Happy Chandler
Encyclopedia
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. (July 14, 1898 June 15, 1991) was a politician from the US state of Kentucky
. He represented the state 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 Major League Baseball
from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson, Ben Chandler
, is currently a congressman
from Kentucky's Sixth District
.
A multi-sport athlete during his college days at Transylvania College
, Chandler briefly considered a career in professional baseball before deciding to pursue a law degree. After graduation, he entered politics and was elected as a Democrat
to the Kentucky Senate
in 1928. Two years, later, he was elected lieutenant governor
, serving under Governor Ruby Laffoon
. Chandler and Laffoon disagreed on the issue of instituting a state sales tax
and when Chandler, the presiding officer in the state senate, worked to block the legislation, Laffoon's allies in the General Assembly
stripped him of many of his statutory powers. The tax then passed by a narrow margin. Knowing that Laffoon would try to select his own successor at the Democratic nominating convention, Chandler waited until Laffoon left the state – leaving Chandler as acting governor – and called the legislature into session to enact a mandatory primary election
bill. The bill passed, and in the ensuing primary, Chandler defeated Laffoon's choice, Thomas Rhea
. He then went on to defeat Republican
King Swope
by the largest margin of victory for a Kentucky gubernatorial race to that time. As governor, Chandler oversaw the repeal of the sales tax, replacing the lost revenue with new excise taxes and the state's first income tax
. He also enacted a major reorganization of state government, realizing significant savings for the state. He used these savings to pay off the state debt and improve the state's education and transportation systems.
Convinced that he was destined to become President of the United States, Chandler challenged Senate Majority Leader
Alben Barkley for his U.S. Senate seat in 1938. During the campaign, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
came to the state to campaign for Barkley, and Chandler lost a close race. The following year, Kentucky's other senator, Marvel Mills Logan, died in office, and Chandler resigned as governor so his successor could appoint him to the vacant seat. A fiscal conservative
and disciple of Virginia
's Harry F. Byrd
, Chandler opposed parts of Roosevelt's New Deal
and openly disagreed with the president's decision to prioritize European operations
in World War II over the war in the Pacific
. In 1945, Chandler resigned his senate seat to succeed the late Kennesaw Mountain Landis as commissioner of baseball. His most significant action as commissioner was the approval of Jackie Robinson
's contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, effectively integrating Major League Baseball
. He also established the first pension fund for Major League players, earning him the title "the players' commissioner". Baseball owners were upset with Chandler's governance, however, and did not renew his contract in 1951.
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 integration of the state's public schools and establishing a medical school at the University of Kentucky
which was later named the Chandler Medical Center
in his honor. Following his second term as governor, his political influence began to wane as he made three more unsuccessful runs for governor in 1963, 1967, and 1971. His endorsement of dark-horse candidate Wallace G. Wilkinson
was seen as critical to Wilkinson's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1988. Wilkinson later resisted calls to remove Chandler from the University of Kentucky board of trustees following Chandler's use of a racial epithet during a board meeting in 1988. Chandler died June 15, 1991, a month before his ninety-third birthday. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former U.S. governor. He was also the oldest person ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
on July 14, 1898. He was the eldest child of Joseph Sephus and Callie (Saunders) Chandler. According to a local history book, Chandler's father rescued his mother from an orphanage and married her when she was fifteen, though no record of their marriage could later be found. In 1899, Chandler's brother Robert was born, and two years later, their mother, still a teenager and unable to deal with caring for two young children, abandoned the family, fleeing the state and leaving the boys in the custody of their father. According to Chandler's autobiography, his mother leaving when he was four years old was his earliest memory. Years later, he would seek out his mother, then living in Jacksonville, Florida
, and discover that he had three half-siblings. His brother Robert died from a fall from a cherry tree when Chandler was 14 years old.
Chandler was raised by his father and other relatives, and by age eight, he was virtually supporting himself financially by working a paper route and doing odd jobs for members of his community. He attended the local public schools and graduated from Corydon High School in 1917. While in high school, he was captain
of the baseball and football
teams. Although his father wanted him to study in preparation for the ministry, Chandler instead matriculated to Transylvania College (now Transylvania University
) in Lexington, Kentucky
. While at Transylvania, Chandler was given his life-long nickname – "Happy" – because of his jovial attitude. Again, he supported himself by doing chores for the locals. He was captain of the college's basketball and baseball teams and quarterback
of the football team, where he was a teammate of Dutch Meyer
, a future member of the College Football Hall of Fame
. He also joined the Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity and the Omicron Delta Kappa
honor society. In 1918, the United States Army
started a Student Officers' Training Corps
at Transylvania, and with World War I ongoing, Chandler began training for the military, although the war ended before he was called to serve.
In 1920, Chandler pitched a no-hitter
for Grafton, North Dakota
's team in the Red River Valley League. He attended a professional baseball tryout in Saskatoon
, but did not make the team. He returned to Transylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from in June 1921. After graduation, he joined the Class D Lexington Reos where he was a teammate of future Hall of Famer Earle Combs
. After again considering a career in baseball, he instead decided, on the advice of a close friend, to study law. Accordingly, he matriculated to Harvard Law School
later that year. He supported himself by coaching high school sports in Wellesley, Massachusetts
. While Chandler was in Boston, former teammate Charlie Moran, then coaching the Centre College Praying Colonels football team
in Danville, Kentucky
, asked him to scout the national powerhouse Harvard Crimson
, an upcoming opponent for Centre. Chandler took copious notes for Moran, and Centre defeated Harvard 6–0
in what is considered one of the greatest college football upsets of all time.
After a year, Chandler was no longer able to pay for his education at Harvard. He returned to Kentucky and enrolled at the University of Kentucky College of Law
. Again, he supported himself by coaching high school sports in nearby Versailles
and women's basketball at the University of Kentucky. He also acted as an assistant coach and scout for Charlie Moran at Centre, and coached the freshman football team there. A member of the Order of the Coif
, he earned a Bachelor of Laws
degree in 1924. He was admitted to the bar
in 1925 and subsequently opened his practice in Versailles.
On November 12, 1925, Chandler married Mildred Watkins, a teacher at the nearby Margaret Hall School for Girls. The couple had four children – Marcella, Mildred ("Mimi"), Albert, Jr., and Joseph Daniel. Mimi Chandler went on to play one of four singing sisters in the 1944 movie And the Angels Sing
alongside Dorothy Lamour
, Betty Hutton
, and Diana Lynn
before abandoning an acting career and eventually taking a job in the Kentucky Department of Tourism.
For the next five years, Happy Chandler simultaneously practiced law, coached high school sports, and served as a scout for Centre. He became involved in numerous fraternal organizations including the Freemasons
, Shriners
, Knights Templar, Forty and Eight
, and Optimist International
.
Democratic Committee. In 1928, he was appointed master commissioner of the Woodford County circuit court
. The following year, he was elected as a Democrat
to represent the Twenty-second district in the Kentucky Senate
. 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.
As the 1931 gubernatorial election approached, Chandler and Prestonsburg
native Jack Howard were mentioned as candidates for lieutenant governor
. Congressman
Fred M. Vinson
backed Howard, a fellow Eastern Kentuckian
, while political boss
es Billy Klair, Johnson N. Camden, Jr.
, and Ben Johnson
supported Chandler. The support of another political boss, Mickey Brennan, gave Chandler the edge at the party's nominating convention. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ruby Laffoon
also owed his selection to the machinations of the state's political bosses, notably his uncle, Congressman Polk Laffoon
. Problematically, Chandler was an ally of former Governor J. C. W. Beckham
, Louisville Courier-Journal publisher Robert Worth Bingham
, and political boss
Percy Haly, which put him at odds with Laffoon, a member of a Democratic faction headed by Russellville
political boss Thomas Rhea
and opposed to Beckham, Worth, and Haly. Despite disharmony within the ticket, the worsening of the Great Depression
under Republican President Herbert Hoover
and Governor Sampson ensured a Democratic victory. Chandler was elected over John C. Worsham by a vote of 426,247 to 353,573. In a break with precedent, Chandler set up an office on the executive floor of the state capitol
and worked there full-time; previous lieutenant governors had stayed in Frankfort
only during legislative sessions, when they were charged with presiding over the state senate.
Shortly after their election, the divide between Chandler and Laffoon widened over the issue of implementing a state sales tax
. Laffoon favored the tax; Chandler opposed it. As presiding officer of the state senate, Chandler worked with Speaker of the House John Y. Brown, Sr.
to block passage of the tax. In retaliation, Laffoon's allies in the General Assembly
stripped Chandler of some of his statutory power as lieutenant governor, after which they were able to pass the tax by a single vote in each house of the legislature.
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. Laffoon, however, had made it clear that he favored Thomas Rhea to be his successor. Rhea secured the services of rising political boss Earle C. Clements
as his campaign manager. Hailing from Morganfield
, only a short distance from Chandler's hometown of Corydon, Clements later said that if Chandler had asked him first, he might have managed Chandler's campaign instead of Rhea's. Instead, by virtue of managing the opposing campaign, Clements became the leader of a Democratic faction that opposed Chandler for the next three decades.
Chandler feared Laffoon, who controlled the State Democratic Central Committee, would attempt to hand-select the Democratic gubernatorial nominee by calling a nominating convention instead of holding a primary election
, and he used a bold move to circumvent Laffoon's ability to carry out such an action. Under the Kentucky Constitution
, Chandler became acting governor any time Laffoon left the state. When Laffoon traveled to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
in Washington, D. C. on February 6, 1935, Chandler used his authority to call the legislature into session to consider a bill requiring that each party's gubernatorial candidates be chosen by a primary rather than a nominating convention. Laffoon returned to the state the next day and challenged Chandler's authority to make the call, but Chandler's actions were validated by the Kentucky Court of Appeals
on February 26.
Laffoon knew the primary bill would be widely supported in the General Assembly, since both legislators and their constituents had grown to distrust party nominating conventions. 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. Historian Lowell H. Harrison
maintained that Laffoon expected his rival faction to nominate the aging Beckham to oppose Rhea, and that he hoped a two-stage primary would wear Beckham down. 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. Whatever the case, the legislature passed the bill that Laffoon proposed.
Chandler promised to repeal the unpopular sales tax, lower the gasoline tax, oppose any increase in property taxes, and end the common practice of assessing state employees a percentage of their salaries to be used for campaign activities. Infuriated by their loss, Laffoon and his allies abandoned the party and supported Republican nominee King Swope
. Policy-wise, there were few differences between the two, and personal attacks were employed by both sides. Swope's reputation as a stern judge contrasted sharply with Chandler's charisma, and Chandler used this to his advantage by dubbing Swope "his majesty". When Chandler touted his service during World War I, Laffoon's adjutant general
Henry Denhardt
countered by pointing out that Chandler had only been a cadet in training and never engaged in active service in the war. Ultimately, the campaign turned on the failed presidential administration of Republican Herbert Hoover versus that of the sitting president, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Chandler defeated Swope by a vote of 556,262 to 461,104 in the general election. The 95,000-vote margin of victory was, at the time, the largest ever recorded in a Kentucky gubernatorial election, and at age 37, Chandler was the youngest governor of any U.S. state.
One of Chandler's first acts as governor was to secure the repeal of the sales tax passed under Laffoon. He also successfully lobbied the legislature to abolish the two-round primary in favor of a single primary for future elections. Knowing that he would need to raise revenue to offset the repeal of the sales tax and bring the state's expenditures in line with its income, Chandler appointed a commission headed by former Governor Beckham to draft suggested budgetary legislation. Knowing that lobbyists hostile to the suggestions would likely try to encourage legislative gridlock until the constitutionally-mandated end of the sixty day session, Chandler asked his allies in the General Assembly to adjourn after thirty-nine days and allow him to call a special legislative session that would not be time-limited and could only entertain the agenda he specified. Legislators obliged this request.
Acting on recommendations from Beckham's commission, legislators helped offset the lost revenue from the sales tax by raising excise taxes; of particular import was the tax on whiskey, which was made possible by the repeal of Prohibition
in 1935. Legislators also enacted the state's first income tax
during the session. Chandler further proposed to achieve savings through the Governmental Reorganization Act of 1936. The bill realized significant cost savings by restructuring the state government, reducing the number of boards and commissions in the executive branch from 133 to 22. Critics pointed out that the act also centralized more power in the hands of the governor and accused Chandler of ulterior motives in supporting it.
