Earle C. Clements - Later Life

Later Life

Clements never again sought an elected office after his defeat by Morton, though he remained active in state politics and continued to lead the anti-Chandler faction of his party. From 1957 to 1959, at the insistence of Lyndon Johnson, he served as executive director of the United States Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and helped ensure the election of a fourteen-seat Democratic majority in the Senate. He considered running for governor again in 1959, but ultimately decided against it. Without Clements in the race, the anti-Chandler faction was unable to unite behind either former candidate Bert T. Combs or former Louisville mayor Wilson Wyatt. Clements united the faction behind Combs, making Wilson Wyatt their candidate for lieutenant governor and promising him support for later races. Combs defeated the Chandler candidate, Harry Lee Waterfield in the Democratic primary and went on to win the general election.

In 1960, Combs appointed Clements as state highway commissioner. Some state newspapers charged that Clements had demanded this post at the head of the state's largest executive department in exchange for supporting Combs, a charge Combs denied. Others wondered if Clements took the post in order to organize the state political machinery for his friend Lyndon Johnson, who was rumored to be considering a run for president. Still others believed that, from his powerful post, Clements would be the real governor and Combs only a puppet.

Scandal continued to plague Clements as highway commissioner. In March 1960, news broke that the highway department was about to lease 34 used dump trucks at a very favorable price from Louisville Ford dealer Thurston Cooke, who had served as finance chairman for Combs' gubernatorial campaign. Some charged that this amounted to a political payoff by Clements. Combs, already under fire for appointing Clements, canceled the lease bid on April 19. Clements was offended by this action and considered it a public rebuke. The incident caused a rift between Combs and Clements that never fully healed, although Clements did not resign immediately.

In August 1960, Clements met with Combs and told him he wanted to resign to work for the vice-presidential campaign of Lyndon Johnson. Combs called a press conference and announced that Clements' resignation would be effective September 1 and that he would be replaced by Henry Ward. The resignation was the end of the Clements faction of the state Democratic party. His split with Combs was so severe that he allied with his longtime foe, Happy Chandler, against the new Combs faction of the party. In the 1962 senatorial race, Clements opposed Wilson Wyatt's challenge to Senator Thruston Morton. Morton won re-election, ending Wyatt's political career. Chandler again sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1963. Clements appeared on stage with Chandler at a rally where Chandler claimed that Combs had arranged the truck deal to discredit Clements. Chandler hoped to damage Combs' reputation and, by extension, that of his hand-picked successor Edward T. Breathitt. His strategy was unsuccessful; Breathitt carried the primary and went on to win the general election. Clements' waning influence was evidenced by the fact that Breathitt carried Union County by a vote of 2,528 to 1,913.

From 1961 to 1963, Clements was a consultant for the American Merchant Marine Institute. He then returned to Washington as a lobbyist and as an executive with the Tobacco Institute. In 1981, he retired to his hometown of Morganfield. After several years of illness, he died March 12, 1985 and was buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Morganfield. In 1980, the Breckinridge Job Corps Center in Morganfield was renamed the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center.