presidential nominee, with Kennedy as the nominee for vice-president, but the convention chose Kennedy for president instead.[15]
On January 3, 1962, Chandler opened a campaign headquarters in Frankfort, announcing his bid for an unprecedented third term as governor with the slogan "ABC [Albert Benjamin Chandler] in 1963".[103] His opponent in the primary was Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt Jr., the choice of outgoing Governor Bert Combs.[104] Chandler reverted to his familiar campaign themes, charging the Combs administration with wasting state funds in the construction of a floral clock at the state capitol and denouncing Combs for re-instituting the state sales tax.[104] However, he found it very difficult to adapt to campaigning via television, an increasingly important medium, and his attacks mostly fell flat.[104]
Breathitt enraged Chandler by charging that when Chandler was a senator, he had voted in favor of declaring World War II, but soon afterward, he had resigned his commission as a reserve army captain.
Chandler lost to Breathitt in the primary by more than 60,000 votes, but his running mate, Harry Lee Waterfield, won the nomination for lieutenant governor.[106] Journalist John Ed Pearce believed that the loss marked the demise of the Chandler wing of the Democratic Party in Kentucky, but Chandler himself remained somewhat influential.[107]
In 1965, Chandler was named to the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and became commissioner of the
In 1968, Chandler was given serious consideration as the vice-presidential running mate of
In 1971, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race, now as an
The Major League Baseball Veterans Committee chose Chandler for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.[112] In 1987, filmmaker Robby Henson profiled Chandler in a 30-minute documentary entitled Roads Home: The Life and Times of A.B. 'Happy' Chandler.[113]
Chandler endorsed dark horse candidate
Chandler published his autobiography, Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks, in 1989.[3] In an interview with The Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky's student newspaper, Chandler was asked about his controversial comments the previous year, which were addressed in the book.[114] Chandler reportedly told the paper, "I said most of the Zimbabweans were niggers and they are niggers."[114] The comment sparked fresh protests and calls for Chandler's resignation.[114] In response to the controversy, Chandler's personal assistant said, "He used the word again in explaining that it was not intended by him to be a racial slur" and called the Kernel's story "a complete and total distortion".[114]
Chandler died in Versailles on June 15, 1991, and was buried in the church yard of Pisgah Presbyterian Church near Versailles.[2] Prior to his death, he had been the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the longest-living former Kentucky governor.[15]
References
- ^ Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (June 16, 1991). "A.B. (Happy) Chandler, 92, Dies; Led Baseball During Integration". The New York Times. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Chandler, Albert Benjamin (Happy)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harrison, p. 179
- ^ a b c d Boyett, "Yesterday's News: Happy reunion"
- ^ Flaherty, p. 113
- ^ Roland, p. 168
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Albert Benjamin 'Happy' Chandler." Major League Baseball
- ^ a b c Shannon, p. 176
- ^ a b c Roland, p. 169
- ^ a b Flaherty, p. 117
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Albert Benjamin Chandler". Hall of Distinguished Alumni
- ^ a b c d Deford, p. 57
- ^ Flaherty, p. 119
- ^ a b Flaherty, p. 120
- ^ a b c d e f g Mead and Warren, "Kentucky's 'Happy' Chandler Dies"
- ^ a b Flaherty, p. 121
- ^ Hult, p. 174
- ^ Flaherty, pp. 121–122
- ^ a b c Flaherty, p. 122
- ^ Edwards, "'Happy's' Daughter has Found her Niche"
- ^ a b c d "Kentucky Governor Albert Benjamin Chandler." National Governors Association
- ^ Pearce, p. 28
- ^ a b c d e Klotter, p. 294