Chandler used the savings realized from his reorganization of government to eliminate the state's budget deficit and pay off most of the state's debt. This brought about further savings by eliminating debt service costs; these were applied to improvements in the state's infrastructure and educational institutions. 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. 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. He stopped short of desegregating the state's universities, however, telling 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."
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
. He implemented an old-age assistance program authorized by an earlier constitutional amendment and in 1938, proposed another amendment that would add dependent children and needy blind people to the state's assistance rolls. He increased funding to the state's hospitals and asylums, and personally aided with the evacuation of the Frankfort Penitentiary during the Ohio River flood of 1937
. Following the flood, Chandler convinced the legislature to construct a new reformatory
at La Grange
.
Generally a friend of organized labor
, Chandler supported miners' efforts to unionize, organized the state Department of Industrial Relations, and prohibited mine operators from being appointed as deputy sheriffs. He also endorsed the proposed Child Labor Amendment
to the federal constitution
and secured passage of a state anti-child-labor law that had previously been defeated twice in the state legislature by overwhelming margins. However, he opposed closed shop
s and sitdown strike
s, and utilized the Kentucky National Guard
to quell labor-related violence in Harlan County
.
In the 1936 senatorial contest in Kentucky, incumbent Democrat Marvel Mills Logan was seen as vulnerable, and Chandler backed Democratic challenger J. C. W. Beckham in the Democratic primary. This endorsement drew the ire of Chandler's former ally, Democratic Congressman John Y. Brown, Sr., who believed that, in exchange for his support of Chandler in the 1935 gubernatorial race, Chandler would support him in the U.S. Senate contest. An embittered Brown entered the race anyway, and the votes he pulled from Beckham likely allowed Logan to retain the seat. Brown remained Chandler's political enemy for the rest of his political career.
In 1936, Chandler was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Kentucky; the following year, Harvard University
awarded him the same degree.
, creating a Senate vacancy to which Chandler, as governor, could appoint himself. The death of Justice George Sutherland
in January 1938 gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt
the opportunity to accommodate Chandler's wishes, but Roosevelt preferred younger justices – Logan was 63 – and Kentucky's senior Senator, Alben Barkley, recommended Solicitor General Stanley Forman Reed
for the appointment. Roosevelt heeded Barkley's advice and appointed Reed instead of Logan.
Eager to augment his power and angered by Roosevelt's and Barkley's refusal 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 Louisville
's exclusive Pendennis Club at which he alluded to his intentions of challenging Barkley during the upcoming Democratic senatorial primary. Barkley officially announced his re-election bid the following day. The death of another federal judge on January 26 provided a second opportunity for Roosevelt to appoint Senator Logan to a judgeship and appease Chandler, but Logan refused to consider the appointment. Following a January 31 meeting in Washington, D.C. between Roosevelt and Chandler, during which Roosevelt urged Chandler to put his senatorial ambitions on hold, Chandler was encouraged by his political mentor, Virginia
's Harry F. Byrd
to challenge Barkley. Chandler heeded Byrd's advice, making an official announcement of his candidacy on February 23, 1938, in Newport, Kentucky
.
Barkley, recently chosen as Senate Majority Leader
by a single vote, was a strong supporter of President Roosevelt and the New Deal
. Chandler identified with the more conservative southern Democrats who, wary of Roosevelt and his New Deal, sought to gain control of the party ahead of the 1940 presidential election
. Because Roosevelt was very popular in Kentucky, Chandler was put in the awkward position of expressing personal support of the president while opposing his hand-picked leader in the Senate and his New Deal legislation. In April, polls showed Barkley ahead of Chandler by a 2-to-1 margin, and the May 3 primary victory of New Deal Florida Senator Claude Pepper
finally persuaded Chandler to abandon his attacks of the program.
In late May 1938, Chandler's campaign manager publicly claimed that federal relief agencies – especially the Works Progress Administration
– were openly working for Barkley's re-election. Although the WPA administrator in Kentucky denied the charges, veteran reporter Thomas Lunsford Stokes
launched an investigation of the agency's activities in the state and eventually raised twenty-two charges of political corruption in a series of eight articles covering the Barkley-Chandler campaign. Federal WPA administrator Harry Hopkins
claimed an internal investigation of the agency refuted all but two of Stokes' charges, but Stokes was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting
in 1939 for his investigation. In the wake of the investigation. Congress passed the Hatch Act of 1939
to limit the WPA's involvement in future elections.
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" concerning 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 these workers threatened to withhold the checks if the recipients did not pledge their support to Chandler.
President 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 while remaining friendly with Chandler; after Roosevelt's departure, Chandler played up Roosevelt's complimentary remarks about him while downplaying or ignoring critical remarks.
Late in the campaign, Chandler fell ill with chills, stomach pains, and a high fever. After first claiming the symptoms were similar to those he experienced a year earlier, Chandler later described his malady as "intestinal poisoning". His doctor announced that Chandler, Dan Talbott, and a state police officer had all been sickened after drinking "poisoned water" provided to Chandler for a radio address. 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. Barkley frequently mocked it on the campaign trail by first accepting a glass of water offered to him, then shuddering and rejecting it. He pointed out to audiences that it was the young Chandler, and not he, who had broken down first under the strain of the grueling campaign.
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 their support to Barkley. Former Chandler ally John Y. Brown, Sr. also took an active part in the Barkley campaign. Ultimately, Barkley defeated Chandler by a vote of 294,391 (56%) to 223,149 (42.6%). The remaining 1.4% of the vote was dividing among minor candidates. Chandler's 70,872-vote loss was the worst loss for a primary candidate in state history.
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. In a subsequent special election to fill the remainder of the unexpired term, Chandler first defeated Charles R. Farnsley
in the Democratic primary, then bested Republican Walter B. Smith by a vote of 561,151 to 401,812 in the November 5, 1940, general election. Although he never forgave President Roosevelt for backing Barkley in the 1938 senatorial primary, he generally supported his administration, although he opposed parts of the New Deal.
Chandler's mentor Harry F. Byrd led a group of Southern
conservatives in the Senate, and through Byrd's influence, Chandler was appointed to the Committee on Military Affairs
. In 1943, he was part of a five-person delegation from the Military Affairs Committee that traveled the world, inspecting U.S. military bases. He vociferously disagreed with Roosevelt's decision to prioritize European operations
in World War II over the war in the Pacific
.
Chandler upset many in the black community by voting against an anti-lynching
bill soon after taking office. The bill levied fines against local governments and individual government officials in counties where illegal lynchings occurred. Of his vote against the bill, Chandler remarked, "I am against lynching by anybody and of anybody, black or white, but the present bill carries penalties on local officials and local subdivisions which I think are too severe." The bill passed in the House of Representatives, but died in the Senate. Later, Chandler joined with senators from other southern states in opposing the repeal of poll tax
es, long used as a mechanism to prevent blacks from voting.
At the expiration of his partial term in 1942, Chandler faced a challenge from former ally John Y. Brown, Sr. in the Democratic primary. As a result of his votes on the anti-lynching bill and the poll tax repeal, the Louisville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
worked against his re-election effort. During the campaign, Brown accused Chandler of abusing his power, including having a swimming pool installed at his home in violation of the federal rationing provisions implemented during World War II. Chandler invited the Truman Committee to investigate the installation of the pool; the committee found no violations of the federal rationing provisions. Chandler went on to defeat Brown and was easily re-elected in the general election over Republican Richard J. Colbert.
Chandler believed that he had enough support at the 1944 Democratic National Convention
to be nominated as President Roosevelt's running mate for the upcoming presidential election
. That support failed to materialize, however, after the Kentucky delegation and Earle C. Clements in particular, refused to back his nomination. The convention nominated Harry S. Truman
as Roosevelt's running mate. Truman became president upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, and Chandler never forgave Clements for costing him the chance to be president.
in November 1944, John O. Gottlieb, a friend of Chandler's in the War Department
, suggested Chandler as a successor. Baseball owners who had been afraid that their players would be made eligible for the draft
during the war had decided that their new commissioner needed to have the skills and influence to represent baseball's interests in Washington, D. C. As a senator, Chandler had advocated on behalf of baseball during the war, endearing him to the owners. Furthermore, the commissioner's $50,000 annual salary—about five times that of a US senator at the time—proved a significant enticement, and Chandler agreed to be considered for the job.
Other candidates being considered for the position included National League
president Ford Frick
, Democratic National Committee
chairman Robert E. Hannegan
, former Postmaster General
James Farley
, US Senator John W. Bricker
, FBI
director J. Edgar Hoover
, former federal judge Fred M. Vinson
, Ohio Governor Frank Lausche, and Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson
. After Cincinnati Reds
owner Warren Giles
and Chicago Cubs
owner Philip K. Wrigley
raised strong opposition to Frick, formerly the front runner, New York Yankees
co-owner Larry MacPhail
began to advocate for Chandler. When the owners met in Cleveland, Ohio on April 24, 1945 to vote for a new commissioner, Chandler's name was not on the short list; the candidates were Frick, Farley, Hannegan, Vinson, Lausche, and Patterson. None of the candidates received the required two-thirds majority, and after lobbying by MacPhail and New York Giants
owner Horace Stoneham
, the owners took an informal vote to see if anyone had the potential to be elected. Chandler's name appeared in the top three on each of the sixteen ballots. Encouraged, the owners then held another formal vote. After two ballots, Chandler received the necessary majority; a third vote was taken to make the choice unanimous.
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. He received only his Senate salary until his resignation on November 1, 1945, despite claims to the contrary by the press. 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. Many owners believed Chandler had been attending a political meeting; the actual cause of his delay was his attendance at a Detroit Athletic Club luncheon, where he was representing Major League Baseball.
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. His southern drawl and willingness to sing "My Old Kentucky Home
" with very little encouragement led some sportswriters to opine that he was too undignified for the office. Others resented his folksy, political style, calling him "a preening politician", "the Kentucky windbag", and "a hand-shaking baby-kissing practitioner of the arts". Chandler further alienated the press by moving the commissioner's office to Cincinnati from Chicago in 1946.
In early 1946, Jorge Pasquel and his four brothers, owners of the Mexican baseball league, siphoned campaign funds from the upcoming Mexican presidential election and used them to offer large salaries and signing bonuses to American baseball players. In some cases, the offers were triple the salaries being paid in the Major Leagues. Chandler deterred players from considering Mexican League offers by imposing a five-year ban from Major League Baseball
to anyone who played in the Mexican League and did not return by April 1, 1946. In all, eighteen players played for the Mexican league despite the ban, including Mickey Owen
, Max Lanier
, and Sal Maglie
. Vern Stephens
initially agreed to play in Mexico as well, but returned before Chandler's April 1 deadline. Ted Williams
, Stan Musial
, and Phil Rizzuto
were also offered lucrative contracts and incentives, but all eventually declined to play in Mexico.
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
. Murphy decried the reserve clause
in player contracts that gave team owners unlimited control over the player's services, and demanded more rights for players, including the right of contract and the right of salary arbitration. Chandler worked with Pirates officials to avoid a threatened strike by the players. Part of Chandler's intervention included organizing a team of replacement players as a contingency plan; the team would have included Honus Wagner
, who was 72 years old at the time.
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. On August 27, 1946, the committee presented a draft a document outlining the changes. 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. Baseball's attorney's stripped this controversial language from the version eventually adopted by the owners.
Days prior to Chandler's assumption of the commissionership, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey
had announced the signing of Jackie Robinson
to a minor league contract with the Montreal Royals
, making him the first African-American to play for a Major League Baseball affiliate. The following year, Rickey transferred Robinson's contract from Montreal to Brooklyn, effectively breaking baseball's color line
. In a speech at Wilberforce University
in February 1948, Rickey recounted a secret meeting allegedly held by baseball officials at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on August 28, 1946. At the meeting, Rickey claimed that Ford Frick disseminated a report which stated that "However well-intentioned, the use of Negro players would hazard all physical properties of baseball." According to Rickey, the other fifteen team owners voted to endorse the report; he was the lone dissent. Rickey claimed Frick meticulously collected all copies of the report at the end of the meeting to prevent them from being disseminated. Baseball historian Bill Marshall later wrote that the document and subsequent vote to which Rickey was referring was the advisory committee's initial draft of recommended reforms. Marshall further records that Rickey identified the meeting and the report shortly after his speech at Wilberforce and retracted his claim of 15-to-1 opposition to Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball.
