This is a THREAD/Story about politics in Kentucky.
It’s about how both Democrats and Republicans have ruled in KY over the decades.
I begin with Albert Benjamin “Happy” Chandler Sr. Let’s just call him by the name everyone knew him as. Happy Chandler.
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Happy Chandler was quite the guy. He was a Democrat, a Senator, served as Baseball Commissioner and was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His son, Ben, also served for KY in the 6th District but lost to Andy Barr in 2014.
He was also a Lt. Gov and become Gov in 1995.
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Chandler was fiscally minded and helped KY reduce debt and improved education and transportation. That was in 1945.
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During 1942-1946 it was quite the era in politics. Because of the war, there were many differing opinions over foreign policy with Roosevelt and his New Deal. But that’s another story.
In 1945, Happy Chandler left his senate seat (vacated it)and became the Baseball Comm
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At the same time, John Sherman Cooper entered the picture. He’s been a jurist, and Ambassador to India and also East Germany. He was also Republican. So when Happy Chandler vacated his seat to become Commissioner of Baseball, he sought election for that seat.
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He won by only 41, 823 votes. The LARGEST in KY for any Republican EVER.
That was 1946-49
He lost re-election that same year and became a delegate to the UN
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He also helped with NATO.
He was elected to a partial term again in KY Senate in 1952
Lost again in 1954 but Eisenhower made him India Ambassador.
Back in the Senate again in 1960
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But interestingly, he was a former Senate colleague of John F. Kennedy. They served together in the Senate.
John F. Kennedy was chosen to conduct a fact-finding mission to Moscow and New Delhi.
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Here is part of the information related to that.
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/executive_sessions_foreign_relations_committee_vietnam_1968_made_available_july_2010.pdf
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He helped rebuff Soviet expansion of communism in Asia. He was against the Vietnam war and did not seek re-election in 1972. He died in 1991.
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Up comes Walter “Dee” Huddleston, a Democrat from KY who ran for the vacated seat of Mr. John Sherman Cooper. He won that election and served in the KY Senate from 1973 - 1985. In 1984 he lost his re-election bid to #MoscowMitchMcConnell
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#MoscowMitch won by just 5100 votes. At the time of this election, #MoscowMitch was a Judge-Executive in Louisville. Essentially he used TV ads to politically call out Huddleston for putting “private speaking engagements” over his Senate duties
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Despite ALL the ads, Mitch barely won. 49.9% vs 49.5%.
Huddleston was considered a moderate Democrat and eventually went on to be an Advisor with the Federation for American Immigration Reform and advocated for a lower rate of legal immigration.
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And now we have #MoscowMitch who’s been there since 1985.
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However, the ONE THING that doesn’t get mentioned much is how these politics work. Families begat family members in office, others are groomed into office. It’s just the way it is.
You see, in 1964, McConnell INTERNED for John Sherman Cooper, who inspired him to run.
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It was John Sherman Cooper that helped #MoscowMitch get out of the U.S. Army Reserves. He also had an educational draft deferment when he graduated from Law School. So he enlisted.
Helped him stay out of Vietnam.
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He arrived for Fort Knox training in or around July, 1967 and by August, 1967, 2 days after the bar exam, he was gone. There are many reports otherwise, but until it can be proven, it was because of his eyesight (which is odd they didn’t already know that b4 he enlisted).????
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