Lawrence Wetherby

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48^th Governor of Kentucky
Lawrence W. Wetherby
In office November 27, 1950 – December 13, 1955
Lieutenant	Louis Cox (1950) Emerson Beauchamp (1951–1955)
Preceded by	Earle C. Clements
Succeeded by	A. B. "Happy" Chandler
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
In office December 9, 1947 – November 27, 1950
Preceded by	Kenneth H. Tuggle
Succeeded by	Emerson Beauchamp

Born	January 2, 1908 Middletown, Kentucky
Died	March 27, 1994 (aged 86) Frankfort, Kentucky
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Helen Dwyer
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Methodist

Lawerence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 - March 27, 1994) served as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and as Governor of Kentucky upon the resignation of Governor Earle C. Clements as Clements went to the United States Senate. Born in 1908 in Middletown, Kentucky, Wetherby won a full term as governor in the 1951 election. After serving as governor Wetherby served in the Kentucky Senate and was President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate in 1966.

As governor, Wetherby increased salaries and benefits for teachers and state employees, created a Department of Mental Health, secured the state's first laws regulating strip mining, and oversaw construction of new toll roads and fairgrounds facilities. Wetherby also secured school funding mechanisms that helped the state's poorer districts.

In 1954-55 Wetherby served as chairman of the Southern Governor's Conference and urged the southern governors to support peaceful implementation of the Supreme Court's school desegregation order. He died in 1994 at the King's Daughters Memorial Hospital in Frankfort, Kentucky. He is buried at the Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

The Administration building at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green was named after this governor.

[edit] External links

Biography at the National Governors Association

Preceded by Earle C. Clements	Governor of Kentucky 1950–1955	Succeeded by Happy Chandler
Preceded by Kenneth H. Tuggle	Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky 1947–1950	Succeeded by Emerson Beauchamp
Preceded by Earle C. Clements	Democratic nominee for Governor of Kentucky 1951–1951	Succeeded by Happy Chandler

v • d • e Governors of Kentucky

Shelby • Garrard • Greenup • Scott • Shelby • Madison • Slaughter • Adair • Desha • Metcalfe • J. Breathitt • J. Morehead • Clark • Wickliffe • Letcher • Owsley • Crittenden • Helm • Powell • C. Morehead • Magoffin • Robinson • Bramlette • Helm • Stevenson • Leslie • McCreary • Blackburn • Knott • Buckner • Brown • Bradley • Taylor • Goebel • Beckham • Willson • McCreary • Stanley • Black • Morrow • Fields • Sampson • Laffoon • Chandler • Johnson • Willis • Clements • Wetherby • Chandler • Combs • E. Breathitt • Nunn • Ford • Carroll • Brown Jr. • Collins • Wilkinson • Jones • Patton • Fletcher • Beshear Kentucky also had two Confederate Governors: George W. Johnson and Richard Hawes.