Chandler, who was also allegedly at the meeting, made no public mention of it until a 1972 interview. In the interview, Chandler then corroborated the essentials of Rickey's story, although he placed the meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
in January 1947. He also recounted that later in 1947, Rickey came to his home in Kentucky to discuss the matter further. According to Chandler, Rickey professed that he would not move forward with Robinson's transfer unless he had Chandler's full support, which Chandler subsequently pledged. Aside from Chandler's anecdote, which he frequently repeated after the 1972 interview, there is no evidence that his meeting with Rickey ever took place. Nevertheless, future baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn
and Washington Post sportswriter Bob Addie
maintained that Robinson would not have played had it not been for Chandler's intervention.
That Chandler supported Robinson and the 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. Further, following 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. Later that season, he decisively supported Ford Frick's decision to indefinitely suspend any members of the St. Louis Cardinals
who followed through on a threat to strike in protest of integration.
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 wherein Chandler counseled Durocher to abandon his gambling. 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. 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. Chandler suspended Dressen for 30 days and levied $2,000 fines against MacPhail and the Yankees.
The Yankees–Dodgers feud continued in the New York newspapers throughout the offseason. 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. When Durocher subsequently married Day, a local Catholic priest declared that attending Dodgers games was a venal sin. Prompted in part by this declaration, Chandler suspended Durocher from baseball for a year just days before Opening Day
, citing "conduct detrimental to baseball".
Also in 1947, Chandler sold the rights to broadcast the World Series
on the radio for $475,000; he used the money from the contract to establish a pension fund for baseball players. In 1949, Chandler negotiated a seven-year contract with Gillette and the Mutual Broadcasting System
to broadcast the Series. Proceeds from the $4,370,000 deal went directly into the pension fund. The same two companies negotiated a six-year, $6 million contract to broadcast the Series on television in 1950. Again, Chandler directed the proceeds into the pension fund.
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. 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. Similar suits were filed by Max Lanier and Fred Martin
, both of whom also played in Mexico. On June 2, 1949, a federal court refused to reinstate the three players pending their trials, but urged that the antitrust issues be adjudicated as soon as possible. Attempting to alleviate the legal pressure on Major League Baseball, Chandler lifted the bans on players who had gone to Mexico, reinstating them almost two years early. Lanier and Martin dropped their suits, but Gardella pursued his. 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.
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. The owners voted against offering the extension at that time, but promised to consider the request again in December 1950. The vote in 1950 was nine votes for Chandler and seven against, leaving him three votes short of the necessary three-fourths majority. Chandler asked that the extension be considered again at the owners' meeting on March 12, 1951, but the vote was again 9–7. Upset that his contract was not extended, Chandler resigned effective July 15, 1951.
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. The Yankees traded Wakefield to the White Sox for cash, but Wakefield refused to report to the White Sox after a salary dispute, leading to a disagreement between the teams over who was responsible for his salary. Chandler voided the trade, making Wakefield's contract the Yankees' responsibility and angering their owner, Del Webb
. 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. Historian John Paul Hill considers this unlikely, however, because two of Chandler's strongest allies, Connie Mack
and Walter Briggs, Sr., were ardently opposed to integration while William DeWitt, the second owner in the American League to integrate, voted against him. Hill points to the Dick Wakefield dispute, as well as Chandler's investigations of Del Webb and Cardinals owner Fred Saigh
involving their rumored connections to gambling interests, as more compelling reasons for Chandler's dismissal.
Following his tenure as baseball commissioner, Chandler returned to his law practice. He also engaged in farming and published The Woodford Sun newspaper. The Kentucky Press Association and the Kentucky Broadcasting Association both named him Man of the Year. He continued his involvement in sports, presiding over the International Baseball Conference
from 1952 to 1955.
movement in Kentucky. He hosted Dixiecrat presidential candidate Strom Thurmond
at his home when he visited the state, but did not officially endorse Thurmond's campaign. By the time he had permanently returned to the state in mid-1951, it was too late to influence the gubernatorial contest. He spent the next four years rebuilding his political base in preparation for another run at the office.
and sitting governor Lawrence Wetherby
, had difficulty finding a candidate to oppose him. The most likely choice, Lieutenant Governor Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp
, was handicapped by his connections to political bosses in Logan County
. Clements virtually hand-picked a relatively unknown candidate in Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Bert T. Combs
. Because Combs – whom Chandler nicknamed "The Little Judge" – had no record for Chandler to campaign against, Chandler portrayed him as a pawn of Clements and Wetherby – who he derisively referred to as "Clementine" and "Wetherbine".
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. Following the speech, a disappointed observer remarked that "Combs opened and closed [his campaign] on the same night." The 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.
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. He claimed 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. (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".) 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. He also denounced the construction of a turnpike connecting Elizabethtown
and Louisville
, the state fairgrounds, and Freedom Hall
as unnecessary.
Chandler won the Democratic primary by 18,000 votes over Combs. In the general election, he defeated Republican Edwin R. Denney
by a vote of 451,647 to 322,671, the largest margin of victory for a gubernatorial candidate to that point in the state's history.
es by half a percent. In addition, it transferred the assessment and collection of taxes on certain intangibles from local to state government. The plan also called for a $100 million bond issue, allowing the allocation of generous budgets for state universities and colleges and improvements to the state highway system.
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. Some of the factionalism came from Clements and Combs supporters who were not willing to cooperate with Chandler, their chief political enemy. 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. Near the end of the 1958 legislative session, this 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. Because of the factionalism, Chandler had to ally with Republican legislators throughout his term in order to pass many of his proposals, including his tax plan. Frequently, this meant promising to build or repair roads in Republican districts in return for their support of his programs.
During his campaign, Chandler had promised that he would fund a medical school at the University of Kentucky, despite the fact that the University of Louisville
already had a medical school and a poll of state physicians showed overwhelming opposition to the plan because of this. Nevertheless, Chandler delivered on his promise, allocating $5 million to the establishment of what became known as the Albert B. Chandler Medical Center
. Chandler said the establishment of the school was his proudest achievement as governor.
Just as he had as 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 state park system. He publicly acknowledged the U.S. Supreme Court
's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education
as the law of the land and promised to enforce it. The Kentucky Court of Appeals struck down Kentucky's Day Law – the law proscribing segregation – the following year. Some areas of the state resisted the change. Notably, in 1956, when nine black students in Sturgis, Kentucky
attempted to enter previously all-white Sturgis High School, they were blocked by 500 opponents of integration. On September 4, 1956, Chandler called out the National Guard – including a force of over 900 guardsmen and several M47 Patton
tanks – to disperse the crowd. The confrontation lasted a total of 18 days before the protesters peacefully dispersed. Shortly thereafter, Chandler took similar actions in response to a protest in the town of Clay
, which was also resolved without violence. Of his actions, Chandler remarked "We regret it is necessary to use this means of guaranteeing equal rights to our citizens, but that we must do."
Still convinced he was destined to become president, Chandler attended the 1956 Democratic National Convention
with hopes of securing the party's presidential nomination. Despite being told by his advisors that the convention would nominate Adlai Stevenson, Chandler continued to seek the nomination, but received only 36 1/2 votes. Following Stevenson's nomination, Chandler returned to Kentucky bitterly disappointed. Due to the death of Senator Alben Barkley and the expiration of Senator Clements' term, Kentucky would also elect two senators in November 1956. Clements was seeking re-election, and the state Democratic committee chose Wetherby as the nominee for Barkley's seat. Chandler refused to use his office to support Stevenson, Clements, or Wetherby, and Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower
, John Sherman Cooper, and Thruston Ballard Morton
won the presidential and senatorial races in the state.
In the 1959 gubernatorial primary, Chandler threw his support to Lieutenant Governor Harry Lee Waterfield
. The anti-Chandler forces eventually put forth Bert Combs as their nominee again. Having learned from his previous campaign, Combs now attacked Chandler for allegedly requiring state employees to donate 2% of their salaries to his campaign. According to Combs, Chandler had deposited the money in a Cuba
n bank, but the money was lost when Fidel Castro
overthrew the government in the Cuban Revolution
. Ultimately, Combs prevailed in the primary by a vote of 292,462 to 259,461. Republicans nominated John M. Robsion, Jr.
to oppose Combs, and when Democratic President Harry S. Truman
came to Paducah
to campaign for Combs, Chandler refused to welcome him to the state, a customary duty of the sitting governor. Instead, in a letter to Truman, Chandler launched a blistering attack on his party's nominees, calling Combs a liar and alleging that his running mate, Wilson W. Wyatt
, who had previously served in Truman's administration, had actually tried to undermine Truman by helping found Americans for Democratic Action
. Combs ultimately won the general election by a wide margin.
at St. John's Church in Versailles, he was awarded the Bishop's Medal of the Episcopal Church in 1959. That same year, he received the Cross of Military Service from the United Daughters of the Confederacy
. He served as a trustee of the Ty Cobb Foundation and Transylvania University. At the 1960 Democratic National Convention
, he again sought the party's presidential nomination, opining that the front-runner, John F. Kennedy
, was "a nice young fellow ... (but) too young for the nomination." Chandler proposed that he be the presidential nominee with Kennedy as the nominee for vice-president, but the convention chose Kennedy for president instead.
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 '63". His opponent in the primary was Combs choice Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt, Jr. 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. However, he found it very difficult to adapt to campaigning via television, an increasingly important medium, and his attacks mostly fell flat.
Breathitt enraged Chandler by charging that, when Chandler was a senator, he had voted in favor of declaring World War II, but soon after resigned his commission as a reserve army captain. According to Chandler's version of events, after he voted in favor of the war declaration, he called Secretary of War
Henry Stimson and asked to be put on active duty. Chandler said Stimson told him he would rather have a senator than a captain, after which Chandler resigned his commission. Chandler's explanation did not stop Breathitt from repeating the charge often on the campaign trail.
Chandler lost to Breathitt in the primary by more than 60,000 votes, although his running mate, Harry Lee Waterfield, won the nomination for lieutenant governor. Journalist John Ed Pearce opined that the loss marked the demise of the Chandler wing of the Democratic Party in Kentucky, although Chandler himself remained somewhat influential.
In 1965, Chandler was named to the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and became commissioner of the Continental Football League
. He served as Democratic National Committeeman from Kentucky. Becoming somewhat of a perennial candidate
, he unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1967 and 1971. Following his loss in the 1967 Democratic primary, he endorsed Republican Louie B. Nunn
. After his election, Nunn appointed Chandler to the first of his three terms on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. Four years later, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race, this time as an independent
, but garnered only 39,493 votes, compared to 470,720 for eventual Democratic victor Wendell H. Ford
, and 412,653 for Republican challenger Tom Emberton
. Ford's successor, Julian Carroll
, again appointed Chandler to the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. In 1968, he was briefly considered as a running mate for George Wallace
, who was running for president on the third-party American Independent Party
ticket, but claimed he and Wallace were not able to come to an agreement regarding their positions on racial issues.
The Major League Baseball Veterans Committee
chose Chandler for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1987, filmmaker Robby Henson
profiled Chandler in a 30-minute documentary entitled Roads Home: The Life and Times of A.B. 'Happy' Chandler.
Chandler endorsed dark horse candidate Wallace G. Wilkinson
in the 1987 Democratic primary, and his endorsement was considered crucial to Wilkinson's victory in the race. After Wilkinson's election as governor, he restored Chandler's voting rights on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. (In 1981, then-governor John Y. Brown, Jr.
had designated Chandler an "honorary", non-voting member of the board.) While discussing the University of Kentucky's decision to dispose of its investments in South Africa at a meeting of the university's board of trustees on April 5, 1988, Chandler remarked "You know Zimbabwe
's all nigger
now. There aren't any whites." The comment immediately drew calls for Chandler's resignation from the University Senate Council and the Student Government Association, and approximately 50 students marched on university president David Roselle
's office demanding that Chandler apologize or resign. Commenting on the controversy the next day, Chandler said "I was raised in a small town in Western Kentucky. There were 400 whites and 400 blacks, and we called them niggers and they didn't mind. And I reverted temporarily, at least, to that expression, and of course, I wish I hadn't." That apology did not satisfy many, and 200 protesters marched on the state capitol
, demanding that Governor Wilkinson remove Chandler from the board. Wilkinson refused to remove Chandler and urged the crowd to forgive him.
Chandler published his autobiography, Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks, in 1989. 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. Chandler reportedly told the paper "I said most of the Zimbabweans were niggers and they are niggers." The comment sparked fresh protests and calls for Chandler's resignation. 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."
