Louie Nunn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Nunn in 1969 | |
| 52ndGovernor of Kentucky | |
| In office December 12, 1967 – December 7, 1971 | |
| Lieutenant | Wendell Ford |
| Preceded by | Ned Breathitt |
| Succeeded by | Wendell Ford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Louie Broady Nunn (1924-03-08)March 8, 1924 Park, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | January 29, 2004(2004-01-29) (aged 79) Versailles, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cosby Cemetery LeGrande, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, includingSteve |
| Education | Western Kentucky University (BA) University of Cincinnati University of Louisville (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank |  Corporal |
| Unit | 97th Infantry Division Army Medical Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the onlyRepublican to hold the office between the end ofSimeon Willis's term in 1947 and the election ofErnie Fletcher in 2003.
After rendering non-combat service inWorld War II and graduating from law school, Nunn entered local politics, becoming the first Republicancounty judge in the history ofBarren County, Kentucky. He worked on the campaigns of Republican candidates for national office, includingJohn Sherman Cooper,Thruston Morton, andDwight D. Eisenhower. He was the Republican nominee for governor in 1963, but ultimately lost a close election toDemocratNed Breathitt. An executive order signed by GovernorBert T. Combs that desegregated Kentucky's public services became a major issue in the campaign. Nunn vowed to repeal the order if elected, while Breathitt promised to continue it.
In 1967, Nunn ran for governor again. After defeatingMarlow Cook in the Republican gubernatorialprimary, he eked out a victory over DemocratHenry Ward. The state offices were split between Democrats and Republicans, and Nunn was saddled with a Democraticlieutenant governor,Wendell Ford. Despite a Democratic majority in theGeneral Assembly, Nunn was able to enact most of his priorities, including tax increases that funded improvements to thestate park system and the construction of a statewide network of mental health centers. He oversaw the transition ofNorthern Kentucky University from acommunity college to a senior institution and brought theUniversity of Louisville into the state university system. The later years of his administration were marred byrace riots in Louisville and a violent protest against theVietnam War at theUniversity of Kentucky. Following his term as governor, he lost toWalter Dee Huddleston in the1972 senatorial election andJohn Y. Brown Jr. in the1979 gubernatorial election. In his later years, he sometimes supported the political ambitions of his son,Steve, and advocated for the legalization ofindustrial hemp in Kentucky. He died of a heart attack on January 29, 2004.
Louie Broady Nunn was born inPark, Kentucky – a small community on the border ofBarren andMetcalfe counties – on March 8, 1924.[1] His first name, Louie, honored a deceased friend of his father's; his middle name, Broady, was a surname in his mother's family.[2] Louie was the youngest of the four sons born to Waller Harrison and Mary (Roberts) Nunn; their youngest child, Virginia, was their only daughter.[3] The Nunns were farmers and operated a general store, though Waller suffered from a congenital heart condition and severearthritis and was limited to light chores.[4][5] The eldest brother, Lee Roy, became an influential campaigner and fundraiser for theRepublican Party.[6]
Nunn obtained the first eight years of his education in a one-room, one-teacher schoolhouse in Park.[7][8] During his teenage years, he gave himself ahernia while lifting a heavy piece of farm equipment.[8] This, combined with his father's health history, may have contributed to back pain issues that plagued him for most of his life.[9] In 1938, he matriculated to Hiseville High School.[10] He earned aBachelor of Arts degree at Bowling Green Business University, nowWestern Kentucky University.[11]
After thebombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Nunn departed forCincinnati, Ohio, to take flying lessons in hopes of becoming aB-17 pilot.[12] By the time he finished his flight training, however, theArmy had discontinued its air cadet program.[12] On June 2, 1943, he enlisted in the Army and received hisrecruit training atFort Wolters nearFort Worth, Texas.[12] He was transferred numerous times. First, he was stationed atSheppard Air Force Base nearWichita Falls, Texas.[12] Next, he was assigned to the97th Infantry Division, then received additional training atFort Leonard Wood inMissouri.[13] Finally, he transferred to theArmy Medical Corps, but his back injury flared up, and he received a medical discharge on September 13, 1945.[13] He held the rank ofcorporal at the time of his discharge.[14]
Following his military duty, Nunn pursued a pre-law degree at theUniversity of Cincinnati.[13] Three years later, he matriculated to theUniversity of Louisville School of Law where he was a classmate of future congressmanMarlow Cook.[15] Nunn earned hisBachelor of Laws degree in 1950.[16][17] He opened his legal practice inGlasgow, Kentucky, in September 1950.[18]
On October 12, 1950, Nunn married Beula Cornelius Aspley, a divorcee from Bond, Kentucky.[7][17] The couple had two children – Jennie Lou, born in 1951, andSteve, born in 1952.[19] Aspley also had three children from her first marriage.[20] Nunn left theMethodist denomination in which he had been raised after marrying Aspley, joining her as a member of theChristian Church (Disciples of Christ).[21]
