Lawrence Wetherby
Lawrence Wetherby | |
---|---|
48th Governor of Kentucky | |
In office November 27, 1950 – December 13, 1955 | |
Lieutenant | Emerson Beauchamp |
Preceded by | Earle Clements |
Succeeded by | A. B. "Happy" Chandler |
40th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky | |
In office December 9, 1947 – November 27, 1950 | |
Governor | Earle Clements |
Preceded by | Kenneth H. Tuggle |
Succeeded by | Emerson Beauchamp |
Member of the Kentucky Senate | |
In office 1966 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Lawrence Winchester Wetherby January 2, 1908 Middletown, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | March 27, 1994 Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S. | (aged 86)
Resting place | Frankfort Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Helen Dwyer |
Alma mater | University of Louisville (LLB) |
Profession | Lawyer |
Lawrence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) was an American politician who served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Kentucky. He was the first of only two governors in state history born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville (the county seat) is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor, Andy Beshear.
After graduating from the
Early life and career
Lawrence Wetherby was born January 2, 1908, in Middletown, Kentucky.[1] He was the fourth child of Samuel Davis and Fanny (Yenowine) Wetherby.[2] His grandfather was a surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War.[2] His father was also a physician and farmer, and during his childhood years, Wetherby worked on the family farm.[3]
After graduating from Anchorage High School, Wetherby enrolled in the pre-law program at the University of Louisville.[3] He was a letterman on the football team in 1927 and 1928; he also played second base on the baseball team in 1928 and 1929, and was a letterman in that sport in 1929.[4] He was later inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame.[5] In 1929, he earned his Bachelor of Laws degree and went to work for Judge Henry Tilford.[3] The two would remain partners until 1950.[6] On April 24, 1930, he married Helen Dwyer; the couple had three children.[7]
Thanks to his father's influence, Wetherby became interested in local politics at an early age.[8] School board races fascinated him, and he allied himself with a faction of the Jefferson County Democratic Party headed by Leland Taylor and Ben Ewing.[3][8] When Ewing was elected county judge in 1933, he appointed Wetherby as a part-time attorney for the Jefferson County juvenile court.[3] He held this position through 1937, then returned to it in 1942 and 1943.[1] In March 1943, he was appointed the first trial commissioner of the juvenile court.[7]
Lieutenant governor
Wetherby was elected chairman of the 34th Legislative District Democratic Committee in 1943 and held the position through 1956.
Despite Clements' refusal to endorse Wetherby in the primary, the two generally agreed on their legislative agendas and worked well together.
Governor of Kentucky
On November 27, 1950, Clements resigned to accept a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby to governor.[7] One of his first actions was to call a special legislative session to convene on March 6, 1951, for the purpose of allocating the state's $10 million budget surplus.[11] Among the expenditures approved in the special session were increases in teachers' salaries and state benefits for the needy and government employees.[14] Wetherby's popularity soared as a result of this session, and he seriously considered running for the Senate seat vacated by the death of Virgil Chapman in 1951.[11] Instead, after talking with Clements and other Democratic leaders, he decided to seek a full, four-year term as governor.[15]
Election of 1951
Among the potential candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1951 was former governor
In the general election, Wetherby faced
Administration
Early in Wetherby's term, the state's revenues were inflated by the Korean War.[22] Having adopted a pay-as-you-go program for the state, he was forced to raise additional revenue after the war ended.[22] He did so by imposing sin taxes on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and parimutuel betting, but he was unable to convince the General Assembly to adopt a sales tax.[22]
Because three members of Wetherby's close family had been killed in automobile accidents on the state's roadways, improving roads was a high priority for Wetherby.
Wetherby tried to diversify the industries located in Kentucky to balance the state's primarily agrarian economy.
Neither did Wetherby ignore the needs of agriculture. Under his Green Pastures Program, measures were enacted to diversify crop production, improve beef production, and encourage soil conservation.[25] He secured federal flood control programs for the watersheds of the Salt, Licking, Green, and Kentucky Rivers, saving valuable farmland.[25] In 1952, Wetherby organized an agricultural council to consolidate the work of the state's agricultural bureaucracy.[25] He oversaw completion of the state fairgrounds in Louisville, a project begun under Clements, to better display the state's agricultural products.[24][25]
Improvements in education were a hallmark of Wetherby's term as governor. Over the course of his administration, he increased funding to education by $20 million.
