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>
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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>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
unstinted:
Not constrained, not restrained, or not confined.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unstinted>
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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>