page_title: Wendell Ford
section_title: United States Senate
hierarchical_section_title: Wendell Ford / Political career / United States Senate
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Senator Kit Bond of Missouri
context_page_description: Wendell Hampton Ford was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor and United States senator in Kentucky history. The Senate Democratic whip from 1991 to 1999, he was considered the leader of the state's Democratic Party from his election to governor in 1971 until his retirement from the Senate in 1999. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving senator in Kentucky's history, a mark which was then surpassed by Mitch McConnell in 2009. He is the most recent Democrat to have served as a Senator from the state of Kentucky.
  Born in Daviess County, Kentucky, Ford attended the University of Kentucky, but his studies were interrupted by his service in World War II. After the war, he graduated from the Maryland School of Insurance and returned to Kentucky to help his father with the family insurance business. He also continued his military service in the Kentucky Army National Guard. He worked on the gubernatorial campaign of Bert T.
context_section_description: Ford entered the Senate in 1974 and was reelected in 1980, 1986 and 1992. In the 1980 primary, Ford received only token opposition from attorney Flora Stuart. He was unopposed in the 1986 and 1992 Democratic primaries. Republicans failed to put forward a viable challenger during any of Ford's re-election bids. In 1980, he defeated septuagenarian former state auditor Mary Louise Foust by 334,862 votes. Ford's 720,891 votes represented 65 percent of the total votes cast in the election, a record for a statewide race in Kentucky. Against Republican Jackson Andrews IV in 1986, Ford shattered that record, securing 74 percent of the votes cast and carrying all 120 Kentucky counties. State senator David L. Williams fared little better in 1992, surrendering 477,002 votes to Ford (63 percent).
  Ford seriously considered leaving the Senate and running for governor again in 1983 and 1991, but decided against it both times. In the 1983 contest, he would have faced sitting lieutenant governor Martha Layne Collins in the primary. Collins was a factional ally of Ford's, which influenced his decision. In 1991, Ford cited his seniority in the Senate and desire to become Democratic Senate whip as factors in his decision not to run for governor.
  Early in his career, Ford supported a constitutional amendment against desegregation busing. He also floated a proposal to put the federal budget on a two-year cycle, believing too much time was spent annually on budget wrangling. This idea, based on the model used in the Kentucky state budget, was never implemented. During the Ninety-fifth Congress (1977–1979), he was chairman of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences.
  From 1977 to 1983, Ford was a member of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He first sought the post of Democratic whip in 1988, but lost to California's Alan Cranston, who had held the post since 1977. Ford got a late start in the race, and a New York Times writer opined that he overestimated his chances of unseating Cranston. Immediately after conceding his loss, he announced he would be a candidate for the position in the next election in 1990. He again faced Cranston in the election, but Cranston withdrew from the race due to a battle with prostate cancer. Ford maintained that he had enough commitments of support in the Democratic caucus to have won without Cranston's withdrawal. When majority leader George J. Mitchell retired from the Senate in 1994, Ford showed some interest in the Democratic floor leader post. Ultimately, he decided against it, choosing to focus instead on Kentucky issues. He supported Christopher Dodd for majority leader.
  During the Ninety-eighth Congress (1983–1985), Ford served on the Select Committee to Study the Committee System, and he was a member of the Committee on Rules and Administration in the One Hundredth through One Hundred Third Congresses (1987–1995). In 1989, he joined with Missouri senator Kit Bond to form the Senate National Guard Caucus, a coalition of senators committed to advancing National Guard capabilities and readiness. Ford said he was motivated to form the caucus after seeing the work done by Mississippi Representative Sonny Montgomery with the National Guard Association and the National Guard Bureau. Ford co-chaired the caucus with Bond until Ford's retirement from the Senate in 1999. The Kentucky Army Guard dedicated the Wendell H. Ford Training Center in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky in 1998. In 1999, the National Guard Bureau presented Ford with the Sonny Montgomery Award, its highest honor.
  Missouri senator Thomas Eagleton opined that Ford and Dee Huddleston made "probably the best one-two combination for any state in the Senate." Both were defenders of tobacco, Kentucky's primary cash crop. Ford sat on the Commerce Committee, influencing legislation affecting the manufacturing end of the tobacco industry, while Huddleston sat on the Agriculture Committee and protected programs that benefited tobacco farmers. Both were instrumental in salvaging the Tobacco Price Support Program. Ford got tobacco exempted from
caption: Kit Bond and Ford formed the Senate National Guard Caucus in 1989.
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