Wendell Ford Informational Piece

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Wendell Ford was born on September 8, 1924 in Daviess County, Kentucky. He attended the Public schools in Daviess County and graduated from Daviess County High School in 1942; from 1942-1943 Ford attended the University of Kentucky (Quisenberry). On September 18, 1943 Wendell Ford married Jean Neel and later had two children and five grandchildren (Fampeople). In the summer of 1944, Ford enlisted in the army and served for two years before receiving and honorable discharge in the summer of 1946 (Quisenberry).
In 1965 Ford ran for the state senate majority leader and won by a margin of 305 votes, and in his only term, Ford introduced twenty-two pieces of legislation that went on to become laws (Fampeople). Two years after his election to the state senate, he was elected Lt. Governor and became the state’s 49th governor in 1971. In 1974 Ford was elected to the U.S. senate and would be re-elected three times after that. Also as a senator, Ford was either the chairman or co-chairman of the inauguration committee from Reagan’s second term through both of Clinton’s terms (Wendell ).
As governor, Wendell Ford masterfully raised money for the state by creating a severance tax on coal, a two-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline, and an increased corporate tax. To balance these tax increases, Ford exempted food from the state sales tax. With the large budget surplus, Ford proposed several construction projects and sharply increased funding for higher education, the public schools, and human resources. By reorganizing and combining several executive departments, creating “super cabinets,” Ford saved the state more money and made these departments more efficient. In addition, he added to the general assembly’s agenda the creation of a state...

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...ent on racketeering charges, but the grand jury refused to indict him.
In addition to the bust on the courthouse lawn, the U.S. 60 Bypass was renamed the Wendell H. Ford Expressway Lawrence and the Western Kentucky Parkway was renamed the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway. Upon his retirement, he was the longest serving senator in Kentucky history; his mark was passed by Mitch McConnell in 2009. Also in 2009, Wendell Ford was inducted into the Kentucky Transportation Hall of Fame. Currently, he teaches politics to youth in Owensboro from Owensboro museum of Science and History (Fampeople).

Works Cited

1. Quisenberry, Vicki. “United States Senator Wendell H. Ford DC’42” Foundation for DCPS. DCPS, 2012.
Web. 23 March 2014
2. Fampeople. Web. 24 April, 2014
3. “Wendell Ford will sit out this Inauguration” Cincinnati. Enquirer. 20 Jan. 2001. Web. 24 April

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