Lawrence Wetherby
Encyclopedia
Lawerence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) 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
. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because, in addition to his constitutional
duties in the Kentucky Senate
, Clements also asked Wetherby to shoulder other duties such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference
. In 1950, Clements resigned as governor to assume a seat in the U.S. Senate
, elevating Wetherby as the 48th Governor
. He remains the only person born in Jefferson County to ascend to the governorship, despite the fact that Louisville
, the county seat
, is the state's most populous city.
Wetherby won immediate acclaim as governor by calling a special legislative session during which the state's budget surplus was used to increase funding for education and state benefits. In 1951, Wetherby won a full, four-year term as governor. He continued and expanded many of the programs begun under Governor Clements, including expanded road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the Supreme Court
's 1954 desegregation
order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education
and appointed a bi-racial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chair of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to also accept and implement desegregation.
At the end of his term, Wetherby supported Bert T. Combs
to be his successor, but Combs lost to A. B. "Happy" Chandler
, a former governor and factional opponent of both Wetherby and Clements. Chandler did not support Wetherby's 1956 bid to succeed Alben Barkley in the Senate, which contributed to his loss to John Sherman Cooper. From 1964 to 1966, Wetherby served on a commission charged with revising the state constitution, and in 1966 he was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he provided significant leadership in drafting the state budget. Following this, he retired from politics and served as a consultant for Brighton Engineering. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery
in Frankfort, Kentucky
.
. He was the fourth child of Samuel Davis and Fanny (Yenowine) Wetherby. His grandfather was a surgeon in the Union Army
during the Civil War
. His father was also a physician and farmer, and during his childhood years, Wetherby worked on the family farm.
After graduating from Anchorage High School, Wetherby enrolled in the pre-law program at the University of Louisville
. He was a letterman on the football team
in 1927 and 1928; he also played second base
on the baseball team in 1928 and 1929, and was a letterman in that sport in 1929. He was later inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1929, he earned his Bachelor of Laws
degree and went to work for Judge Henry Tilford. The two would remain partners until 1950. On April 24, 1930, he married Helen Dwyer; the couple had three children.
Thanks to his father's influence, Wetherby became interested in local politics at an early age. School board races fascinated him, and he soon allied himself with a faction of the Jefferson County
Democratic Party
headed by Leland Taylor
and Ben Ewing. When Ewing was elected county judge
in 1933, he appointed Wetherby as a part-time attorney for the Jefferson County juvenile court
. He held this position through 1937, then returned to it in 1942 and 1943. In March 1943, he was appointed the first trial commissioner of the juvenile court.
was Bill May, the nephew of U.S. Representative
Andrew J. May
. May had sought the support of gubernatorial candidate Earle C. Clements, but Clements did not back him, possibly because Congressman May was an ally of Clements' political opponent John Y. Brown
. Wetherby was also unable to secure Clements' public endorsement, but won the primary and went on to defeat Republican Orville M. Howard by over 95,000 votes.
Despite Clements' refusal to endorse Wetherby in the primary, the two generally agreed on their legislative agendas and worked well together. Some observers called Wetherby Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor. Previous lieutenant governors did little beyond their constitutionally mandated duties of presiding over the Kentucky Senate
, but during Clements' administration, Wetherby was charged with preparing a state budget, presiding over the Legislative Research Commission
, leading tours for the state Chamber of Commerce
, and attending the Southern Governors Conference
. Clements also made Wetherby executive secretary of the State Democratic Central Committee, which allowed the latter to make many important political contacts.
in 1951. Instead, after talking with Clements and other Democratic leaders, he decided to seek a full, four-year term as governor.
, who was about to be released as baseball commissioner. The possibility of Chandler as a candidate put the Clements faction of the Democratic party into action. Chandler and Clements were bitter political enemies, and the Clements faction now had impetus to unite behind Wetherby to prevent Chandler from gaining the nomination. Ultimately, Chandler did not seek the nomination and, despite implying that Clements controlled Wetherby, Chandler endorsed Wetherby on May 15, 1951. Wetherby had little trouble defeating Howell Vincent and Jesse Cecil in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1951, polling the largest majority ever in a Kentucky primary race.
