Wendell H. Ford (born 1924) is a retired American politician from Kentucky. He was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky then served for 24 years in the U.S. Senate. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history. After studying at the University of Kentucky and serving in World War II, he worked on the successful 1959 gubernatorial campaign of Bert T. Combs, and became his executive assistant. Ford served one term in the Kentucky Senate, was elected lieutenant governor in 1967, and in 1971 defeated Combs in the Democratic primary en route to the governorship. As governor, Ford raised revenue through a severance tax on coal and reformed the educational system. Due to the rapid rise of Ford and many of his political allies, he and his lieutenant governor, Julian Carroll, were investigated on charges of political corruption, but a grand jury refused to indict them. After his election as senator in 1974, Ford was a staunch defender of Kentucky's tobacco industry, and was Senate Democratic whip from 1991 to 1999. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he was the longest-serving senator in Kentucky's history.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_H._Ford
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1504:
David (detail pictured), a marble sculpture by Michelangelo portraying the biblical King David in the nude, was unveiled in Florence, Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)
1831:
William IV and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_of_Saxe-Meiningen
1954:
Eight nations signed an agreement to create the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, a Southeast Asian version of NATO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia_Treaty_Organization
1974:
Watergate scandal: U.S. President Gerald Ford gave recently resigned President Richard Nixon a full and unconditional, but controversial, pardon for any crimes he committed while in office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
1994:
USAir Flight 427 crashed on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, resulting 132 deaths and the one of the longest accident investigations in aviation history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAir_Flight_427
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
unstinted: Not constrained, not restrained, or not confined. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unstinted
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Like Peter Pan, or Superman, You have come... to save me. Come on and save me... Why don't you save me? If you could save me, From the ranks of the freaks, Who suspect they could never love anyone, Except the freaks… Who could never love anyone. --Aimee Mann https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aimee_Mann