On June 17, 1953, Nunn declared as a Republican candidate forcounty judge and was ultimately the only Republican to declare.[22] In theDemocratic primary, one of the challengers charged that the incumbent had misused his office for personal gain.[23] In the wake of the investigation, a group of disgruntled Democrats formed an organization to elect Nunn, who defeated his Democratic challenger by a vote of 5,171 to 4,378, becoming the first Republican elected county judge in the history of the heavily Democratic county.[7][23]
In 1956, Nunn served as statewide campaign manager forDwight D. Eisenhower's presidential bid, as well as thesenatorial campaigns ofJohn Sherman Cooper andThruston Morton.[11] The Kentucky Junior Chamber of Commerce named him "Young Man of the Year" in 1956.[24] He was not a candidate for re-election as county judge in 1957 but was appointed ascity attorney for the city of Glasgow in 1958.[7] He considered running for governor in 1959 but became convinced it would be a bad year for Republicans and did not make the race.[25] He managed successful re-election campaigns for Senator Cooper in 1960 and Senator Morton in 1962.[11] He also managed the state campaign of presidential candidateRichard Nixon in 1960.[26] AlthoughJohn F. Kennedy won the election, Nixon carried Kentucky 54% to 46%.[27]
Nunn was the Republican nominee forgovernor of Kentucky in 1963.[7] During the campaign, he attacked an executive order issued by sitting Democratic governorBert T. Combs that desegregated public accommodations in the state.[28] Calling the order "a dictatorial edict of questionable constitutionality", Nunn charged that it had been dictated byU.S. Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy.[29] In a television appearance, Nunn displayed a copy of the order and declared "My first act will be to abolish this."[28]The New Republic accused him of conducting "the first outright segregationist campaign in Kentucky".[28] He lost the election to DemocratNed Breathitt by a margin of just over 13,000 votes.[28]
In 1967, Nunn faced his old classmate,Jefferson County Judge Marlow Cook, in Kentucky's first Republican gubernatorialprimary in many years.[7][17] Nunn attacked Cook as a "liberal, former New Yorker", and some of his supporters referred to Cook's "Jewish backers".[30] The injection ofantisemitism into the campaign drew criticism from Senator John Sherman Cooper, who threw his support to Cook.[30] Nunn also attacked Cook for his Catholic faith, a tactic that proved particularly effective with the state'sProtestant voters.[30] In a close vote, Nunn defeated Cook to secure the nomination.[30]
Nunn then faced DemocratHenry Ward in the general election.[7] During the campaign, Nunn charged that Democrats wanted to raise taxes to pay for administrative inefficiencies.[17] He also played up divisions within the Democratic party, and was endorsed by two-time former Democratic GovernorA. B. "Happy" Chandler.[17][30] Nunn allied himself closely with the national Republican campaign againstLyndon B. Johnson, bringing several prominent Republicans to the state to speak for him.[26] He won the election by a vote of 453,323 (51%) to 425,674 (48%), even though half of the other state offices went to Democrats, including thelieutenant governorship, won byWendell Ford.[31]
The General Assembly was controlled by Democrats, but Nunn was able to pass most of his agenda.[17] Despite a campaign promise not to raise taxes when the outgoing Breathitt administration projected a shortfall of $24 million in the state budget, Nunn convinced theGeneral Assembly to pass an increase in the motor vehicle license fee from $5.00 to $12.50 and raise the statesales tax from three percent to five percent.[17][26] Nunn's budget focused on increased funding for education, mental health, and economic development.[17] In the 1970 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted Nunn's proposals to eliminate taxes on prescription drugs and the use fee charged on vehicles transferred within families, but rejected his plans to reduce theincome tax for low-income families and increase tax credits for the blind and the elderly.[17]
Nunn oversaw the entry of theUniversity of Louisville into the state's public university system.[11] Fulfilling a campaign promise, he helped transform Northern Kentucky Community College into Northern Kentucky State College (which later becameNorthern Kentucky University), a four-year institution and member of the state university system.[32] HistorianLowell H. Harrison argued that these actions diluted state support to existing higher education institutions.[17] Nunn also supported the newly createdKentucky Educational Television.[17]
Nunn doubled the accommodations in thestate park system.[4]Barren River Lake State Resort Park was completed during his tenure, and three other parks were planned and funded during his administration.[4] He also greatly improved the state mental health system. Under his leadership, a statewide network of 22 mental health centers was completed, and all four state psychiatric hospitals were accredited for the first time.[33] Nunn called the revamping of the state mental health system his proudest accomplishment as governor.[33] There was not total agreement between Nunn and the legislature, however. The governor vetoed one-quarter of the bills passed in the 1968 legislative session and 14 percent of those passed in the 1970 session.[31] Anopen housing bill became law without Nunn's signature, and he also refused to sign the 1970 state budget as a form of protest.[7][31] (Unsigned bills become law after ten days under theKentucky Constitution, in contrast to thepocket veto provision in thefederal constitution.)