Chandler died in Versailles on June 15, 1991 and was buried in the churchyard of Pisgah Presbyterian Church near Versailles. 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.
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and served as its 44th and 49th governor
Governor of Kentucky
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six 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...
. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson, Ben Chandler
Ben Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
, is currently a congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Kentucky's Sixth District
Kentucky's 6th congressional district
Kentucky's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Based in Central Kentucky, the district contains the cities of Lexington , Richmond, and Frankfort, the state capital....
.
A multi-sport athlete during his college days at Transylvania College
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...
, Chandler briefly considered a career in professional baseball before deciding to pursue a law degree. After graduation, he entered politics and was elected as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
to the Kentucky Senate
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
in 1928. Two years, later, he was elected lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States assuming the powers of the presidency...
, serving under Governor Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He was the state's 43rd governor, serving from 1931 to 1935. At age 17, Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon...
. Chandler and Laffoon disagreed on the issue of instituting a state sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
and when Chandler, the presiding officer in the state senate, worked to block the legislation, Laffoon's allies in the General Assembly
Kentucky General Assembly
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...
stripped him of many of his statutory powers. The tax then passed by a narrow margin. Knowing that Laffoon would try to select his own successor at the Democratic nominating convention, Chandler waited until Laffoon left the state – leaving Chandler as acting governor – and called the legislature into session to enact a mandatory primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
bill. The bill passed, and in the ensuing primary, Chandler defeated Laffoon's choice, Thomas Rhea
Thomas Rhea
Thomas Stockdale Rhea was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served as Kentucky State Treasurer in 1912 and was state highway commissioner in the administration of Governor Ruby Laffoon. Known as "The Sage of Russellville" or "The Gray Fox", Rhea was a powerful Democratic...
. He then went on to defeat Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
King Swope
King Swope
King Swope was a United States Representative from Kentucky. He was born in Danville, Kentucky. He attended the common schools and was graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky in 1914 and from the law department of the University of Kentucky at Lexington in 1916...
by the largest margin of victory for a Kentucky gubernatorial race to that time. As governor, Chandler oversaw the repeal of the sales tax, replacing the lost revenue with new excise taxes and the state's first income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
. He also enacted a major reorganization of state government, realizing significant savings for the state. He used these savings to pay off the state debt and improve the state's education and transportation systems.
Convinced that he was destined to become President of the United States, Chandler challenged Senate Majority Leader
Party leaders of the United States Senate
The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...
Alben Barkley for his U.S. Senate seat in 1938. During the campaign, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
came to the state to campaign for Barkley, and Chandler lost a close race. The following year, Kentucky's other senator, Marvel Mills Logan, died in office, and Chandler resigned as governor so his successor could appoint him to the vacant seat. A fiscal conservative
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
and disciple of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
's Harry F. Byrd
Harry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
, Chandler opposed parts of Roosevelt's New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
and openly disagreed with the president's decision to prioritize European operations
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
in World War II over the war in the Pacific
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
. In 1945, Chandler resigned his senate seat to succeed the late Kennesaw Mountain Landis as commissioner of baseball. His most significant action as commissioner was the approval of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
's contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, effectively integrating Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. He also established the first pension fund for Major League players, earning him the title "the players' commissioner". Baseball owners were upset with Chandler's governance, however, and did not renew his contract in 1951.
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 integration of the state's public schools and establishing a medical school at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
which was later named the Chandler Medical Center
Chandler Medical Center
The Chandler Medical Center at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky comprises the following:* Centers of Excellence: This includes the Centers for Rural Health, Critical Care Centers, the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging among numerous other units....
in his honor. Following his second term as governor, his political influence began to wane as he made three more unsuccessful runs for governor in 1963, 1967, and 1971. His endorsement of dark-horse candidate Wallace G. Wilkinson
Wallace G. Wilkinson
Wallace Glenn Wilkinson was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the state's fifty-seventh governor. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the University of Kentucky in 1962 to attend to a book retail business he started...
was seen as critical to Wilkinson's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1988. Wilkinson later resisted calls to remove Chandler from the University of Kentucky board of trustees following Chandler's use of a racial epithet during a board meeting in 1988. Chandler died June 15, 1991, a month before his ninety-third birthday. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former U.S. governor. He was also the oldest person ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Early life
Albert Benjamin Chandler was born in Corydon, KentuckyCorydon, Kentucky
Corydon is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 744 at the 2000 census. Settled in 1848, the city is named for the hero of the song Pastoral Elegy.-Geography:Corydon is located at ....
on July 14, 1898. He was the eldest child of Joseph Sephus and Callie (Saunders) Chandler. According to a local history book, Chandler's father rescued his mother from an orphanage and married her when she was fifteen, though no record of their marriage could later be found. In 1899, Chandler's brother Robert was born, and two years later, their mother, still a teenager and unable to deal with caring for two young children, abandoned the family, fleeing the state and leaving the boys in the custody of their father. According to Chandler's autobiography, his mother leaving when he was four years old was his earliest memory. Years later, he would seek out his mother, then living in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, and discover that he had three half-siblings. His brother Robert died from a fall from a cherry tree when Chandler was 14 years old.
Chandler was raised by his father and other relatives, and by age eight, he was virtually supporting himself financially by working a paper route and doing odd jobs for members of his community. He attended the local public schools and graduated from Corydon High School in 1917. While in high school, he was captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
of the baseball and football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams. Although his father wanted him to study in preparation for the ministry, Chandler instead matriculated to Transylvania College (now Transylvania University
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...
) in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
. While at Transylvania, Chandler was given his life-long nickname – "Happy" – because of his jovial attitude. Again, he supported himself by doing chores for the locals. He was captain of the college's basketball and baseball teams and quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
of the football team, where he was a teammate of Dutch Meyer
Dutch Meyer
Leo R. "Dutch" Meyer was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas Christian University from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record of 109–79–13. His TCU Horned Frogs football teams of 1935 and 1938 have been recognized...
, a future member of the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. He also joined the Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
fraternity and the Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa, or ΟΔΚ, also known as The Circle, or more commonly ODK, is a national leadership honor society. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by 15 student and faculty leaders. Chapters, known as Circles, are located on over 300...
honor society. In 1918, the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
started a Student Officers' Training Corps
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
at Transylvania, and with World War I ongoing, Chandler began training for the military, although the war ended before he was called to serve.
In 1920, Chandler pitched a no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
for Grafton, North Dakota
Grafton, North Dakota
-Education:The city of Grafton is served by the Grafton Public Schools system. The system includes Century Elementary School , Central Middle School , and Grafton High School .-Library:...
's team in the Red River Valley League. He attended a professional baseball tryout in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
, but did not make the team. He returned to Transylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from in June 1921. After graduation, he joined the Class D Lexington Reos where he was a teammate of future Hall of Famer Earle Combs
Earle Combs
Earle Bryan Combs was an American professional baseball player, who played his entire career for the New York Yankees . Combs batted leadoff and played center field on the Yankees' fabled 1927 team...
. After again considering a career in baseball, he instead decided, on the advice of a close friend, to study law. Accordingly, he matriculated to Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
later that year. He supported himself by coaching high school sports in Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College...
. While Chandler was in Boston, former teammate Charlie Moran, then coaching the Centre College Praying Colonels football team
Centre Praying Colonels football
The Centre Praying Colonels football team represents Centre College in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III competition as a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference . Despite the school's small size , the football team has historically had success and possesses a...
in Danville, Kentucky
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....
, asked him to scout the national powerhouse Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson football
The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873...
, an upcoming opponent for Centre. Chandler took copious notes for Moran, and Centre defeated Harvard 6–0
1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game
The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game, played October 29, 1921, was a college football game between Centre College and Harvard University. Centre beat Harvard 6–0 in the game, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history.-The prequel:The teams first met...
in what is considered one of the greatest college football upsets of all time.
After a year, Chandler was no longer able to pay for his education at Harvard. He returned to Kentucky and enrolled at the University of Kentucky College of Law
University of Kentucky College of Law
The College of Law is a college of the University of Kentucky. Founded initially from a law program at Transylvania University in 1799, the law program at UK began operations in 1908; it was one of the nation's first public law schools...
. Again, he supported himself by coaching high school sports in nearby Versailles
Versailles, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,511 people, 3,160 households, and 2,110 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,330 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 88.18% White, 8.67% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.35%...
and women's basketball at the University of Kentucky. He also acted as an assistant coach and scout for Charlie Moran at Centre, and coached the freshman football team there. A member of the Order of the Coif
Order of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. A student at an American law school who earns a Juris Doctor degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the...
, he earned a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree in 1924. He was admitted to the bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
in 1925 and subsequently opened his practice in Versailles.
On November 12, 1925, Chandler married Mildred Watkins, a teacher at the nearby Margaret Hall School for Girls. The couple had four children – Marcella, Mildred ("Mimi"), Albert, Jr., and Joseph Daniel. Mimi Chandler went on to play one of four singing sisters in the 1944 movie And the Angels Sing
And the Angels Sing
And the Angels Sing is a classic example of a film musical written to capitalize on the title of a previously popular song; in this case Benny Goodman's 1939 number one hit song, "And the Angels Sing" by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer, and sung by Martha Tilton although the song is not sung in the...
alongside Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
, Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
, and Diana Lynn
Diana Lynn
Diana Lynn was an American actress.Born Dolores Marie Loehr in Los Angeles, California, Lynn was considered a child prodigy because of her exceptional abilities as a pianist at an early age, and by the age of 12 was playing with the Los Angeles Junior Symphony Orchestra.-Film career:Dolores Loehr...
before abandoning an acting career and eventually taking a job in the Kentucky Department of Tourism.
For the next five years, Happy Chandler simultaneously practiced law, coached high school sports, and served as a scout for Centre. He became involved in numerous fraternal organizations including the Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, Shriners
Shriners
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also commonly known as Shriners and abbreviated A.A.O.N.M.S., established in 1870, is an appendant body to Freemasonry, based in the United States...
, Knights Templar, Forty and Eight
Forty and Eight veterans organization
The Forty and Eight is an organization of veterans of the United States armed forces. Its official name is "La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux," which is French, and translates as "The Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses."-History:...
, and Optimist International
Optimist International
Optimist International is an international service club organization with 3,200 clubs and almost 100,000 members in more than 35 nations throughout the world. The international headquarters is located in St...
.
Early political career
Chandler entered politics when he was named chairman of the Woodford CountyWoodford County, Kentucky
Woodford County is a county located in the heart of the Bluegrass region of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 23,208. Its county seat is Versailles. The county is named for General William Woodford, who was with General George Washington at Valley Forge...
Democratic Committee. In 1928, he was appointed master commissioner of the Woodford County circuit court
Circuit court
Circuit court is the name of court systems in several common law jurisdictions.-History:King Henry II instituted the custom of having judges ride around the countryside each year to hear appeals, rather than forcing everyone to bring their appeals to London...
. The following year, he was elected as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
to represent the Twenty-second district in the Kentucky Senate
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
. As a member of the Senate, he was part of a Democratic coalition that passed legislation to strip Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Governor Flem D. Sampson
Flem D. Sampson
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 congressmen Caleb Powers and John Robsion, both prominent...
of many of his statutory powers.
Prestonsburg, Kentucky
Prestonsburg is a city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Kentucky, United States. It lies in the eastern part of the state, along the banks of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. It was founded in 1797 by Col. John Preston—for whom it was named—along with Solomon Stratton, Matthias...
native Jack Howard were mentioned as candidates for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States assuming the powers of the presidency...
. Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Fred M. Vinson
Fred M. Vinson
Frederick Moore Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years...
backed Howard, a fellow Eastern Kentuckian
Eastern Mountain Coal Fields
The Eastern Mountain Coal Fields is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coal field, covering all or parts of 30 Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It covers an area from the Allegheny Mountains in the east across the Cumberland Plateau and...
, while political boss
Political boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
es Billy Klair, Johnson N. Camden, Jr.
Johnson N. Camden, Jr.
Johnson Newlon Camden, Jr. was a United States Senator from Kentucky. His father, Johnson N. Camden, had been a U.S. Senator from West Virginia.Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Camden Jr...
, and Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson (politician)
Ben Johnson was an American lawyer and politician; Democrat, United States House of Representatives from 4 March 1907 to 3 March 1927....
supported Chandler. The support of another political boss, Mickey Brennan, gave Chandler the edge at the party's nominating convention. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He was the state's 43rd governor, serving from 1931 to 1935. At age 17, Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon...
also owed his selection to the machinations of the state's political bosses, notably his uncle, Congressman Polk Laffoon
Polk Laffoon
James Knox Polk Laffoon was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.Born near Madisonville, Kentucky, Laffoon attended the local schools. In September 1861, during the Civil War, he enlisted the Confederate States Army in Company F, 8th Kentucky Infantry, at the age of 17...