In the general election, Wetherby faced Republican
Court of Appeals
judge Eugene Siler
. Siler was a fundamentalist Christian
who claimed that the state government was full of corruption, and only he could stop it. Calling Frankfort "our Nineveh
on the Kentucky River", he cited the gambling in Northern Kentucky
, bribery accusations against members of Clements' and Wetherby's administrations, and a 1951 scandal involving the University of Kentucky basketball team
.
Wetherby countered Siler's accusations of corruption by removing one of the officials accused of bribery. He deployed the newly organized Kentucky State Police
to counter organized crime
in Campbell
and Henderson
counties. To further discourage crime, he supported legislation to revoke the alcohol licenses of establishments that allowed gambling. Siler's pro-temperance and anti-Catholic views played well in the state's rural areas, but cost him the vote of the growing urban population. Wetherby won the election by a vote of 346,345 to 288,014.
. Having adopted a pay-as-you-go
program for the state, he was forced to raise additional revenue after the war ended. He did so by imposing sin tax
es on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and parimutuel betting
. However, he was unable to convince the General Assembly to adopt a sales tax
.
Because three members of Wetherby's close family had been killed in automobile accidents on the state's roadways, improving roads was a high priority for Wetherby. Using revenue from a two-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax passed under the Clements administration, Wetherby authorized the building, re-building, or re-surfacing of nearly six thousand miles of roads during his administration. The most important of these was the state's first toll road—the Kentucky Turnpike—connecting Louisville
and Elizabethtown
. He encouraged President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
to construct a federal toll road connecting the Great Lakes
and the Gulf of Mexico
. Other political leaders joined him, convincing Eisenhower to construct the long-talked-about Interstate Highway System
. Improved roads brought increased tourism, which Wetherby supported by increasing funding to the state park system and adding Breaks Interstate Park
, a new park owned jointly by Kentucky and Virginia
. Wetherby also brought national attention to Kentucky as prime hunting and fishing land by conducting his own personal sporting excursions in the state.
Wetherby also tried to diversify the industries located in Kentucky to balance the state's primarily agrarian economy. He expanded the Agricultural and Industrial Development Board and charged it with conducting land surveys to identify potential industrial sites. He encouraged the development of modern airports in the state and supported the canalization of the Big Sandy River
and improvement of the locks and dams
on the Kentucky River
. He continued to personally lead tours given by the state's Chamber of Commerce
. Among the industries that came to the state during his administration were the General Electric Appliance Park in Louisville and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
in Paducah
. In 1954, he used the state police to quash labor unrest in Central City
and other parts of the Western Coal Fields
. He was not a pawn of industry, however. He secured passage of the state's first laws regulating strip mining and killed a right-to-work bill in 1954.
Neither did Wetherby ignore the needs of agriculture. Under his Green Pastures Program, measures were enacted to diversify crop production, improve beef production, and encourage soil conservation
. He secured federal flood control programs for the watersheds
of the Salt
, Licking
, Green
, and Kentucky Rivers, saving valuable farmland. In 1952, Wetherby organized an agricultural council to consolidate the work of the state's agricultural bureaucracy
. He oversaw completion of the state fairgrounds in Louisville, a project begun under Governor Clements, to better display the state's agricultural abundance.
Improvements in education were a hallmark of Wetherby's term as governor. Over the course of his administration, he increased funding to education by $20 million. He called for the creation of an educational television network
and initiated the state's first publicly funded bookmobile
program. He supported the 1954 Minimum Foundation Program, an amendment to the state constitution
that allowed funding to be allocated to school districts based upon need rather than number of pupils.
In 1954 and 1955 Wetherby served as chairman of the Southern Governors Conference and urged the southern governors to support peaceful implementation of the Supreme Court
's school desegregation
order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education
. He was one of five southern governors that refused to sign a statement opposing integration. In Kentucky, he appointed an advisory council of both white
and black citizens to oversee public school integration, which was accomplished with little acrimony compared to other states. Desegregation was one issue where Wetherby and his lieutenant governor, "Doc" Beauchamp
, disagreed. Beauchamp believed he would succeed Wetherby as governor, however, so he did not openly oppose Wetherby's actions.