In 1954 and 1955 Wetherby served as chairman of the Southern Governors Conference and urged the southern governors to peacefully implement
Among Wetherby's other accomplishments were the creation of a Department of Mental Health and the construction of fifteen hospitals and thirty health centers throughout the state.[20] In 1952, he created the Youth Authority as a central point for the administration of services to delinquent children.[30] He constructed new state prisons, modernized the probation and parole systems, and established a more orderly system of selecting grand and petit juries.[20] He also oversaw some voting reform measures, including the provision of funds to purchase voting machines in areas where they were desired.[20] He was not as successful in the area of government reform. He failed in his efforts to amend the state's constitution to allow the governor to succeed himself in office.[20] He was also unable to win support for a plan to consolidate some of Kentucky's counties.[20] In 1955, the state's voters approved a constitutional amendment granting suffrage to eighteen-year-olds over Wetherby's objections.[20]
Later life
Both Clements and Wetherby endorsed Bert Combs to succeed Wetherby as governor.[31] Wetherby had named Combs to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1951 to fill a vacancy created by the death of Judge Roy Helm.[32] Happy Chandler, Clements' old foe, ran against Combs in the primary and painted him as a pawn of "Clementine" and "Wetherbine", his derogatory nicknames for Clements and Wetherby.[33] In fact, Chandler ran the entire campaign not just against Combs, but against Clements and Wetherby as well.[33] He charged both Clements and Wetherby with extravagant spending in their administrations.[33] Among his allegations were that Clements had purchased a $20,000 rug for his office and that Wetherby had paneled his office with African mahogany.[33] Chandler promised that, if elected, he would use "good, honest Kentucky wood" in his office and that all Kentuckians would be invited to the capitol to walk on the $20,000 rug.[33] Ultimately, invoices showed that no $20,000 rug had been purchased by Clements, and Wetherby's paneling had been purchased from and installed by a local contractor.[34] Chandler's charges may have been inaccurate, but he defeated Combs in the primary and went on to win the general election.
Following his term as governor, Wetherby resumed his private law practice.
Neither Wetherby nor Clements enjoyed the support of Governor Chandler.
After this defeat, Wetherby moved to
After his service in the state senate, Wetherby returned to Brighton Engineering, where he eventually became a vice-president.[38] Wetherby died on March 27, 1994, of complications from a broken hip.[22] He is buried at the Frankfort Cemetery.[1] The administration building at Western Kentucky University and a gymnasium at Morehead State University were named in his honor.[40][41]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Kentucky Governor Lawrence Winchester Wetherby". National Governors Association.
- ^ a b c Powell, p. 102
- ^ a b c d e f Kleber in Kentucky's Governors, p. 191
- ^ Bolus, p. 1932
- ^ "Athletic Hall of Fame". University of Louisville
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 398
- ^ a b c d e Harrison in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 945
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 399
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 400
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 48
- ^ a b c d e Kleber in Kentucky's Governors, p. 192
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", pp. 400–401
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 401
- ^ a b c d Harrison in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 946
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 52
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 403
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 405
- ^ a b c Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 406
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p 407
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kleber in Kentucky's Governors, p. 194
- ^ Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 402
- ^ a b c d e Kleber in Kentucky's Governors, p. 195
- ^ a b c Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 409
- ^ a b Pearce, p. 54
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kleber in Kentucky's Governors, p. 193
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 410
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 411
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 414
- ^ a b Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 416
- ^ Kleber in "As Luck Would Have It", p. 412
- ^ Pearce, p. 56
- ^ Pearce, p. 58
- ^ a b c d e Pearce, p. 61
- ^ Pearce, pp. 61–62
- ^ a b c d e f g Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 404
- ^ a b Finch, p. 168
- ^ a b Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 405
- ^ a b c Pearce, p. 49
- ^ Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 412
- ^ Harrison in Western Kentucky University, p. 178
- ^ "Wetherby Gymnasium". Morehead State University
Bibliography
- "Athletic Hall of Fame". University of Louisville. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
- Bolus, Jim; Billy Reed (1999). Louisville Cardinals Football. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58382-048-5.
- Finch, Glenn (July 1972). "The Election of United States Senators in Kentucky: The Cooper Period". Filson Club History Quarterly. 46.
- ISBN 0-8131-1772-0. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
- ISBN 0-8131-2008-X.
- ISBN 0-8131-2734-3.
- "Kentucky Governor Lawrence Winchester Wetherby". National Governors Association. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
- "Kentucky Republicans Pick Modern Crusader to Seek Post". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. October 22, 1951. p. D8.
- Kleber, John E. (Autumn 1986). "As Luck Would Have It: An Overview of Governor Lawrence W. Weatherby, 1950–1955". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 84: 397–422.
- Kleber, John E. (2004). "Lawrence Wetherby". In Lowell Hayes Harrison (ed.). Kentucky's Governors. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2326-7.
- Pearce, John Ed (1987). Divide and Dissent: Kentucky Politics 1930–1963. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1613-9.
- Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company. OCLC 2690774.
- "Wetherby Gymnasium". Morehead State University. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
Further reading
- Hardin, John A. (1997). Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904–1954. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2024-1. Retrieved November 3, 2009.