. Problematically, Chandler was an ally of former Governor J. C. W. Beckham
J. C. W. Beckham
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky...
, Louisville Courier-Journal publisher Robert Worth Bingham
Robert Worth Bingham
Robert Worth Bingham was a politician, judge, newspaper publisher and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He attended the University of North Carolina and University of Virginia but did not graduate. He moved to Louisville in the 1890s and received a law degree from the University of...
, and political boss
Political boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
Percy Haly, which put him at odds with Laffoon, a member of a Democratic faction headed by Russellville
Russellville, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,149 people, 3,064 households, and 1,973 families residing in the city. The population density was 672.1 people per square mile . There were 3,458 housing units at an average density of 325.1 per square mile...
political boss Thomas Rhea
Thomas Rhea
Thomas Stockdale Rhea was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served as Kentucky State Treasurer in 1912 and was state highway commissioner in the administration of Governor Ruby Laffoon. Known as "The Sage of Russellville" or "The Gray Fox", Rhea was a powerful Democratic...
and opposed to Beckham, Worth, and Haly. Despite disharmony within the ticket, the worsening of the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
under Republican President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
and Governor Sampson ensured a Democratic victory. Chandler was elected over John C. Worsham by a vote of 426,247 to 353,573. In a break with precedent, Chandler set up an office on the executive floor of the state capitol
Kentucky State Capitol
The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
and worked there full-time; previous lieutenant governors had stayed in Frankfort
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
only during legislative sessions, when they were charged with presiding over the state senate.
Shortly after their election, the divide between Chandler and Laffoon widened over the issue of implementing a state sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
. Laffoon favored the tax; Chandler opposed it. As presiding officer of the state senate, Chandler worked with Speaker of the House John Y. Brown, Sr.
John Y. Brown, Sr.
John Young Brown, Sr. was a state representative for nearly three decades, serving one term as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives and as majority floor leader during the term of Gov. Edward T. Breathitt. A Democrat, he was elected to one term in the U.S...
to block passage of the tax. In retaliation, Laffoon's allies in the General Assembly
Kentucky General Assembly
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...
stripped Chandler of some of his statutory power as lieutenant governor, after which they were able to pass the tax by a single vote in each house of the legislature.
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. Laffoon, however, had made it clear that he favored Thomas Rhea to be his successor. Rhea secured the services of rising political boss Earle C. Clements
Earle C. Clements
Earle Chester Clements was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and was its 47th Governor, serving from 1947 to 1950...
as his campaign manager. Hailing from Morganfield
Morganfield, Kentucky
Morganfield is a city in Union County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 3,494 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Union County...
, only a short distance from Chandler's hometown of Corydon, Clements later said that if Chandler had asked him first, he might have managed Chandler's campaign instead of Rhea's. Instead, by virtue of managing the opposing campaign, Clements became the leader of a Democratic faction that opposed Chandler for the next three decades.
Chandler feared Laffoon, who controlled the State Democratic Central Committee, would attempt to hand-select the Democratic gubernatorial nominee by calling a nominating convention instead of holding a primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
, and he used a bold move to circumvent Laffoon's ability to carry out such an action. Under the Kentucky Constitution
Kentucky Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more...
, Chandler became acting governor any time Laffoon left the state. When Laffoon traveled to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
in Washington, D. C. on February 6, 1935, Chandler used his authority to call the legislature into session to consider a bill requiring that each party's gubernatorial candidates be chosen by a primary rather than a nominating convention. Laffoon returned to the state the next day and challenged Chandler's authority to make the call, but Chandler's actions were validated by the Kentucky Court of Appeals
Kentucky Court of Appeals
The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky....
on February 26.
Laffoon knew the primary bill would be widely supported in the General Assembly, since both legislators and their constituents had grown to distrust party nominating conventions. Accordingly, he proposed a bill enacting a mandatory two-stage primary in which a runoff election
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
would be held between the top two candidates in the first round. Historian Lowell H. Harrison
Lowell H. Harrison
Lowell Hayes Harrison was an American historian specializing in Kentucky. Harrison graduated from College High . He received a B.A. from Western Kentucky University in 1946, then enrolled at New York University where he earned an M.A. in 1947 and a PhD in 1951, both in history...
maintained that Laffoon expected his rival faction to nominate the aging Beckham to oppose Rhea, and that he hoped a two-stage primary would wear Beckham down. 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. Whatever the case, the legislature passed the bill that Laffoon proposed.
First term as governor
After Beckham declined to run for governor, the anti-Laffoon faction supported Chandler against Rhea. 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". In the first round of the primary, Rhea garnered 203,010 votes to Chandler's 189,575. Frederick A. Wallis received 38,410 votes and Elam Huddleston received 15,501. The votes for Wallis and Huddleston meant that neither Rhea nor Chandler had achieved a majority, triggering the runoff primary. 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.Chandler promised to repeal the unpopular sales tax, lower the gasoline tax, oppose any increase in property taxes, and end the common practice of assessing state employees a percentage of their salaries to be used for campaign activities. Infuriated by their loss, Laffoon and his allies abandoned the party and supported Republican nominee King Swope
King Swope
King Swope was a United States Representative from Kentucky. He was born in Danville, Kentucky. He attended the common schools and was graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky in 1914 and from the law department of the University of Kentucky at Lexington in 1916...
. Policy-wise, there were few differences between the two, and personal attacks were employed by both sides. Swope's reputation as a stern judge contrasted sharply with Chandler's charisma, and Chandler used this to his advantage by dubbing Swope "his majesty". When Chandler touted his service during World War I, Laffoon's adjutant general
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
Henry Denhardt
Henry Denhardt
Henry H. Denhardt was a Democratic American politician, who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1923 to 1927, under Governor William J. Fields....
countered by pointing out that Chandler had only been a cadet in training and never engaged in active service in the war. Ultimately, the campaign turned on the failed presidential administration of Republican Herbert Hoover versus that of the sitting president, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Chandler defeated Swope by a vote of 556,262 to 461,104 in the general election. The 95,000-vote margin of victory was, at the time, the largest ever recorded in a Kentucky gubernatorial election, and at age 37, Chandler was the youngest governor of any U.S. state.
One of Chandler's first acts as governor was to secure the repeal of the sales tax passed under Laffoon. He also successfully lobbied the legislature to abolish the two-round primary in favor of a single primary for future elections. Knowing that he would need to raise revenue to offset the repeal of the sales tax and bring the state's expenditures in line with its income, Chandler appointed a commission headed by former Governor Beckham to draft suggested budgetary legislation. Knowing that lobbyists hostile to the suggestions would likely try to encourage legislative gridlock until the constitutionally-mandated end of the sixty day session, Chandler asked his allies in the General Assembly to adjourn after thirty-nine days and allow him to call a special legislative session that would not be time-limited and could only entertain the agenda he specified. Legislators obliged this request.
Acting on recommendations from Beckham's commission, legislators helped offset the lost revenue from the sales tax by raising excise taxes; of particular import was the tax on whiskey, which was made possible by the repeal of Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
in 1935. Legislators also enacted the state's first income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
during the session. Chandler further proposed to achieve savings through the Governmental Reorganization Act of 1936. The bill realized significant cost savings by restructuring the state government, reducing the number of boards and commissions in the executive branch from 133 to 22. Critics pointed out that the act also centralized more power in the hands of the governor and accused Chandler of ulterior motives in supporting it.
Chandler used the savings realized from his reorganization of government to eliminate the state's budget deficit and pay off most of the state's debt. This brought about further savings by eliminating debt service costs; these were applied to improvements in the state's infrastructure and educational institutions. 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. 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. He stopped short of desegregating the state's universities, however, telling 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."
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
Rural Electrification Act
The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas of the United States....
. He implemented an old-age assistance program authorized by an earlier constitutional amendment and in 1938, proposed another amendment that would add dependent children and needy blind people to the state's assistance rolls. He increased funding to the state's hospitals and asylums, and personally aided with the evacuation of the Frankfort Penitentiary during the Ohio River flood of 1937
Ohio River flood of 1937
The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, one million persons were left homeless, with 385 dead and property losses reaching $500 million...
. Following the flood, Chandler convinced the legislature to construct a new reformatory
Kentucky State Reformatory
Kentucky State Reformatory is a medium-security prison for adult males. The prison is located in unincorporated Oldham County, Kentucky, near La Grange, and about northeast of Louisville. It was established in 1936 to replace the Kentucky State Reformatory located in Frankfort after a flood...
at La Grange
La Grange, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,676 people, 2,216 households, and 1,502 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,514.8 people per square mile . There were 2,330 housing units at an average density of 621.8 per square mile...
.
Generally a friend of organized labor
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, Chandler supported miners' efforts to unionize, organized the state Department of Industrial Relations, and prohibited mine operators from being appointed as deputy sheriffs. He also endorsed the proposed Child Labor Amendment
Child Labor Amendment
The Child Labor Amendment is a proposed and still-pending amendment to the United States Constitution offered by Republican Ohio Congressman Israel Moore Foster on April 26, 1924, during the 68th Congress, in the form of House Joint Resolution No. 184....
to the federal constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and secured passage of a state anti-child-labor law that had previously been defeated twice in the state legislature by overwhelming margins. However, he opposed closed shop
Closed shop
A closed shop is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times in order to remain employed....
s and sitdown strike
Sitdown strike
A sit-down strike is a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at a factory or other centralized location, take possession of the workplace by "sitting down" at their stations, effectively preventing their employers from replacing them with strikebreakers...
s, and utilized the Kentucky National Guard
Kentucky National Guard
The Kentucky National Guard consists of the:*Kentucky Army National Guard*Kentucky Air National Guard-External links:** compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History...
to quell labor-related violence in Harlan County
Harlan County, Kentucky
Harlan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1819. As of 2000, the population was 33,200. Its county seat is Harlan...
.
In the 1936 senatorial contest in Kentucky, incumbent Democrat Marvel Mills Logan was seen as vulnerable, and Chandler backed Democratic challenger J. C. W. Beckham in the Democratic primary. This endorsement drew the ire of Chandler's former ally, Democratic Congressman John Y. Brown, Sr., who believed that, in exchange for his support of Chandler in the 1935 gubernatorial race, Chandler would support him in the U.S. Senate contest. An embittered Brown entered the race anyway, and the votes he pulled from Beckham likely allowed Logan to retain the seat. Brown remained Chandler's political enemy for the rest of his political career.
In 1936, Chandler was awarded an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Kentucky; the following year, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
awarded him the same degree.
U.S. Senator
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. He soon came to believe he was destined to become President of the United States. In mid-1937, he began advocating for Marvel Mills Logan, Kentucky's junior senator, to be appointed to the Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, creating a Senate vacancy to which Chandler, as governor, could appoint himself. The death of Justice George Sutherland
George Sutherland
Alexander George Sutherland was an English-born U.S. jurist and political figure. One of four appointments to the Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding, he served as an Associate Justice of the U.S...
in January 1938 gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
the opportunity to accommodate Chandler's wishes, but Roosevelt preferred younger justices – Logan was 63 – and Kentucky's senior Senator, Alben Barkley, recommended Solicitor General Stanley Forman Reed
Stanley Forman Reed
Stanley Forman Reed was a noted American attorney who served as United States Solicitor General from 1935 to 1938 and as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957. He was the last Supreme Court Justice who did not graduate from law school Stanley Forman Reed (December 31,...
for the appointment. Roosevelt heeded Barkley's advice and appointed Reed instead of Logan.
Eager to augment his power and angered by Roosevelt's and Barkley's refusal 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 Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
's exclusive Pendennis Club at which he alluded to his intentions of challenging Barkley during the upcoming Democratic senatorial primary. Barkley officially announced his re-election bid the following day. The death of another federal judge on January 26 provided a second opportunity for Roosevelt to appoint Senator Logan to a judgeship and appease Chandler, but Logan refused to consider the appointment. Following a January 31 meeting in Washington, D.C. between Roosevelt and Chandler, during which Roosevelt urged Chandler to put his senatorial ambitions on hold, Chandler was encouraged by his political mentor, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
's Harry F. Byrd
Harry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
to challenge Barkley. Chandler heeded Byrd's advice, making an official announcement of his candidacy on February 23, 1938, in Newport, Kentucky
Newport, Kentucky
Newport is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is part of the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Metro Area which...