Among Wetherby's other gubernatorial accomplishments were the creation of a Department of Mental Health and the construction of fifteen hospitals and thirty health centers throughout the state. In 1952, he created the Youth Authority as a central point for the administration of services to delinquent children. He constructed new state prisons, modernized the probation
and parole systems, and established a more orderly system of selecting grand
and petit juries. He also oversaw some voting reform measures, including the provision of funds to purchase voting machine
s in areas where they were desired. He was not as successful in the area of government reform. He failed in his efforts to amend the state's constitution to allow the governor to succeed himself in office. He was also unable to win support for a plan to consolidate some of Kentucky's counties. In 1955, the state's voters approved a constitutional amendment granting suffrage
to eighteen-year-olds over Wetherby's objections.
to succeed Wetherby as governor. Wetherby had named Combs to the Kentucky Court of Appeals
in 1951 to fill a vacancy created by the death of Judge Roy Helm. Happy Chandler, Clements' old foe, ran against Combs in the primary and painted him as a pawn of "Clementine" and "Wetherbine", his derogatory nicknames for Clements and Wetherby. In fact, Chandler ran the entire campaign not just against Combs, but against Clements and Wetherby as well. He charged both Clements and Wetherby with extravagant spending in their administrations. Among his allegations were that Clements had purchased a $20,000 rug for his office and that Wetherby had paneled his office with African mahogany
. Chandler promised that, if elected, he would use "good, honest Kentucky wood" in his office and that all Kentuckians would be invited to the capitol to walk on the $20,000 rug. Ultimately, invoices showed that no $20,000 rug had been purchased by Clements and Wetherby's paneling had been purchased from and installed by a local contractor. Chandler's charges may have been inaccurate, but they were effective; he defeated Combs in the primary and went on to win the general election.
Following his term as governor, Wetherby resumed his private law practice. In 1956, Senator Alben Barkley unexpectedly died of a heart attack. The timing of his death meant that the state would elect two senators in 1956—Clements' term was expiring and now Barkley's seat was vacant. President Eisenhower convinced former senator and ambassador John Sherman Cooper to be the Republican candidate for the seat, hoping Cooper's immense popularity in the state would help his own re-election bid. Barkley's death occurred so late in the year that there was not time for a Democratic primary to choose the party's candidate for the open seat. The Democratic state committee chose Wetherby, who was only six months removed from his term as governor.
Neither Wetherby nor Clements enjoyed the support of Governor Chandler. Coupled with this, Senate Majority Leader
Lyndon B. Johnson
suffered a heart attack during the campaign, and as majority whip
, Clements assumed the role of acting majority leader. This took him away from the campaign trail for extended periods of time. What time he was in the state, he campaigned for his former lieutenant governor, Wetherby. In the general election, Cooper defeated Wetherby by 65,000 votes and Clements lost to Thruston Ballard Morton
by about 7,000 votes. It was the first time Clements had lost a race in thirty years, and Kentucky Democrats would not elect a senator again for another sixteen years.
After this defeat, Wetherby moved to Franklin County
and secured a position at Brighton Engineering with help from his old primary opponent, Bill May. From 1964 to 1966, he was a delegate to an assembly charged with revising the state constitution
. In 1965, May backed Wetherby in his campaign for the Kentucky Senate
. He won the election, defeating the candidate favored by Chandler, and was chosen president of that body
from 1966 to 1968. He was so effective in this position that the state's 1966 budget was debated for only ten days before passing by a vote of 31–5 in virtually the same form as it was presented.
After his service in the state senate, Wetherby returned to Brighton Engineering, where he eventually became a vice-president. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip. He is buried at the Frankfort Cemetery
. The administration building at Western Kentucky University
and a gymnasium at Morehead State University
were named in his honor.
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...
. After graduating from 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...
, he rose through the judicial system of Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of...
and 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...
in 1947, serving under 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...
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...
. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because, in addition to his constitutional
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...
duties 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...
, Clements also asked Wetherby to shoulder other duties such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference
Southern Governors Association
' was founded in 1934, and is the oldest and historically the largest of the United States' regional governors' associations. Since its first meeting 75 years ago to discuss the repeal of discriminatory rates for transporting goods by rail, SGA has represented the common interests of Southern...
. In 1950, Clements resigned as governor to assume a seat 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...
, elevating Wetherby as the 48th 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...
. He remains the only person born in Jefferson County to ascend to the governorship, despite the fact that 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 county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
, is the state's most populous city.
Wetherby won immediate acclaim as governor by calling a special legislative session during which the state's budget surplus was used to increase funding for education and state benefits. In 1951, Wetherby won a full, four-year term as governor. He continued and expanded many of the programs begun under Governor Clements, including expanded road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the 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 desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
order in the case of 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...
and appointed a bi-racial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chair of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to also accept and implement desegregation.
