# John Y. Brown Sr.

John Young Brown (February 1, 1900 – June 16, 1985) was an American attorney and politician. He was a state representative for six two-year terms, serving one as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1932 and as majority floor leader in 1966, during the term of Governor Edward T. Breathitt. He was elected to one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935, to an at-large seat elected statewide on a general ticket. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Kentucky in 1939 and the party's unsuccessful nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1946 and 1966. He lost five Democratic primaries for the Senate, the last one in 1968.

## Biography

Brown was the son of tenant farmers Jesse C. and Lucy Keeper Brown, who named him after John Young Brown, a former governor and neighbor. He was born on a farm near Geiger Lake, Union County, Kentucky, attended Union County schools and graduated from the high school at Sturgis, Kentucky. He graduated from Centre College at Danville, Kentucky with an A.B. degree in 1921 where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and a "Scrub" player on the famous Centre Praying Colonels football team. He received his LL.B. degree from University of Kentucky College of Law in 1926 and was admitted to the bar that same year.
He was a well-known trial lawyer who practiced law from 1926 to 1985 in Lexington, Kentucky, with three firms: Brown and Miller, Brown and Son, and Brown, Sledd and McCann. He was noted for his extensive quotation of the Bible from memory during his summations to juries and his representation of coal miners. Brown was elected to Congress in 1932 when the state failed to redistrict due to a reduction in the number of its House members and elected them at large. It was his only statewide victory. In 1934 he lost the Democratic nomination in the new Sixth District to Virgil Chapman. He lost the 1939 Democratic primary for governor to Lt. Gov. Keen Johnson and the primaries for the U.S. Senate in 1936 and 1942, the last one to Sen. A.B. "Happy" Chandler. He won the Senate nomination in 1946 over Phil Ardery but lost the general election to Republican John Sherman Cooper. He lost the 1948 Senate primary to Chapman, who was elected but died in 1951, and the 1960 primary to Johnson. He won the nomination in 1966 but lost again to Cooper. He finished second to Katherine Peden in the 1968 Democratic primary.
Brown sponsored much legislation in the state House including the state's first sales-tax and civil-rights laws. He was recognized on many occasions as the most effective legislator in the House. He lost to Richard P. "Dick" Moloney in a 1951 primary for the state Senate.

## Personal life

Brown married Dorothy Inman in March 1929 in New Albany, Indiana. They had five children: Dorothy Ann, Betty, John Y. Jr., Diane, and Pamela. They divorced in 1973 after repeated political campaigns strained their relationship. Their son, John Y. Brown Jr., made a large fortune as the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken and was Kentucky governor from 1979 to 1983. Their daughter Pamela died in 1970 in an ill-fated attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon dubbed "The Free Life." He is also the grandfather of former Kentucky Secretary of State John Y. Brown III, news anchor Pamela Brown and philanthropist Lincoln Brown.
Brown died of pneumonia in Louisville, six months after being paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile accident.

## Legacy

Brown is a member of the University of Kentucky College of Law's Hall of Fame and the Phi Kappa Tau Hall of Fame.