Episode 242
Lawrence Wetherby
Tue, 2018-Jan-02 01:05 UTC
Length - 3:16
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Tuesday, 2 January 2018 is Lawrence Wetherby.
Lawrence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) was an American politician who served as lieutenant governor and governor of Kentucky. He is the only governor in state history born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville, the county seat, is the state's most populous city.
After graduating from the University of Louisville, Wetherby held several minor offices in the Jefferson County judicial system before being elected lieutenant governor in 1947. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because Governor Earle C. Clements asked him to carry out duties beyond his constitutional responsibility to preside over the state Senate, such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference. In 1950, Clements resigned to assume a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby to governor. Wetherby won immediate acclaim by calling a special legislative session to increase funding for education and government benefits from the state's budget surplus. In 1951, he won a four-year full term as governor, during which he continued and expanded many of Clements' programs, including increased road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education and appointed a biracial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chair of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to accept and implement desegregation.
Limited to one term by the state constitution, Wetherby supported Bert T. Combs to be his successor, but Combs lost in the Democratic primary to A. B. "Happy" Chandler, a former governor and factional opponent of both Wetherby and Clements. Chandler's failure to support Wetherby's 1956 bid to succeed Democrat Alben Barkley in the Senate contributed to his loss to Republican John Sherman Cooper. From 1964 to 1966, Wetherby served on a commission charged with revising the state constitution, and in 1966 he was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he provided leadership in drafting the state budget. Following this, he retired from politics and served as a consultant for Brighton Engineering. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:05 UTC on Tuesday, 2 January 2018.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Wetherby.
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This has been Joanna. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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