At the end of his term, Wetherby supported 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...
to be his successor, but Combs lost to A. B. "Happy" Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. 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...
, a former governor and factional opponent of both Wetherby and Clements. Chandler did not support Wetherby's 1956 bid to succeed Alben Barkley in the Senate, which contributed to his loss to John Sherman Cooper. From 1964 to 1966, Wetherby served on a commission charged with revising the state constitution, and in 1966 he was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he provided significant leadership in drafting the state budget. Following this, he retired from politics and served as a consultant for Brighton Engineering. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery
Frankfort Cemetery
The Frankfort Cemetery is located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors.-History:...
in Frankfort, Kentucky
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...
.
Early life and career
Lawrence Wetherby was born January 2, 1908 in Middletown, KentuckyMiddletown, Kentucky
The median income for a household in the city was $53,608, and the median income for a family was $61,667. Males had a median income of $45,417 versus $33,135 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,660...
. He was the fourth child of Samuel Davis and Fanny (Yenowine) Wetherby. His grandfather was a surgeon in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. His father was also a physician and farmer, and during his childhood years, Wetherby worked on the family farm.
After graduating from Anchorage High School, Wetherby enrolled in the pre-law program at 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...
. He was a letterman on the football team
Louisville Cardinals football
The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in college football as a member of the Big East Conference. Howard Schnellenberger started the program's rise to relevancy after winning the Miami Hurricanes' first national championship...
in 1927 and 1928; he also played second base
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...
on the baseball team in 1928 and 1929, and was a letterman in that sport in 1929. He was later inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1929, he earned his 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 and went to work for Judge Henry Tilford. The two would remain partners until 1950. On April 24, 1930, he married Helen Dwyer; the couple had three children.
Thanks to his father's influence, Wetherby became interested in local politics at an early age. School board races fascinated him, and he soon allied himself with a faction of the Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of...
Democratic Party
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...
headed by Leland Taylor
E. Leland Taylor
Edward Leland Taylor was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1945 to 1948. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and moved to Louisville with his family when he was 13. He graduated from Louisville Male High School and the University of Virginia, where he received a law degree in 1912. He practiced...
and Ben Ewing. When Ewing was elected county judge
County Judge/Executive
A County Judge/Executive is an elected official in the U.S. state of Kentucky who is the head of the executive branch of a government in a county. The Judge/Executive is an ex officio member of the Fiscal Court, the county's legislature...
in 1933, he appointed Wetherby as a part-time attorney for the Jefferson County juvenile court
Juvenile court
A juvenile court is a tribunal having special authority to try and pass judgments for crimes committed by children or adolescents who have not attained the age of majority...
. He held this position through 1937, then returned to it in 1942 and 1943. In March 1943, he was appointed the first trial commissioner of the juvenile court.
Lieutenant governor
Also in 1943, Wetherby was elected chairman of the 34th Legislative District Democratic Committee, a position he held through 1956. In March 1947, he resigned as trial commissioner of the juvenile court in order to run for lieutenant governor. The strongest of his four opponents in the Democratic primaryPrimary 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....
was Bill May, the nephew of U.S. Representative
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...
Andrew J. May
Andrew J. May
Andrew Jackson May was a Kentucky attorney and influential New Deal-era politician, best known for his chairmanship of the House Military Affairs Committee during World War II, and his subsequent conviction for bribery...
. May had sought the support of gubernatorial candidate Earle C. Clements, but Clements did not back him, possibly because Congressman May was an ally of Clements' political opponent John Y. Brown
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...
. Wetherby was also unable to secure Clements' public endorsement, but won the primary and went on to defeat Republican Orville M. Howard by over 95,000 votes.
Despite Clements' refusal to endorse Wetherby in the primary, the two generally agreed on their legislative agendas and worked well together. Some observers called Wetherby Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor. Previous lieutenant governors did little beyond their constitutionally mandated duties of presiding over 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...
, but during Clements' administration, Wetherby was charged with preparing a state budget, presiding over the Legislative Research Commission
Legislative Research Commission
The Legislative Research Commission is an agency of Kentucky state government that supports the state legislature, the Kentucky General Assembly.The LRC was originally created in 1948 with the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky as its head....
