Kentucky's Governors

by Lowell H. Harrison (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813123264
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	11/12/2004
Edition description:	updated edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	860,586
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lowell H. Harrison, professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University, is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Lincoln of Kentucky and The Antislavery Movement in Kentucky.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	The Kentucky Governorship: An Overview	xiii
	Isaac Shelby (1792-1796, 1812-1816)	1
	James Garrard (1796-1804)	7
	Christopher Greenup (1804-1808)	12
	Charles Scott (1808-1812)	16
	George Madison (1816)	20
	Gabriel Slaughter (1816-1820)	22
	John Adair (1820-1824)	26
	Joseph Desha (1824-1828)	29
	Thomas Metcalfe (1828-1832)	33
	John Breathitt (1832-1834)	38
	James Turner Morehead (1834-1836)	43
	James Clark (1836-1839)	47
	Charles Anderson Wickliffe (1839-1840)	51
	Robert Perkins Letcher (1840-1844)	55
	William Owsley (1844-1848)	60
	John Jordan Crittenden (1848-1850)	64
	John Larue Helm (1850-1851, 1867)	68
	Lazarus Whitehead Powell (1851-1855)	71
	Charles Slaughter Morehead (1855-1859)	75
	Beriah Magoffin (1859-1862)	78
	George W. Johnson (1861-1862, Confederate)	82
	Richard Hawes (1862-1865, Confederate)	85
	James F. Robinson (1862-1863)	89
	Thomas Elliott Bramlette (1863-1867)	93
	John White Stevenson (1867-1871)	98
	Preston Hopkins Leslie (1871-1875)	101
	James B. McCreary (1875-1879, 1911-1915)	105
	Luke Pryor Blackburn (1879-1883)	111
	J. Proctor Knott (1883-1887)	115
	Simon Bolivar Buckner (1887-1891)	119
	John Young Brown (1891-1895)	123
	William O'Connell Bradley (1895-1899)	127
	William Sylvester Taylor (1899-1900)	131
	William Goebel (1900)	134
	J.C.W. Beckham (1900-1907)	137
	Augustus Everett Willson (1907-1911)	141
	Augustus Owsley Stanley (1915-1919)	145
	James Dixon Black (1919)	149
	Edwin Porch Morrow (1919-1923)	152
	William Jason Fields (1923-1927)	156
	Flem D. Sampson (1927-1931)	160
	Ruby Laffoon (1931-1935)	164
	Albert Benjamin Chandler (1935-1939, 1955-1959)	168
	Keen Johnson (1939-1943)	177
	Simeon Willis (1943-1947)	181
	Earle Chester Clements (1947-1950)	185
	Lawrence W. Wetherby (1950-1955)	191
	Bert T. Combs (1959-1963)	196
	Edward Thompson Breathitt Jr. (1963-1967)	200
	Louie B. Nunn (1967-1971)	206
	Wendell Hampton Ford (1971-1974)	211
	Julian Morton Carroll (1974-1979)	217
	John Y. Brown Jr. (1979-1983)	221
	Martha Layne Collins (1983-1987)	229
	Wallace Glenn Wilkinson (1987-1991)	237
	Brereton C. Jones (1991-1995)	244
	Paul Edward Patton (1995-2003)	251
	Ernest Lee Fletcher (2003- )	264
	Contributors	269
	Index	275

Editorial Reviews

Provides concise accounts of the lives of each governor [and] insights into the governors' evolving constitutional powers and their changing roles in political debates and policy information.

Kentucky Monthly

Provides informative and scholarly sketchescould serve as a good model for similar volumes about officials of other states.

Journal of American History

One of the standard reference works on the commonwealth's history.

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Provides informative and scholarly sketches…could serve as a good model for similar volumes about officials of other states." — Journal of American History

"Provides concise accounts of the lives of each governor [and] insights into the governors' evolving constitutional powers and their changing roles in political debates and policy information." — Kentucky Monthly

"One of the standard reference works on the commonwealth's history." — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

From the Publisher