A supporter of President Nixon'slaw-and-order philosophies, Nunn called out theNational Guard to break up violent protests in the state.[17] In May 1968, he sent the Guard toLouisville to break uprace-related protests that followed peacefulcivil rights marches.[34] This action was criticized by civil rights leaders across the state.[34] In May 1970, Nunn again dispatched the Guard to quell protests against theVietnam War at theUniversity of Kentucky, and imposed a curfew that interfered withfinal examinations.[31] The latter protest culminated in the burning of one of the university'sROTC buildings.[17]
From 1968 to 1969, Nunn served on the Executive Committee of theNational Governors' Conference and, in 1971, chaired theRepublican Governors Association.[11]The Courier-Journal said of Nunn's administration "On the whole, his management of the state's finances has been sound. ... [H]e took a general fund facing a deficit, restored it to solvency, and kept it healthy. No scandals have marred the Nunn record. He chose able men to direct his revenue and finance departments, and their efficiency saved the state millions of dollars."[35] HistorianThomas D. Clark called Nunn the strongest of Kentucky's eight Republican governors.[36] At the time, Kentucky governors could not serve consecutive terms; in the 1971 race, Nunn backed Tom Emberton, who lost to Ford.
Following his term as governor, Nunn opened a law practice inLexington.[17] He campaigned for the retiring Cooper's seat in1972, losing to DemocratWalter Dee Huddleston, a state senator who had managed Ford's campaign.[7] His loss came despite a landslide victory for Richard Nixon in the state and was generally blamed on his advocacy of raising the sales tax to 5 percent from 3 percent in 1968.[37] He continued working on behalf of Republican candidates and backedRonald Reagan's primary challenge to incumbentGerald Ford in 1975.[37] His last run for office came in1979 when he was again the Republican nominee for governor against DemocratJohn Y. Brown Jr.[37] He decried the excessive spending, expanding government, and increased state employment that had occurred under Democratic administrations.[37] He also attacked Brown for his playboy image (he was married to formerMiss AmericaPhyllis George) and his refusal to release his tax returns, as well as his inexperience in government.[37] Despite these attacks, Nunn lost by a vote of 558,008 to 381,278 and returned to his legal practice.[37]
In the 1980s, Nunn served on the boards of regents ofMorehead State University andKentucky State University.[17] He served as a lecturer atWestern Kentucky University, and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Louisville in 1999.[4] During the late 1980s, he criticized SenatorMitch McConnell, one of the emerging leaders of the state's Republican party, for not doing more to support other Republicans in their bids for office; McConnell maintained that he had to focus on his own reelection campaign in 1990.[37] In 1988, Nunn unsuccessfully challengedCongressmanJim Bunning in his bid to retain his position as Kentucky's Republican national committeeman.[37]
In 1994, Nunn's wife Beula filed for divorce from a hospital bed where she lay dying of cancer.[38][39] She claimed she was trying to preserve some of her estate for her children.[38] A Metcalfe County judge granted the divorce, but Nunn challenged the ruling, and it was later set aside.[39] Some property issues were still pending at the time of Beula's death in 1995.[39] During the divorce proceedings, Nunn's son Steve sided with his mother, causing a rift between him and his father.[39] A 1994 letter from the elder Nunn alleged thatSteve Nunn physically and verbally abused Louie Nunn and other members of his family.[39] The letter was discovered in 2009 when Steve Nunn was charged with the murder of his former fiancée, Amanda Ross.[39] The letter also quoted Louie Nunn of saying "you have no family" to Steve, indicating that their relationship had deteriorated long before Louie's death, allegedly because of the younger Nunn's abusiveness.[40]
In 1999, Nunn again considered a bid for governor, precluding a potential bid by his son, Steve, a state representative from Glasgow.[36] He cited personal and health issues for not making the race. In 2000, he backed the presidential campaign of SenatorJohn McCain.[36] Nunn reconciled with his son, and when Steve ran for governor in 2003, Louie supported him.[36] After Steve Nunn ran third in a four-way primary, the elder Nunn supported the Republican nominee, Ernie Fletcher, hosting a fundraiser for him.[36]
Nunn also became an advocate of legalizingindustrial hemp in Kentucky, writing, "Frankly, I was opposed to the legalization of hemp for years because I had been of the opinion hemp wasmarijuana. I was short-sighted in my thinking, and I was wrong."[38] In 2000, Nunn secured an acquittal for the actorWoody Harrelson, who came toLee County, Kentucky, and planted hemp seeds in open defiance of Kentucky's law forbidding the cultivation of hemp.[38] Later, he traveled toSouth Dakota where, at the base ofMount Rushmore, he publicly presented anOglala Lakota leader with bales of hemp after the tribe's crop was confiscated by officers from the federalDrug Enforcement Administration.[38]
Louie B. Nunn died of a heart attack at his home just outsideVersailles, Kentucky, on January 29, 2004, hours after hosting a luncheon with labor leaders seeking help in dealing with the newly elected Fletcher administration.[36][41] He was buried at the Cosby Methodist Church cemetery inHart County, Kentucky.[42] The Cumberland Parkway was renamed theLouie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway in 2000, and the main lodge at the Barren River Lake State Resort Park is also named in Nunn's honor.[43][44]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republicannominee forGovernor of Kentucky 1963,1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theRepublican Governors Association 1970–1971 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromKentucky (Class 2) 1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republicannominee forGovernor of Kentucky 1979 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Kentucky 1967–1971 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