, leading tours for the state Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and attending the Southern Governors Conference
Southern Governors Association
' was founded in 1934, and is the oldest and historically the largest of the United States' regional governors' associations. Since its first meeting 75 years ago to discuss the repeal of discriminatory rates for transporting goods by rail, SGA has represented the common interests of Southern...
. Clements also made Wetherby executive secretary of the State Democratic Central Committee, which allowed the latter to make many important political contacts.
Governor of Kentucky
On November 27, 1950, Governor Clements resigned to accept a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby to governor. One of his first actions in this capacity was to call a special legislative session to convene on March 6, 1951 for the purpose of allocating and spending the state's $10 million budget surplus. Among the expenditures approved in the special session were increases teachers' salaries and state benefits for the needy and government employees. Wetherby's popularity soared as a result of this session, and he seriously considered running for the Senate seat vacated by the death of Virgil ChapmanVirgil Chapman
Virgil Munday Chapman , a Democrat, represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives and in the United States Senate....
in 1951. Instead, after talking with Clements and other Democratic leaders, he decided to seek a full, four-year term as governor.
Election of 1951
Several candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination were discussed, including former governor A. B. "Happy" ChandlerHappy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. 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...
, who was about to be released as baseball commissioner. The possibility of Chandler as a candidate put the Clements faction of the Democratic party into action. Chandler and Clements were bitter political enemies, and the Clements faction now had impetus to unite behind Wetherby to prevent Chandler from gaining the nomination. Ultimately, Chandler did not seek the nomination and, despite implying that Clements controlled Wetherby, Chandler endorsed Wetherby on May 15, 1951. Wetherby had little trouble defeating Howell Vincent and Jesse Cecil in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1951, polling the largest majority ever in a Kentucky primary race.
In the general election, Wetherby faced 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...
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....
judge Eugene Siler
Eugene Siler
Eugene Siler was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky between 1955 and 1965. He was the only member of the House of Representatives to oppose the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution...
. Siler was a fundamentalist Christian
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
who claimed that the state government was full of corruption, and only he could stop it. Calling Frankfort "our Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
on the Kentucky River", he cited the gambling in Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky is the name often given to the northernmost counties in Kentucky...
, bribery accusations against members of Clements' and Wetherby's administrations, and a 1951 scandal involving the University of Kentucky basketball team
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...
.
Wetherby countered Siler's accusations of corruption by removing one of the officials accused of bribery. He deployed the newly organized Kentucky State Police
Kentucky State Police
The Kentucky State Police is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The department was founded in 1948 and replaced the Kentucky Highway Patrol...
to counter organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
in Campbell
Campbell County, Kentucky
Campbell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed on December 17, 1794, from sections of Scott, Harrison and Mason counties. As of 2010, the population was 90,336. Its county seats are Alexandria and Newport...
and Henderson
Henderson County, Kentucky
Henderson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1799. As the latest census data update of 2010, the population was counted 46,250. The county seat is the City of Henderson. The county was named for Colonel Richard Henderson who originally purchased of land...
counties. To further discourage crime, he supported legislation to revoke the alcohol licenses of establishments that allowed gambling. Siler's pro-temperance and anti-Catholic views played well in the state's rural areas, but cost him the vote of the growing urban population. Wetherby won the election by a vote of 346,345 to 288,014.
Administration
Early in Wetherby's term, the state's revenues were inflated by the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. Having adopted a pay-as-you-go
PAYGO
PAYGO is the practice in the United States of financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed.-Budgeting:The PAYGO compels new spending or tax changes not to add to the federal deficit. Not to be confused with pay-as-you-go financing, which is when a government...
program for the state, he was forced to raise additional revenue after the war ended. He did so by imposing sin tax
Sin tax
A sin tax is a kind of sumptuary tax: a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially proscribed goods and services. These goods are usually alcohol and tobacco, but also include candies, soft drinks, fat foods and coffee, while services range from prostitution to...
es on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
. However, he was unable to convince the General Assembly to adopt a 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....
.
Because three members of Wetherby's close family had been killed in automobile accidents on the state's roadways, improving roads was a high priority for Wetherby. Using revenue from a two-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax passed under the Clements administration, Wetherby authorized the building, re-building, or re-surfacing of nearly six thousand miles of roads during his administration. The most important of these was the state's first toll road—the Kentucky Turnpike—connecting 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...
and 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...