.
Barkley, recently chosen as Senate Majority Leader
Party leaders of the United States Senate
The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...
by a single vote, was a strong supporter of President Roosevelt and the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. Chandler identified with the more conservative southern Democrats who, wary of Roosevelt and his New Deal, sought to gain control of the party ahead of the 1940 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1940
The United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt , a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue...
. Because Roosevelt was very popular in Kentucky, Chandler was put in the awkward position of expressing personal support of the president while opposing his hand-picked leader in the Senate and his New Deal legislation. In April, polls showed Barkley ahead of Chandler by a 2-to-1 margin, and the May 3 primary victory of New Deal Florida Senator Claude Pepper
Claude Pepper
Claude Denson Pepper was an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a spokesman for left-liberalism and the elderly. In foreign policy he shifted from pro-Soviet in the 1940s to anti-Communist in the 1950s...
finally persuaded Chandler to abandon his attacks of the program.
In late May 1938, Chandler's campaign manager publicly claimed that federal relief agencies – especially the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
– were openly working for Barkley's re-election. Although the WPA administrator in Kentucky denied the charges, veteran reporter Thomas Lunsford Stokes
Thomas Lunsford Stokes
Thomas Lunsford Stokes, Jr. was a Pulitzer-prize winning American journalist.Thomas Stokes was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 1, 1898, to Thomas Stokes and Emma Layton, both descendants of colonial families...
launched an investigation of the agency's activities in the state and eventually raised twenty-two charges of political corruption in a series of eight articles covering the Barkley-Chandler campaign. Federal WPA administrator Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
claimed an internal investigation of the agency refuted all but two of Stokes' charges, but Stokes was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Reporting was awarded from 1917 to 1947.-Winners:*1917: Herbert Bayard Swope, New York World, for articles which appeared October 10, October 15 and from November 4 daily to November 22, 1916, inclusive, entitled, "Inside the German Empire."*1918: Harold A...
in 1939 for his investigation. In the wake of the investigation. Congress passed the Hatch Act of 1939
Hatch Act of 1939
The Hatch Act of 1939 is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit federal employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the President and the Vice President, from engaging in partisan political activity...
to limit the WPA's involvement in future elections.
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" concerning 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 these workers threatened to withhold the checks if the recipients did not pledge their support to Chandler.
President 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
Covington, Kentucky
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...
. 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
Latonia Race Track
Latonia Race Track on Winston Avenue in Latonia Kentucky, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened in 1883. The track hosted a spring-summer racing series and a second in late fall. It was once regarded as among the United States' top sites for racing,...
, the site of Roosevelt's first speech. Throughout his tour of the state, Roosevelt endorsed Barkley while remaining friendly with Chandler; after Roosevelt's departure, Chandler played up Roosevelt's complimentary remarks about him while downplaying or ignoring critical remarks.
Late in the campaign, Chandler fell ill with chills, stomach pains, and a high fever. After first claiming the symptoms were similar to those he experienced a year earlier, Chandler later described his malady as "intestinal poisoning". His doctor announced that Chandler, Dan Talbott, and a state police officer had all been sickened after drinking "poisoned water" provided to Chandler for a radio address. 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. Barkley frequently mocked it on the campaign trail by first accepting a glass of water offered to him, then shuddering and rejecting it. He pointed out to audiences that it was the young Chandler, and not he, who had broken down first under the strain of the grueling campaign.
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 their support to Barkley. Former Chandler ally John Y. Brown, Sr. also took an active part in the Barkley campaign. Ultimately, Barkley defeated Chandler by a vote of 294,391 (56%) to 223,149 (42.6%). The remaining 1.4% of the vote was dividing among minor candidates. Chandler's 70,872-vote loss was the worst loss for a primary candidate in state history.
On October 9, 1939, following the death of Senator Logan, Chandler resigned as governor, elevating Lieutenant Governor Keen Johnson
Keen Johnson
Keen Johnson was the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943. He remains the only journalist to have served in that capacity. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror...
to the governorship; the following day, Johnson appointed Chandler to Logan's vacated seat in the Senate. In a subsequent special election to fill the remainder of the unexpired term, Chandler first defeated Charles R. Farnsley
Charles R. Farnsley
Charles Rowland Peaslee "Charlie" Farnsley , a Democrat, served as mayor of Louisville, Kentucky and as a member of the United States House of Representatives....
in the Democratic primary, then bested Republican Walter B. Smith by a vote of 561,151 to 401,812 in the November 5, 1940, general election. Although he never forgave President Roosevelt for backing Barkley in the 1938 senatorial primary, he generally supported his administration, although he opposed parts of the New Deal.
Chandler's mentor Harry F. Byrd led a group of Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
conservatives in the Senate, and through Byrd's influence, Chandler was appointed to the Committee on Military Affairs
United States Senate Committee on Armed Services
The Committee on Armed Services is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy , benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and...
. In 1943, he was part of a five-person delegation from the Military Affairs Committee that traveled the world, inspecting U.S. military bases. He vociferously disagreed with Roosevelt's decision to prioritize European operations
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
in World War II over the war in the Pacific
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
.
Chandler upset many in the black community by voting against an anti-lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
bill soon after taking office. The bill levied fines against local governments and individual government officials in counties where illegal lynchings occurred. Of his vote against the bill, Chandler remarked, "I am against lynching by anybody and of anybody, black or white, but the present bill carries penalties on local officials and local subdivisions which I think are too severe." The bill passed in the House of Representatives, but died in the Senate. Later, Chandler joined with senators from other southern states in opposing the repeal of poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
es, long used as a mechanism to prevent blacks from voting.
At the expiration of his partial term in 1942, Chandler faced a challenge from former ally John Y. Brown, Sr. in the Democratic primary. As a result of his votes on the anti-lynching bill and the poll tax repeal, the Louisville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
worked against his re-election effort. During the campaign, Brown accused Chandler of abusing his power, including having a swimming pool installed at his home in violation of the federal rationing provisions implemented during World War II. Chandler invited the Truman Committee to investigate the installation of the pool; the committee found no violations of the federal rationing provisions. Chandler went on to defeat Brown and was easily re-elected in the general election over Republican Richard J. Colbert.
Chandler believed that he had enough support at the 1944 Democratic National Convention
1944 Democratic National Convention
The 1944 Democratic National Convention was held at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois from July 19 - July 21, 1944. The convention resulted in the re-nomination of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented fourth term. Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was nominated for...
to be nominated as President Roosevelt's running mate for the upcoming presidential election
United States presidential election, 1944
The United States presidential election of 1944 took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for...
. That support failed to materialize, however, after the Kentucky delegation and Earle C. Clements in particular, refused to back his nomination. The convention nominated Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
as Roosevelt's running mate. Truman became president upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, and Chandler never forgave Clements for costing him the chance to be president.
Commissioner of baseball
Following the death of Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain LandisKenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
in November 1944, John O. Gottlieb, a friend of Chandler's in the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
, suggested Chandler as a successor. Baseball owners who had been afraid that their players would be made eligible for the draft
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
during the war had decided that their new commissioner needed to have the skills and influence to represent baseball's interests in Washington, D. C. As a senator, Chandler had advocated on behalf of baseball during the war, endearing him to the owners. Furthermore, the commissioner's $50,000 annual salary—about five times that of a US senator at the time—proved a significant enticement, and Chandler agreed to be considered for the job.
Other candidates being considered for the position included National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
president Ford Frick
Ford Frick
Ford Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
, Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
chairman Robert E. Hannegan
Robert E. Hannegan
Robert Emmet Hannegan was a St. Louis, Missouri politician who served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from October 1943 to January 1944. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 1947 and United States Postmaster General from 1945 to 1947...
, former Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
James Farley
James Farley
James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...
, US Senator John W. Bricker
John W. Bricker
John William Bricker was a United States Senator and the 54th Governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1944.-Early life:...
, FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, former federal judge Fred M. Vinson
Fred M. Vinson
Frederick Moore Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years...
, Ohio Governor Frank Lausche, and Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson
Robert P. Patterson
Robert Porter Patterson was the United States Under Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman from September 27, 1945 to July 18, 1947....
. After Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
owner Warren Giles
Warren Giles
Warren Crandall Giles was a National League executive in Major League Baseball.-Baseball:Giles was elected president of the Moline, Illinois baseball club in the Three-I League in 1919 and began a 50-year career in baseball that saw him rise all the way to the presidency of the National League...
and Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
owner Philip K. Wrigley
Philip K. Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley , sometimes also called P.K. or Phil. Born in Chicago, he was an American chewing gum manufacturer and executive in Major League Baseball, inheriting both those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr. After his father died in 1932, Philip...
raised strong opposition to Frick, formerly the front runner, New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
co-owner Larry MacPhail
Larry MacPhail
Leland Stanford "Larry" MacPhail, Sr. was an American lawyer, and an executive and innovator in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
began to advocate for Chandler. When the owners met in Cleveland, Ohio on April 24, 1945 to vote for a new commissioner, Chandler's name was not on the short list; the candidates were Frick, Farley, Hannegan, Vinson, Lausche, and Patterson. None of the candidates received the required two-thirds majority, and after lobbying by MacPhail and New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
owner Horace Stoneham
Horace Stoneham
Horace C. Stoneham was the principal owner of Major League Baseball's New York/San Francisco Giants from the death of his father, Charles Stoneham, in 1936 until 1976. During his ownership, the team won National League pennants in 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954 and 1962, a division title in 1971, and a...
, the owners took an informal vote to see if anyone had the potential to be elected. Chandler's name appeared in the top three on each of the sixteen ballots. Encouraged, the owners then held another formal vote. After two ballots, Chandler received the necessary majority; a third vote was taken to make the choice unanimous.
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
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and the Charter of the United Nations. He received only his Senate salary until his resignation on November 1, 1945, despite claims to the contrary by the press. 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
1945 World Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 3, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan-Game 2:Thursday, October 4, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan-Game 3:Friday, October 5, 1945 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan...
, which rendered him unavailable to rule on whether the weather was clement enough to begin the game. Many owners believed Chandler had been attending a political meeting; the actual cause of his delay was his attendance at a Detroit Athletic Club luncheon, where he was representing Major League Baseball.
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. His southern drawl and willingness to sing "My Old Kentucky Home
My Old Kentucky Home
"My Old Kentucky Home" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster , probably composed in 1852. It was published as "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York...
" with very little encouragement led some sportswriters to opine that he was too undignified for the office. Others resented his folksy, political style, calling him "a preening politician", "the Kentucky windbag", and "a hand-shaking baby-kissing practitioner of the arts". Chandler further alienated the press by moving the commissioner's office to Cincinnati from Chicago in 1946.
In early 1946, Jorge Pasquel and his four brothers, owners of the Mexican baseball league, siphoned campaign funds from the upcoming Mexican presidential election and used them to offer large salaries and signing bonuses to American baseball players. In some cases, the offers were triple the salaries being paid in the Major Leagues. Chandler deterred players from considering Mexican League offers by imposing a five-year ban from Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
to anyone who played in the Mexican League and did not return by April 1, 1946. In all, eighteen players played for the Mexican league despite the ban, including Mickey Owen
Mickey Owen
Arnold Malcolm "Mickey" Owen was a catcher for St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball. Between 1937 and 1954, Owen played for the St. Louis Cardinals , Brooklyn Dodgers , Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox...
, Max Lanier
Max Lanier
Hubert Max Lanier was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. He led the National League in earned run average in , and was the winning pitcher of the clinching game in the 1944 World Series against the crosstown St. Louis...
, and Sal Maglie
Sal Maglie
Salvatore Anthony Maglie was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1945-1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. Maglie was known as "Sal the Barber", because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to...
. Vern Stephens
Vern Stephens
Vernon Decatur Stephens was an American shortstop in professional baseball who played 15 seasons in the American League for four different teams. A native of McAlister, New Mexico, Stephens batted and threw right-handed...
initially agreed to play in Mexico as well, but returned before Chandler's April 1 deadline. Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
, Stan Musial
Stan Musial
Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball...
, and Phil Rizzuto
Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto , nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
were also offered lucrative contracts and incentives, but all eventually declined to play in Mexico.
