The Public Papers of Governor Wendell H. Ford, 1971-1974 (Hardcover)

This volume presents the important speeches and correspondence of Wendell Hampton Ford, who served as Governor of Kentucky from 1971 to 1974. During the Bert T. Combs administration (1959-63), he was the governor's chief administrative assistant. Active in civic affairs and Democratic politics, Ford was elected to the state Senate in 1965. Two years later he became lieutenant governor although Henry Ward, the Democratic candidate for governor, lost to Republican Louie B. Nunn. In 1971 Ford challenged his mentor and former chief when Combs sought a second term. Ford beat Combs in the primary, then defeated Republican Tom Emberton, 442,736 to 381,479.Governor Ford played an active role in national Democratic politics. In the spring of 1974 he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Marlow Cook. Ford won, 399,406 to 328,982, and resigned as governor on December 28, 1974. He won easy reelections to the Senate, in 1980 over Mary Louise Foust and in 1986 over Jackson M. Andrews. A staunch supporter of coal and tobacco interests, Ford was chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. In 1990, he was elected majority whip of the Senate.Governor Ford worked closely with the legislative leadership, and he enjoyed such tight control of the General Assembly that practically all of his programs were enacted. He obtained additional revenue from a severance tax on coal, a two-cent-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax, and a higher corporate levy, but he balanced that by removing the sales tax from food. Educational spending increased sharply, and the powers of the Council on Higher Education were expanded. Ford vetoed a bill opposed by school boards that would have provided for collective bargaining for teachers. The merit system for state employees was expanded, although critics protested that politics still played too great a role. Ford sponsored consolidation and reorganization of state agencies for greater efficiency; the most important change was perhaps the creation of several "super cabinets" above departments. More attention was paid to environmental protection. In the 1974 legislative session, during the era of the Arab oil embargo and petroleum shortage, Ford pushed for the creation of a six-year coal research program emphasizing gasification and liquefaction. A large budget surplus from his first biennium allowed him to propose several new state buildings and large increases in the appropriations for higher education, the public schools, and human resources. (from The Kentucky Encyclopedia (page 342), edited by Lowell H. Harrison)

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