. He encouraged President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
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...
to construct a federal toll road connecting the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
and the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. Other political leaders joined him, convincing Eisenhower to construct the long-talked-about Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
. Improved roads brought increased tourism, which Wetherby supported by increasing funding to the state park system and adding Breaks Interstate Park
Breaks Interstate Park
Breaks Interstate Park, also referred as the "Grand Canyon of the South", is located in southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia at the northeastern terminus of Pine Mountain...
, a new park owned jointly by Kentucky and 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...
. Wetherby also brought national attention to Kentucky as prime hunting and fishing land by conducting his own personal sporting excursions in the state.
Wetherby also tried to diversify the industries located in Kentucky to balance the state's primarily agrarian economy. He expanded the Agricultural and Industrial Development Board and charged it with conducting land surveys to identify potential industrial sites. He encouraged the development of modern airports in the state and supported the canalization of the Big Sandy River
Big Sandy River (Ohio River)
The Big Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along its entire course...
and improvement of the locks and dams
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
on the Kentucky River
Kentucky River
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state, with its upper course passing through the coal-mining regions of the Cumberland Mountains, and its lower course passing through the...
. He continued to personally lead tours given by the state's Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
. Among the industries that came to the state during his administration were the General Electric Appliance Park in Louisville and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is a facility located in McCracken County, Kentucky, near Paducah, Kentucky, that produces enriched uranium, for nuclear power plants. The plant is now operated by United States Enrichment Corporation, a subsidiary of USEC Incorporated, a publicly traded...
in 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,...
. In 1954, he used the state police to quash labor unrest in Central City
Central City, Kentucky
Central City is a city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,893 at the 2000 census. It is also the largest city in the county and the principal community in the Central City Micropolitan Statistical Area which includes all of Muhlenberg County and the communities...
and other parts of the Western Coal Fields
Western Coal Fields
thumb|right|Regions of Kentucky, with the Western Coal Fields shown in brownThe Western Coal Fields of Kentucky compose an area in the west-central part of the state, bounded by the Dripping Springs Escarpment. This area is bordered on three sides by the Pennyroyal Plateau and to the north by the...
. He was not a pawn of industry, however. He secured passage of the state's first laws regulating strip mining and killed a right-to-work bill in 1954.
Neither did Wetherby ignore the needs of agriculture. Under his Green Pastures Program, measures were enacted to diversify crop production, improve beef production, and encourage soil conservation
Soil conservation
Soil conservation is a set of management strategies for prevention of soil being eroded from the Earth’s surface or becoming chemically altered by overuse, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination...
. He secured federal flood control programs for the watersheds
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
of the Salt
Salt River (Kentucky)
The Salt River is a river in Kentucky that drains . It begins near Danville, Kentucky, rising from the north slope of Persimmon Knob south of KY 300 between Alum Springs and Wilsonville, and ends at the Ohio River near West Point...
, Licking
Licking River (Kentucky)
The Licking River is a tributary of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of the region of northeastern Kentucky between the watersheds of the Kentucky River to the west and the Big Sandy River to the east.-Origin of name:The Native...
, Green
Green River (Kentucky)
The Green River is a tributary of the Ohio River that rises in Lincoln County in south-central Kentucky. Tributaries of the Green River include the Barren River, the Nolin River, the Pond River and the Rough River...
, and Kentucky Rivers, saving valuable farmland. In 1952, Wetherby organized an agricultural council to consolidate the work of the state's agricultural bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
. He oversaw completion of the state fairgrounds in Louisville, a project begun under Governor Clements, to better display the state's agricultural abundance.
Improvements in education were a hallmark of Wetherby's term as governor. Over the course of his administration, he increased funding to education by $20 million. He called for the creation of an educational television network
State network
A State Network in the United States broadcasting industry is a term which refers to a miniature television network serving an entire state or multiple states...
and initiated the state's first publicly funded bookmobile
Bookmobile
A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...
program. He supported the 1954 Minimum Foundation Program, an amendment to the state 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...
that allowed funding to be allocated to school districts based upon need rather than number of pupils.
In 1954 and 1955 Wetherby served as chairman of the Southern Governors Conference and urged the southern governors to support peaceful implementation of the 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 school desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
order in the case of 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...
. He was one of five southern governors that refused to sign a statement opposing integration. In Kentucky, he appointed an advisory council of both white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
and black citizens to oversee public school integration, which was accomplished with little acrimony compared to other states. Desegregation was one issue where Wetherby and his lieutenant governor, "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...
