Alben William Barkley was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served in both houses of Congress and as the 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 under Harry S. Truman. In 1905,he was elected county attorney for McCracken County,Kentucky. He was chosen County Judge/Executive in 1909 and U.S. representative from Kentucky's first district in 1912. As a representative,he was a liberal Democrat,supporting President Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom domestic agenda and foreign policy.
The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. 62 men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length;since 1992,incumbents have been able to seek re-election once before becoming ineligible for four years. Throughout the state's history,four men have served two non-consecutive terms as governor,and two others have served two consecutive terms. Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states that hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years. The current governor is Andy Beshear,who was first elected in 2019.
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions,he also served as the second Commissioner of Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson,Ben Chandler,later served as congressman for Kentucky's Sixth District.
Edward Thompson Breathitt Jr. was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A member of one of the state's political families,he was the 51st Governor of Kentucky,serving from 1963 to 1967. After serving in World War II and graduating from the University of Kentucky,Breathitt worked on the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson,the senatorial campaign of Alben Barkley,and the gubernatorial campaign of Bert T. Combs. When Combs won the governorship in 1959,he appointed Breathitt as personnel commissioner,where he wrote legislation establishing the first merit system for state employees. He continued to hold appointive offices throughout Combs' tenure,and in 1962,Combs endorsed Breathitt to succeed him as governor.
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was an American attorney serving as the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.
James Bennett McCreary was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky. He represented the state in both houses of the U.S. Congress and served as its 27th and 37th governor. Shortly after graduating from law school,he was commissioned as the only major in the 11th Kentucky Cavalry,serving under Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan during the American Civil War. He returned to his legal practice after the war. In 1869,he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives where he served until 1875;he was twice chosen Speaker of the House. At their 1875 nominating convention,state Democrats chose McCreary as their nominee for governor,and he won an easy victory over Republican John Marshall Harlan. With the state still feeling the effects of the Panic of 1873,most of McCreary's actions as governor were aimed at easing the plight of the state's poor farmers.
Ruby Laffoon was an American attorney and politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Kentucky from 1931 to 1935. A Kentucky native,at age 17 Laffoon moved to Washington,D.C.,to live with his uncle,U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon. He developed an interest in politics and returned to Kentucky,where he compiled a mixed record of victories and defeats in elections at the county and state levels. In 1931,he was chosen as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee by a nominating convention,not a primary,making him the only Kentucky gubernatorial candidate to be chosen by a convention after 1903. In the general election,he defeated Republican William B. Harrison by what was then the largest margin of victory in Kentucky gubernatorial history.
Earle Chester Clements was an American farmer and politician. He represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and was its 47th Governor,serving from 1947 to 1950. For three decades,he was the leader of a faction of the state's Democratic Party that stood in opposition to the faction led by two-time governor and senator A. B. "Happy" Chandler.
Lawrence Winchester Wetherby 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 is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor,Andy Beshear.
Keen Johnson was an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Kentucky,serving from 1939 to 1943;being the only journalist to have held that office. After serving in World War I,Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror newspaper. He revived the struggling paper,sold it to a competitor and used the profits to obtain his journalism degree from the University of Kentucky in 1922. After graduation,he became editor of The Anderson News,and in 1925,he accepted an offer to co-publish and edit the Richmond Daily Register.
Augustus Owsley Stanley I was an American politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as the 38th governor of Kentucky and also represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. From 1903 to 1915,Stanley represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives,where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer. Beginning in 1904,he called for an antitrust investigation of the American Tobacco Company,claiming they were a monopsony that drove down prices for the tobacco farmers of his district. As a result of his investigation,the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the breakup of the American Tobacco Company in 1911. Stanley also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust investigation of U.S. Steel,which brought him national acclaim. Many of his ideas were incorporated into the Clayton Antitrust Act.
Simeon Slavens Willis was an American attorney who served as the 46th Governor of Kentucky,United States,serving from 1943 to 1947. He was the only Republican elected governor of Kentucky between 1927 and 1967.
Bertram Thomas Combs was an American jurist and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. After serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals,he was elected the 50th Governor of Kentucky in 1959 on his second run for the office. Following his gubernatorial term,he was appointed to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Lyndon B. Johnson,serving from 1967 to 1970.
Flemon Davis "Flem" Sampson was the 42nd Governor of Kentucky,serving from 1927 to 1931. He graduated from Valparaiso University in 1894,and opened a law practice in Barbourville,Kentucky. He formed a political alliance with future Representatives Caleb Powers and John Robsion,both prominent Republicans in the eastern part of the state. By 1916,he was serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and had previously served as a county judge and circuit court judge. In 1923,he was elevated to chief justice of the Court of Appeals. He served until 1927,when he became the Republican gubernatorial nominee.
William Jason Fields was an American politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. Known as "Honest Bill from Olive Hill",he represented Kentucky's Ninth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1923,resigning to become the state's 41st governor.
Augustus Everett Willson was an American politician and the 36th Governor of Kentucky. Orphaned at the age of twelve,Willson went to live with relatives in New England. This move exposed him to such authors as Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,Oliver Wendell Holmes,and James Russell Lowell,who were associates of his older brother,poet Forceythe Willson. He was also afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard University,where he earned an A.B. in 1869 and an A.M. in 1872. After graduation,he secured a position at the law firm of future Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan. Willson and Harlan became lifelong friends,and Willson's association with Harlan deepened his support of the Republican Party.
John Stockdale Rhea was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.
The 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7,1899,to choose the 33rd governor of Kentucky. The incumbent,Republican William O'Connell Bradley,was term-limited and unable to seek re-election.
Edward Clay O'Rear was an American politician who served on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and was a Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1888 and for Governor of Kentucky in 1911. His father died when O'Rear was very young,and he began work as a printer's devil to help support his mother and fourteen siblings. Eventually,he became editor of the Mountain Scorcher newspaper and read law under its publisher. He gained admission to the bar in 1882.
The 1935 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 5,1935. Democratic nominee Happy Chandler defeated Republican nominee King Swope with 60.79% of the vote.
