Compiled and edited by Lowell H. Harrison, the essays in Kentucky's Governors profile every chief executive of the Bluegrass State from eighteenth-century governor Isaac Shelby to Ernie Fletcher. First published in 1985, this edition of Kentucky's Governors is expanded and revised to include governors Wilkinson, Jones, Patton, and Fletcher, as well as new information on respected figures such as Louie B. Nunn. An introduction by Kentucky's historian laureate, Thomas D. Clark, provides key insights into successive governors' evolving constitutional powers and their changing roles in political debates and policy formation. Following Clark's overview, each chapter presents significant biographical information while detailing the campaign, election, achievements, strengths, and weaknesses of each governor. To aid in further research, each contributor lists several suggested sources, both primary and secondary, for additional investigation into the lives and careers of Kentucky's leaders. A thorough index is also included to facilitate reference within this updated and revised edition. The profiles in Kentucky's Governors give insights into each leader's engagements with economic development, education, agriculture, and taxes, issues that have helped define two hundred years of history in the Bluegrass State.

The Kentucky Encyclopedia's 2,000-plus entries are the work of more than five hundred writers. Their subjects reflect all areas of the commonwealth and span the time from prehistoric settlement to today's headlines, recording Kentuckians' achievements in art, architecture, business, education, politics, religion, science, and sports. Biographical sketches portray all of Kentucky's governors and U.S. senators, as well as note congressmen and state and local politicians. Kentucky's impact on the national scene is registered in the lives of such figures as Carry Nation, Henry Clay, Louis Brandeis, and Alben Barkley. The commonwealth's high range from writers Harriette Arnow and Jesse Stuart, reformers Laura Clay and Mary Breckinridge, and civil rights leaders Whitney Young, Jr., and Georgia Powers, to sports figures Muhammad Ali and Adolph Rupp and entertainers Loretta Lynn, Merle Travis, and the Everly Brothers. Entries describe each county and county seat and each community with a population above 2,500. Broad overview articles examine such topics as agriculture, segregation, transportation, literature, and folklife. Frequently misunderstood aspects of Kentucky's history and culture are clarified and popular misconceptions corrected. The facts on such subjects as mint juleps, Fort Knox, Boone's coonskin cap, the Kentucky hot brown, and Morgan's Raiders will settle many an argument. For both the researcher and the more casual reader, this collection of facts and fancies about Kentucky and Kentuckians will be an invaluable resource.

Keen Johnson was governor of Kentucky from 1939 to 1943—years that spanned the end of the Depression and the initial involvement of this country in the Second World War. The account of Johnson's administration is chronicled here through a collection of his public papers. The material, organized by subject and arranged chronologically within each area, presents a rather clear picture of Governor Johnson's plans and concerns for Kentucky and of the actions he took as chief executive on behalf of the state. In contrast to contemporary procedures concerning the preservation of governors' papers in university and state archives, many of the Johnson papers were difficult to locate and, apart from a few complete speech manuscripts, were reconstructed in large part from cards containing outlines and notes for speeches, along with many state and local newspaper accounts of speeches he made and of events in which he participated. Many speeches have been extensively footnoted by the editor to provide the reader with supplementary information. Also included in this volume is a perceptive evaluation of the Johnson administration by H. Clyde Reeves, who served in it as a commissioner of revenue. The appendix offers as complete a listing as was possible to reconstruct of the speeches delivered by Governor Johnson during his term of office.

The turbulent career of William Goebel (1856--1900), which culminated in assassination, marked an end-of-the-century struggle for political control of Kentucky. Although populism had become a strong force in the nation, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and ex-Confederates still dominated the state and its Democratic party. Touting reforms and attaching the railroad monopoly, Goebel challenged this old order.A Yankee in a state that fancied itself southern, Goebel had to depend on a strong organization to win votes. As ""The Kenton King"" he created a new style of politics. To some he was.

This in-depth study offers a new examination of a region that is often overlooked in political histories of the Bluegrass State. George G. Humphreys traces the arc of politics and the economy in western Kentucky from avid support of the Democratic Party to its present-day Republican identity. He demonstrates that, despite its relative geographic isolation, the region west of the eastern boundary of Hancock, Ohio, Butler, Warren, and Simpson Counties to the Mississippi River played significant roles in state and national politics during the New Deal and postwar eras. Drawing on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, Humphreys explores the area's political transformation from a solid Democratic voting bloc to a conservative stronghold by examining how developments such as advances in agriculture, the diversification of the economy, and the civil rights movement affected the region. Addressing notable deficiencies in the existing literature, this impressively researched study will leave readers with a deeper understanding of post-1945 Kentucky politics.

The first comprehensive history of the state since the publication of Thomas D. Clark's landmark History of Kentucky over sixty years ago. A New History of Kentucky brings the Commonwealth to life, from Pikeville to the Purchase, from Covington to Corbin, this account reveals Kentucky's many faces and deep traditions. Lowell Harrison, professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University, is the author of many books, including George Rogers Clark and the War in the West, The Civil War in Kentucky, Kentucky's Road to Statehood, Lincoln of Kentucky, and Kentucky's Governors.

This book takes an unusual look at the life and times of Kentucky's Governor Ernie Fletcher. From Introduction: Introduction You may ask yourself, How did I get in here?' - Talking Heads I'm sure Governor Ernie Fletcher sometimes asks himself the question: How did I wind up being governor of Kentucky? The only consistent thing about Governor Fletcher's career path is that there has been no consistency. He was a doctor, a fighter pilot, a minister, a state representative, and a congressman before he was elected governor. Unlike several former governors, who dreamt of the office since grade school, Fletcher came into politics from a nonpolitical background. Lack of experience has accounted for a number of his problems. He came in with the message of "cleaning up the mess in Frankfort" and promptly got into a mess himself. From Book: Unbridled Etiquette "Don't you know about the new fashion, honey? All you need are looks and a whole lotta money." - Billy Joel Mark Hebert at WHAS TV in Louisville did a story about the Kentucky Labor Cabinet hiring a consultant to teach their employees proper manners.