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harrison and Klotter, p. 368
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 34
- ^ a b Shannon, p. 177
- ^ a b c d Pearce, p. 36
- ^ a b c Roland, p. 170
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 37
- ^ a b c Pearce, p. 38
- ^ a b Klotter, p. 305
- ^ Pearce, p. 41
- ^ a b Shannon, p. 181
- ^ Pearce, p. 42
- ^ a b c d e Shannon, p. 182
- ^ Klotter, p. 309
- ^ a b c d Roland, p. 171
- ^ a b c d e Harrison and Klotter, p. 369
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Miller, "Chandler Civil Rights Record Shows 'Paradox'"
- ^ "Minutes of Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees, University of Kentucky, April 4, 1939, p. 1". Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
- ^ a b c Roland, p. 172
- ^ Shannon, p. 183
- ^ a b c d Klotter, p. 310
- ^ a b c Hixson, p. 312
- ^ Hixson, pp. 312–314
- ^ Hixson, pp. 310, 314–316
- ^ Hixson, p. 316
- ^ a b Hixson, p. 317
- ^ Hixson, pp. 318–319
- ^ Hixson, pp. 321–323
- ^ a b c Hixson, p. 324
- ^ a b c Harrison and Klotter, p. 370
- ^ Hixson, p. 325
- ^ Hixson, p. 328
- ^ a b Hixson, p. 326
- ^ a b c Pearce, p. 46
- ^ a b c Roland, p. 173
- ^ a b Harrison and Klotter, p. 373
- ^ Flaherty, p. 127
- ^ a b c Hill, p. 31
- ^ Hill, pp. 31–32
- ^ a b c d e Hill, p. 32
- ^ a b c Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 365
- ^ Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 366
- ^ a b c d Marshall, "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era " p. 107
- ^ a b c d e Marshall, "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era," p. 111
- ^ Moffi, p. 129
- ^ a b c Marshall, "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era," p. 112
- ^ a b c d e f Marshall, "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era," p. 113
- ^ Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 371
- ^ Hill, p. 35
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hill, p. 37
- ^ Marshall, "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era," p. 118
- ^ Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 376
- ^ a b Hill, p. 38
- ^ Hill, p. 40
- ^ Hill, pp. 40–41
- ^ a b c d Moffi, p. 126
- ^ Marshall, "A. B. Chandeler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 377
- ^ Moffi, p. 127
- ^ a b c d e f Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 381
- ^ Marshall, "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview," p. 382
- ^ Hill, p. 42
- ^ a b c d e Hill, p. 43
- ^ Hill, p. 45
- ^ a b c Hill, p. 44
- ^ a b Harrison and Klotter, p. 387
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harrison and Klotter, p. 403
- ^ a b Roland, p. 174
- ^ Pearce, p. 65
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 61
- ^ Pearce, p. 67
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 66
- ^ a b c d e f Pearce, p. 68
- ^ a b Harrison and Klotter, p. 405
- ^ a b c d Pearce, p. 70
- ^ a b c Harrison and Klotter, p. 388
- ^ Harrison and Klotter, p. 404
- ^ Harrison and Klotter, pp. 403–404
- ^ Harrison and Klotter, p. 406
- ^ a b c d Harrison and Klotter, p. 407
- ^ Pearce, p. 97
- ^ Pearce, p. 183
- ^ a b c Harrison and Klotter, p. 411
- ^ a b c d Pearce, p. 213
- ^ Pearce, p. 215
- ^ Pearce, p. 180
- ^ "Happy Adds Another 'Ex'". Toledo Blade
- ^ Roland, p. 175
- ^ a b Brammer, "Governor Names Chandler to UK Board"
- ^ Harrison and Klotter, p. 415
- ^ "Chandler, Happy". Baseball Hall of Fame
- ^ Carter, "Documentary an Endearing Portrait of Chandler"
- ^ a b c d e Lucke, "Chandler Remark Sparks New Controversy; UK Students Demand Removal of Trustee"
- ^ a b c d Lucke, "With 2 Sentences, Chandler Sparked Protest and Debate"
- ^ a b c Lucke and Anderson, "Chandler Assailed for Racist Remark"
Bibliography
- "Albert Benjamin Chandler". Hall of Distinguished Alumni. University of Kentucky Alumni Association. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
- "Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler". Major League Baseball. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- Boyett, Frank (November 9, 2008). "Yesterday's News: Happy reunion". The Gleaner.