, disagreed. Beauchamp believed he would succeed Wetherby as governor, however, so he did not openly oppose Wetherby's actions.
Among Wetherby's other gubernatorial accomplishments were the creation of a Department of Mental Health and the construction of fifteen hospitals and thirty health centers throughout the state. In 1952, he created the Youth Authority as a central point for the administration of services to delinquent children. He constructed new state prisons, modernized the probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
and parole systems, and established a more orderly system of selecting grand
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
and petit juries. He also oversaw some voting reform measures, including the provision of funds to purchase voting machine
Voting machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
s in areas where they were desired. He was not as successful in the area of government reform. He failed in his efforts to amend the state's constitution to allow the governor to succeed himself in office. He was also unable to win support for a plan to consolidate some of Kentucky's counties. In 1955, the state's voters approved a constitutional amendment granting suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
to eighteen-year-olds over Wetherby's objections.
Later life
Both Clements and Wetherby endorsed Bert T. CombsBert 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...
to succeed Wetherby as governor. Wetherby had named Combs to 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....
in 1951 to fill a vacancy created by the death of Judge Roy Helm. Happy Chandler, Clements' old foe, ran against Combs in the primary and painted him as a pawn of "Clementine" and "Wetherbine", his derogatory nicknames for Clements and Wetherby. In fact, Chandler ran the entire campaign not just against Combs, but against Clements and Wetherby as well. He charged both Clements and Wetherby with extravagant spending in their administrations. Among his allegations were that Clements had purchased a $20,000 rug for his office and that Wetherby had paneled his office with African mahogany
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....
. Chandler promised that, if elected, he would use "good, honest Kentucky wood" in his office and that all Kentuckians would be invited to the capitol to walk on the $20,000 rug. Ultimately, invoices showed that no $20,000 rug had been purchased by Clements and Wetherby's paneling had been purchased from and installed by a local contractor. Chandler's charges may have been inaccurate, but they were effective; he defeated Combs in the primary and went on to win the general election.
Following his term as governor, Wetherby resumed his private law practice. In 1956, Senator Alben Barkley unexpectedly died of a heart attack. The timing of his death meant that the state would elect two senators in 1956—Clements' term was expiring and now Barkley's seat was vacant. President Eisenhower convinced former senator and ambassador John Sherman Cooper to be the Republican candidate for the seat, hoping Cooper's immense popularity in the state would help his own re-election bid. Barkley's death occurred so late in the year that there was not time for a Democratic primary to choose the party's candidate for the open seat. The Democratic state committee chose Wetherby, who was only six months removed from his term as governor.
Neither Wetherby nor Clements enjoyed the support of Governor Chandler. Coupled with this, 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...
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
suffered a heart attack during the campaign, and as majority whip
Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate
The Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate are the second-ranking members of the party leadership of the United States Senate....
, Clements assumed the role of acting majority leader. This took him away from the campaign trail for extended periods of time. What time he was in the state, he campaigned for his former lieutenant governor, Wetherby. In the general election, Cooper defeated Wetherby by 65,000 votes and Clements lost to 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....
by about 7,000 votes. It was the first time Clements had lost a race in thirty years, and Kentucky Democrats would not elect a senator again for another sixteen years.
After this defeat, Wetherby moved to Franklin County
Franklin County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,687 people, 19,907 households, and 12,840 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 21,409 housing units at an average density of...
and secured a position at Brighton Engineering with help from his old primary opponent, Bill May. From 1964 to 1966, he was a delegate to an assembly charged with revising the state 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...
. In 1965, May backed Wetherby in his campaign for 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...
. He won the election, defeating the candidate favored by Chandler, and was chosen president of that body
President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate
President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate was the title of highest ranking member of the Kentucky Senate prior to enactment of a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky....
from 1966 to 1968. He was so effective in this position that the state's 1966 budget was debated for only ten days before passing by a vote of 31–5 in virtually the same form as it was presented.
After his service in the state senate, Wetherby returned to Brighton Engineering, where he eventually became a vice-president. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip. He is buried at the Frankfort Cemetery
Frankfort Cemetery
The Frankfort Cemetery is located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors.-History:...
. The administration building at Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
and a gymnasium at Morehead State University
Morehead State University
Morehead State University is a public, co-educational university located in Morehead, Kentucky, United States in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S...
were named in his honor.