Shortly after the Mexican league incident, Robert Murphy, a former negotiator for the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
, attempted to organize the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
into a guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
for purposes of collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
. Murphy decried the reserve clause
Reserve clause
The reserve clause is a term formerly employed in North American professional sports contracts. The reserve clause, contained in all standard player contracts, stated that, upon the contract's expiration the rights to the player were to be retained by the team to which he had been signed...
in player contracts that gave team owners unlimited control over the player's services, and demanded more rights for players, including the right of contract and the right of salary arbitration. Chandler worked with Pirates officials to avoid a threatened strike by the players. Part of Chandler's intervention included organizing a team of replacement players as a contingency plan; the team would have included Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner
-Louisville Colonels:Recognizing his talent, Barrow recommended Wagner to the Louisville Colonels. After some hesitation about his awkward figure, Wagner was signed by the Colonels, where he hit .338 in 61 games....
, who was 72 years old at the time.
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. On August 27, 1946, the committee presented a draft a document outlining the changes. 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. Baseball's attorney's stripped this controversial language from the version eventually adopted by the owners.
Breaking baseball's color line
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
had announced the signing of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
to a minor league contract with the Montreal Royals
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...
, making him the first African-American to play for a Major League Baseball affiliate. The following year, Rickey transferred Robinson's contract from Montreal to Brooklyn, effectively breaking baseball's color line
Baseball color line
The color line in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Organized Baseball, or the major leagues and affiliated minor leagues, until Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season...
. In a speech at Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...
in February 1948, Rickey recounted a secret meeting allegedly held by baseball officials at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on August 28, 1946. At the meeting, Rickey claimed that Ford Frick disseminated a report which stated that "However well-intentioned, the use of Negro players would hazard all physical properties of baseball." According to Rickey, the other fifteen team owners voted to endorse the report; he was the lone dissent. Rickey claimed Frick meticulously collected all copies of the report at the end of the meeting to prevent them from being disseminated. Baseball historian Bill Marshall later wrote that the document and subsequent vote to which Rickey was referring was the advisory committee's initial draft of recommended reforms. Marshall further records that Rickey identified the meeting and the report shortly after his speech at Wilberforce and retracted his claim of 15-to-1 opposition to Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball.
Chandler, who was also allegedly at the meeting, made no public mention of it until a 1972 interview. In the interview, Chandler then corroborated the essentials of Rickey's story, although he placed the meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
in January 1947. He also recounted that later in 1947, Rickey came to his home in Kentucky to discuss the matter further. According to Chandler, Rickey professed that he would not move forward with Robinson's transfer unless he had Chandler's full support, which Chandler subsequently pledged. Aside from Chandler's anecdote, which he frequently repeated after the 1972 interview, there is no evidence that his meeting with Rickey ever took place. Nevertheless, future baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...
and Washington Post sportswriter Bob Addie
Bob Addie
Robert Addie was an American sportswriter who covered baseball for The Washington Post and Washington Times-Herald. Addie was known for his clean style, hilarious anecdotes, unabashed sentiment, red socks and dark glasses. He never missed a day on the Washington Senators' beat for 20 years until...
maintained that Robinson would not have played had it not been for Chandler's intervention.
That Chandler supported Robinson and the 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. Further, following extreme, race-based jeering at Robinson by the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
and their manager, Ben Chapman, Chandler threatened both the team and Chapman personally with disciplinary action for any future incidents of race-based taunting. Later that season, he decisively supported Ford Frick's decision to indefinitely suspend any members of the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
who followed through on a threat to strike in protest of integration.
Other matters of Chandler's term
During the 1946 postseason, rumors began to swirl that Yankees owner Larry MacPhail was lobbying Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo DurocherLeo Durocher
Leo Ernest Durocher , nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by...
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
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. In the offseason, Chandler and Durocher had a meeting wherein Chandler counseled Durocher to abandon his gambling. 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. MacPhail then signed two Dodgers assistant coaches—Chuck Dressen
Chuck Dressen
Charles Walter Dressen , known as both "Chuck" and "Charlie," was an American third baseman, manager and coach in professional baseball during a career that lasted almost fifty years, and was best known as the manager of the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers of 1951–1953...
and John Corriden
John Corriden
John Michael Corriden Jr. was an American major league baseball player. He made one appearance in a baseball game with the Brooklyn Dodgers as a pinch runner on April 20, 1946....
—as aides to Yankee manager Bucky Harris
Bucky Harris
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
while they were still employed by the Dodgers. Chandler suspended Dressen for 30 days and levied $2,000 fines against MacPhail and the Yankees.
The Yankees–Dodgers feud continued in the New York newspapers throughout the offseason. Charges were levelled by both sides, including accusations that Durocher was a philanderer because of his alleged involvement with married actress Laraine Day
Laraine Day
Laraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players...
, which ultimately resulted in Day's divorce. When Durocher subsequently married Day, a local Catholic priest declared that attending Dodgers games was a venal sin. Prompted in part by this declaration, Chandler suspended Durocher from baseball for a year just days before Opening Day
Opening Day
Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball and most of the minor leagues, this day falls during the first week of April. For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth; writer Thomas Boswell once penned a book...
, citing "conduct detrimental to baseball".
Also in 1947, Chandler sold the rights to broadcast the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
on the radio for $475,000; he used the money from the contract to establish a pension fund for baseball players. In 1949, Chandler negotiated a seven-year contract with Gillette and the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
to broadcast the Series. Proceeds from the $4,370,000 deal went directly into the pension fund. The same two companies negotiated a six-year, $6 million contract to broadcast the Series on television in 1950. Again, Chandler directed the proceeds into the pension fund.
In 1949, Danny Gardella
Danny Gardella
Daniel Lewis Gardella was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals...
, 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. 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. Similar suits were filed by Max Lanier and Fred Martin
Fred Martin (baseball)
Fred Turner Martin was an American pitcher, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. Born in Williams, Oklahoma, Martin threw and batted right-handed, stood 6'1" tall and weighed 185 pounds during his active playing career.Martin was one of a handful American Major League players who "jumped"...
, both of whom also played in Mexico. On June 2, 1949, a federal court refused to reinstate the three players pending their trials, but urged that the antitrust issues be adjudicated as soon as possible. Attempting to alleviate the legal pressure on Major League Baseball, Chandler lifted the bans on players who had gone to Mexico, reinstating them almost two years early. Lanier and Martin dropped their suits, but Gardella pursued his. 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.
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. The owners voted against offering the extension at that time, but promised to consider the request again in December 1950. The vote in 1950 was nine votes for Chandler and seven against, leaving him three votes short of the necessary three-fourths majority. Chandler asked that the extension be considered again at the owners' meeting on March 12, 1951, but the vote was again 9–7. Upset that his contract was not extended, Chandler resigned effective July 15, 1951.
In an interview with The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
in August 1951, Chandler cited his decision to void a trade between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
for outfielder Dick Wakefield
Dick Wakefield
Richard Cummings "Dick" Wakefield , was a left fielder in Major League Baseball for 9 seasons with the Detroit Tigers , New York Yankees , and New York Giants...
as a major factor in his inability to secure a new contract. The Yankees traded Wakefield to the White Sox for cash, but Wakefield refused to report to the White Sox after a salary dispute, leading to a disagreement between the teams over who was responsible for his salary. Chandler voided the trade, making Wakefield's contract the Yankees' responsibility and angering their owner, Del Webb
Del Webb
Delbert Eugene Webb was an American construction magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona.-Early life:...
. 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. Historian John Paul Hill considers this unlikely, however, because two of Chandler's strongest allies, Connie Mack
Connie Mack
Connie Mack may refer to:* Connie Mack I , Hall of Fame baseball manager, player, owner* Connie Mack III , U.S. Representative , U.S. Senator from Florida * Connie Mack IV , U.S...
and Walter Briggs, Sr., were ardently opposed to integration while William DeWitt, the second owner in the American League to integrate, voted against him. Hill points to the Dick Wakefield dispute, as well as Chandler's investigations of Del Webb and Cardinals owner Fred Saigh
Fred Saigh
Frederick Michael Saigh Jr. was the part-owner, then sole owner, of the St. Louis Cardinals of American Major League Baseball from 1948 through 1953.- Pre-Cardinals years :...
involving their rumored connections to gambling interests, as more compelling reasons for Chandler's dismissal.
Following his tenure as baseball commissioner, Chandler returned to his law practice. He also engaged in farming and published The Woodford Sun newspaper. The Kentucky Press Association and the Kentucky Broadcasting Association both named him Man of the Year. He continued his involvement in sports, presiding over the International Baseball Conference
International Baseball Federation
The International Baseball Federation is the worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as overseeing, deciding and executing the policy of the bat-and-ball sport of baseball at the international level...
from 1952 to 1955.
Second term as governor
Chandler remained involved in politics throughout his tenure as baseball commissioner. In 1948, he became the leader of the DixiecratDixiecrat
The States' Rights Democratic Party was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States in 1948...
movement in Kentucky. He hosted Dixiecrat presidential candidate Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
at his home when he visited the state, but did not officially endorse Thurmond's campaign. By the time he had permanently returned to the state in mid-1951, it was too late to influence the gubernatorial contest. He spent the next four years rebuilding his political base in preparation for another run at the office.
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". His opponents in the Democratic Party, led by senator and former governor Earle C. ClementsEarle C. Clements
Earle Chester Clements was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and was its 47th Governor, serving from 1947 to 1950...
and sitting governor Lawrence Wetherby
Lawrence Wetherby
Lawerence Winchester Wetherby was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. After graduating from the University of Louisville, he rose through the judicial system of Jefferson County and was elected lieutenant governor in 1947, serving under Governor Earle C. Clements...
, had difficulty finding a candidate to oppose him. The most likely choice, Lieutenant Governor Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp
Emerson Beauchamp
Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky under Governor Lawrence Wetherby."Doc" Beauchamp was from Logan County, Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and World War II. He served in the Kentucky Senate from 1944 through 1946. He was elected Lieutenant...
, was handicapped by his connections to political bosses in Logan County
Logan County, Kentucky
Logan County is a county located in the southwest area of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 26,573. Its county seat is Russellville...
. Clements virtually hand-picked a relatively unknown candidate in Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Bert T. Combs
Bert T. Combs
Bertram Thomas Combs was a jurist and politician from the US state 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 the Sixth Circuit Court of...
. Because Combs – whom Chandler nicknamed "The Little Judge" – had no record for Chandler to campaign against, Chandler portrayed him as a pawn of Clements and Wetherby – who he derisively referred to as "Clementine" and "Wetherbine".
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. Following the speech, a disappointed observer remarked that "Combs opened and closed [his campaign] on the same night." The 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.
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. He claimed Wetherby had used the state's money frivolously by installing air conditioning in the state capitol
Kentucky State Capitol
The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
and installing a $20,000 rug in his office. (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".) After a Wetherby administration official approved the purchase of African mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban 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. He also denounced the construction of a turnpike connecting Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Elizabethtown is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,531 at the 2010 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in the state...
and Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, the state fairgrounds, and Freedom Hall
Freedom Hall
Freedom Hall is a multipurpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
as unnecessary.
Chandler won the Democratic primary by 18,000 votes over Combs. In the general election, he defeated Republican Edwin R. Denney
Edwin R. Denney
Edwin R. Denney was the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky in 1955. He lost the general election to Democrat Happy Chandler, who won his second non-consecutive term as governor in that election. Denney won 322,671 votes to Chandler's 451,647...
by a vote of 451,647 to 322,671, the largest margin of victory for a gubernatorial candidate to that point in the state's history.
Governorship
Soon after Chandler took office, it became clear that he could not fund the social programs initiated by Clements and Wetherby, plus Chandler's own proposed programs, with the revenue presently being brought into the state treasury. He cut the popular Youth Authority, initiated by Wetherby to unify the state's children's welfare programs, but the savings were not enough to balance the budget. In order to deliver on his campaign promises, Chandler ignored the budget during the regular legislative session in 1956, then called a special session during which he presented his budget proposal. The proposal called for spending in excess of $46 million more than officials estimated would be brought into the state's coffers over the two-year budget. Chandler convinced legislators to pass the budget, promising to propose a tax plan to pay for the expenditures in a subsequent special session. The promised package added 150,000 citizens to the state's tax rolls, put a surtax on income taxes, and cut tax credits. It created a new 5 percent production tax on whisky, and added taxes to deeds and life insurance premiums. It increased the state gasoline tax for trucks by two cents per gallon and raised corporate taxCorporate tax
Many countries impose corporate tax or company tax on the income or capital of some types of legal entities. A similar tax may be imposed at state or lower levels. The taxes may also be referred to as income tax or capital tax. Entities treated as partnerships are generally not taxed at the...
es by half a percent. In addition, it transferred the assessment and collection of taxes on certain intangibles from local to state government. The plan also called for a $100 million bond issue, allowing the allocation of generous budgets for state universities and colleges and improvements to the state highway system.