- Brammer, Jack (January 5, 1988). "Governor Names Chandler to UK Board". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. A1.
- Carter, Tom (May 24, 1987). "Documentary an Endearing Portrait of Chandler". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. F1.
- "Chandler, Albert Benjamin (Happy)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- "Chandler, Happy". Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- Deford, Frank (July 20, 1987). "Happy Days". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- Edwards, Don (September 28, 1986). "'Happy's' Daughter has Found her Niche". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. B1.
- Flaherty, Vincent X. (1946). "The Life Story of Albert B. "Happy" Chandler". In J. G. Taylor Spink (ed.). Baseball Guide and Record Book. St. Louis, Missouri: Charles C. Spink and Son.
- "Happy Adds Another 'Ex'". Toledo Blade. Associated Press. January 15, 1966. p. 16.
- ISBN 0-8131-1772-0. Archived from the originalon April 15, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ISBN 0-8131-2008-X. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- Hill, John Paul (Fall 2010). "Commissioner A. B. "Happy" Chandler and the Integration of Major League Baseball: A Reassessment". NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. 19 (1): 28–52. S2CID 154870183.
- Hixson, Walter L. (Summer 1982). "The 1938 Kentucky Senate Election: Alben W. Barkley, "Happy" Chandler, and the New Deal". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 80: 309–329.
- Hult, Joan S.; Trekell, Marianna (1991). A Century of women's basketball : From Frailty to Final Four. Reston, Va: National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. ISBN 978-0-88314-490-9.
- "Kentucky Governor Albert Benjamin Chandler". National Governors Association. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ISBN 0-916968-24-3. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- Lucke, Jaime; Virginia Anderson (April 7, 1988). "Chandler Assailed for Racist Remark". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. A1.
- Lucke, Jaime (February 28, 1988). "Chandler Remark Sparks New Controversy; UK Students Demand Removal of Trustee". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. A1.
- Lucke, Jaime (January 29, 1989). "With 2 Sentences, Chandler Sparked Protest and Debate". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. B3.
- Marshall, William H. Jr. (Autumn 1984). "A. B. Chandler as Baseball Commissioner 1945–1951: An Overview". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 83 (4): 358–388.
- Marshall, William H. Jr. (Spring 2001). "Happy Chandler and Baseball's Pivotal Era". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 99 (1): 99–121.
- Mead, Andy; Jim Warren (June 16, 1991). "Kentucky's 'Happy' Chandler Dies". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. A1.
- Miller, John Winn (April 14, 1988). "Chandler Civil Rights Record Shows 'Paradox'". Lexington Herald-Leader. p. A1.
- Moffi, Larry (2006). The Conscience of the Game: Baseball's Commissioners From Landis to Selig. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-8322-0.
- Pearce, John Ed (1987). Divide and Dissent: Kentucky Politics 1930–1963. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1613-9.
- ISBN 0-8131-2326-7. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- Shannon, J. B. (1938). ""Happy" Chandler: A Kentucky Epic". In J. T. Salter (ed.). The American Politician. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press.
Further reading
- Chandler, Happy; John Underwood (May 3, 1971). "Gunned Down by the Heavies". Sports Illustrated.
- Chandler, Happy; Trimble, Vance H. (1989). Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks: The Life and Times of Happy Chandler. foreword by Bob Hope. Chicago, Illinois: Bonus Books, Inc.
- Chandler, Happy; John Underwood (April 26, 1971). "How I Jumped from Clean Politics to Dirty Baseball". Sports Illustrated.
- Marshall, William (1999). Baseball's Pivotal Era: 1945–1951. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813120416.
- Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company. OCLC 2690774.