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. Some of the factionalism came from Clements and Combs supporters who were not willing to cooperate with Chandler, their chief political enemy. Still other resistance to Chandler came from a group of more liberal lawmakers like John B. Breckinridge
John B. Breckinridge
John Bayne Breckinridge was an American politician, a Democrat who served as Attorney General of Kentucky twice and also served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky.-Early life:...
who simply had philosophical differences with the governor. Near the end of the 1958 legislative session, this 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. Because of the factionalism, Chandler had to ally with Republican legislators throughout his term in order to pass many of his proposals, including his tax plan. Frequently, this meant promising to build or repair roads in Republican districts in return for their support of his programs.
During his campaign, Chandler had promised that he would fund a medical school at the University of Kentucky, despite the fact that the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
already had a medical school and a poll of state physicians showed overwhelming opposition to the plan because of this. Nevertheless, Chandler delivered on his promise, allocating $5 million to the establishment of what became known as the Albert B. Chandler Medical Center
Chandler Medical Center
The Chandler Medical Center at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky comprises the following:* Centers of Excellence: This includes the Centers for Rural Health, Critical Care Centers, the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging among numerous other units....
. Chandler said the establishment of the school was his proudest achievement as governor.
Just as he had as 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 state park system. He publicly acknowledged the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
as the law of the land and promised to enforce it. The Kentucky Court of Appeals struck down Kentucky's Day Law – the law proscribing segregation – the following year. Some areas of the state resisted the change. Notably, in 1956, when nine black students in Sturgis, Kentucky
Sturgis, Kentucky
Sturgis is a city in Union County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,030 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1886 and named for Samuel Sturgis, who owned the land now occupied by the city.-Geography:...
attempted to enter previously all-white Sturgis High School, they were blocked by 500 opponents of integration. On September 4, 1956, Chandler called out the National Guard – including a force of over 900 guardsmen and several M47 Patton
M47 Patton
The M47 Patton is an American medium tank, the second tank to be named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates of tanks in battle. It was a further development of the M46 Patton tank.-History:The M47 was the U.S...
tanks – to disperse the crowd. The confrontation lasted a total of 18 days before the protesters peacefully dispersed. Shortly thereafter, Chandler took similar actions in response to a protest in the town of Clay
Clay, Kentucky
Clay is a city in Webster County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,179 at the 2000 census. Settled in 1837, the city is named for statesman Henry Clay.-Geography:Clay is located at ....
, which was also resolved without violence. Of his actions, Chandler remarked "We regret it is necessary to use this means of guaranteeing equal rights to our citizens, but that we must do."
Still convinced he was destined to become president, Chandler attended the 1956 Democratic National Convention
1956 Democratic National Convention
The 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
with hopes of securing the party's presidential nomination. Despite being told by his advisors that the convention would nominate Adlai Stevenson, Chandler continued to seek the nomination, but received only 36 1/2 votes. Following Stevenson's nomination, Chandler returned to Kentucky bitterly disappointed. Due to the death of Senator Alben Barkley and the expiration of Senator Clements' term, Kentucky would also elect two senators in November 1956. Clements was seeking re-election, and the state Democratic committee chose Wetherby as the nominee for Barkley's seat. Chandler refused to use his office to support Stevenson, Clements, or Wetherby, and Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, John Sherman Cooper, and Thruston Ballard Morton
Thruston Ballard Morton
Thruston Ballard Morton , a Republican, represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He was born in Louisville and received a B.A. with the Yale Class of 1929....
won the presidential and senatorial races in the state.
In the 1959 gubernatorial primary, Chandler threw his support to Lieutenant Governor Harry Lee Waterfield
Harry Lee Waterfield
Harry Lee Waterfield , a Democrat, served twice as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and unsuccessfully sought election as Governor of Kentucky....
. The anti-Chandler forces eventually put forth Bert Combs as their nominee again. Having learned from his previous campaign, Combs now attacked Chandler for allegedly requiring state employees to donate 2% of their salaries to his campaign. According to Combs, Chandler had deposited the money in a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n bank, but the money was lost when Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
overthrew the government in the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
. Ultimately, Combs prevailed in the primary by a vote of 292,462 to 259,461. Republicans nominated John M. Robsion, Jr.
John M. Robsion, Jr.
John Marshall Robsion, Jr. , a Republican, was a United States Representative from Kentucky from 1953 to 1959 and was the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky in 1959.Robsion was born in Barbourville...
to oppose Combs, and when Democratic President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
came to Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
to campaign for Combs, Chandler refused to welcome him to the state, a customary duty of the sitting governor. Instead, in a letter to Truman, Chandler launched a blistering attack on his party's nominees, calling Combs a liar and alleging that his running mate, Wilson W. Wyatt
Wilson W. Wyatt
Wilson Watkins Wyatt served as Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1941 to 1945 and as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1959 to 1963. He was a member of the Democratic Party....
, who had previously served in Truman's administration, had actually tried to undermine Truman by helping found Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action is an American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA works for social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research and supporting progressive candidates.-History:...
. Combs ultimately won the general election by a wide margin.
Later life and death
In 1957, Chandler was one of ten inaugural members of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. A vestrymanVestryman
A vestryman is a member of his local church's vestry, or leading body. He is not a member of the clergy.In England especially, but also in other parts of The United Kingdom, Parish Councils have long been a level of local government rather than being solely ecclesiastical in nature...
at St. John's Church in Versailles, he was awarded the Bishop's Medal of the Episcopal Church in 1959. That same year, he received the Cross of Military Service from the United Daughters of the Confederacy
United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a women's heritage association dedicated to honoring the memory of those who served in the military and died in service to the Confederate States of America . UDC began as the National Association of the Daughters of the Confederacy, organized in 1894 by...
. He served as a trustee of the Ty Cobb Foundation and Transylvania University. At the 1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 Democratic National Convention
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles. In the end, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was assembled and went on to secure an electoral college victory and a narrow popular vote plurality in the fall over the Republican candidates Richard M...
, he again sought the party's presidential nomination, opining that the front-runner, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, was "a nice young fellow ... (but) too young for the nomination." Chandler proposed that he be the presidential nominee with Kennedy as the nominee for vice-president, but the convention chose Kennedy for president instead.
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 '63". His opponent in the primary was Combs choice Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt, Jr. Chandler reverted to his familiar campaign themes, charging the Combs administration with wasting state funds in the construction of a floral clock
Floral clock (Frankfort, Kentucky)
The floral clock in Frankfort, Kentucky is a landmark located behind the Kentucky State Capitol. Dedicated in May 1961 by Governor Bert T. Combs, the clock was constructed as a joint project between the state government and the Garden Club of Kentucky....
at the state capitol and denouncing Combs for re-instituting the state sales tax. However, he found it very difficult to adapt to campaigning via television, an increasingly important medium, and his attacks mostly fell flat.
Breathitt enraged Chandler by charging that, when Chandler was a senator, he had voted in favor of declaring World War II, but soon after resigned his commission as a reserve army captain. According to Chandler's version of events, after he voted in favor of the war declaration, he called Secretary of War
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Henry Stimson and asked to be put on active duty. Chandler said Stimson told him he would rather have a senator than a captain, after which Chandler resigned his commission. Chandler's explanation did not stop Breathitt from repeating the charge often on the campaign trail.
Chandler lost to Breathitt in the primary by more than 60,000 votes, although his running mate, Harry Lee Waterfield, won the nomination for lieutenant governor. Journalist John Ed Pearce opined that the loss marked the demise of the Chandler wing of the Democratic Party in Kentucky, although Chandler himself remained somewhat influential.
In 1965, Chandler was named to the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and became commissioner of the Continental Football League
Continental Football League
The Continental Football League was a professional minor American football league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to become the major force in professional football outside of the...
. He served as Democratic National Committeeman from Kentucky. Becoming somewhat of a perennial candidate
Perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is infrequent, if existent at all. Perennial candidates are often either members of minority political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. They may run without any serious hope...
, he unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1967 and 1971. Following his loss in the 1967 Democratic primary, he endorsed Republican Louie B. Nunn
Louie B. Nunn
Louie Broady Nunn was the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the first Republican elected to that office since Simeon Willis in 1943 and the last to hold it until the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003....
. After his election, Nunn appointed Chandler to the first of his three terms on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. Four years later, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race, this time as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
, but garnered only 39,493 votes, compared to 470,720 for eventual Democratic victor Wendell H. Ford
Wendell H. Ford
Wendell Hampton Ford is a retired politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history...
, and 412,653 for Republican challenger Tom Emberton
Tom Emberton
Thomas Dale "Tom" Emberton, Sr. , is a retired Kentucky politician and judge. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky, U.S. in 1971. He lost to the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Wendell H. Ford...
. Ford's successor, Julian Carroll
Julian Carroll
Julian Morton Carroll is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he is presently a member of the Kentucky Senate, representing Anderson, Franklin, Woodford, and part of Fayette counties. From 1974 to 1979, he served as the 54th Governor of Kentucky, succeeding Wendell H. Ford, who...
, again appointed Chandler to the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. In 1968, he was briefly considered as a running mate for George Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
, who was running for president on the third-party American Independent Party
American Independent Party
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...
ticket, but claimed he and Wallace were not able to come to an agreement regarding their positions on racial issues.
The Major League Baseball Veterans Committee
Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players, a committee of the U.S...
chose Chandler for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1987, filmmaker Robby Henson
Robby Henson
-Biography:Robby Henson began his directing career at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Henson is now a skilled film and documentary maker. He writes and directs all his films, which are known for being character-driven. His work has attracted such acclaimed actors Billy Bob...
profiled Chandler in a 30-minute documentary entitled Roads Home: The Life and Times of A.B. 'Happy' Chandler.
Chandler endorsed dark horse candidate Wallace G. Wilkinson
Wallace G. Wilkinson
Wallace Glenn Wilkinson was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the state's fifty-seventh governor. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the University of Kentucky in 1962 to attend to a book retail business he started...
in the 1987 Democratic primary, and his endorsement was considered crucial to Wilkinson's victory in the race. After Wilkinson's election as governor, he restored Chandler's voting rights on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. (In 1981, then-governor John Y. Brown, Jr.
John Y. Brown, Jr.
This article is about one of four John Young Browns, from Kentucky, that have served political office. For others see: John Young Brown ...
had designated Chandler an "honorary", non-voting member of the board.) While discussing the University of Kentucky's decision to dispose of its investments in South Africa at a meeting of the university's board of trustees on April 5, 1988, Chandler remarked "You know Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
's all nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
now. There aren't any whites." The comment immediately drew calls for Chandler's resignation from the University Senate Council and the Student Government Association, and approximately 50 students marched on university president David Roselle
David Roselle
David Paul Roselle is an American mathematician and academic administrator who served as the ninth President of the University of Kentucky and the 25th President of the University of Delaware.-Early life and family:...
's office demanding that Chandler apologize or resign. Commenting on the controversy the next day, Chandler said "I was raised in a small town in Western Kentucky. There were 400 whites and 400 blacks, and we called them niggers and they didn't mind. And I reverted temporarily, at least, to that expression, and of course, I wish I hadn't." That apology did not satisfy many, and 200 protesters marched on the state capitol
Kentucky State Capitol
The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
, demanding that Governor Wilkinson remove Chandler from the board. Wilkinson refused to remove Chandler and urged the crowd to forgive him.
Chandler published his autobiography, Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks, in 1989. In an interview with The Kentucky Kernel
The Kentucky Kernel
The Kentucky Kernel is the daily student newspaper of the University of Kentucky.The Kernel is distributed free on and around the University of Kentucky campus. It claims a circulation of 17,000 and readership of more than 30,000. Its sole source of revenue is advertising...
, the University of Kentucky's student newspaper, Chandler was asked about his controversial comments the previous year, which were addressed in the book. Chandler reportedly told the paper "I said most of the Zimbabweans were niggers and they are niggers." The comment sparked fresh protests and calls for Chandler's resignation. 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."
Chandler died in Versailles on June 15, 1991 and was buried in the churchyard of Pisgah Presbyterian Church near Versailles. 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.