Lawrence Wetherby

Lawrence Wetherby

Lawerence Winchester Wetherby (January 2, 1908 – March 27, 1994) was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. After graduating from the University of Louisville, he rose through the judicial system of Jefferson County and was elected lieutenant governor in 1947, serving under Governor Earle C. Clements. He was called Kentucky's first "working" lieutenant governor because, in addition to his constitutional duties in the Kentucky Senate, Clements also asked Wetherby to shoulder other duties such as preparing the state budget and attending the Southern Governors Conference. In 1950, Clements resigned as governor to assume a seat in the U.S. Senate, elevating Wetherby as the 48th Governor. He remains the only person born in Jefferson County to ascend to the governorship, despite the fact that Louisville, the county seat, is the state's most populous city.

Wetherby won immediate acclaim as governor by calling a special legislative session during which the state's budget surplus was used to increase funding for education and state benefits. In 1951, Wetherby won a full, four-year term as governor. He continued and expanded many of the programs begun under Governor Clements, including expanded road construction and industrial diversification. He endorsed the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation order in the case of Brown v. Board of Education and appointed a bi-racial commission to oversee the successful integration of the state's schools. As chair of the Southern Governors Conference in 1954 and 1955, he encouraged other southern governors to also accept and implement desegregation.

At the end of his term, Wetherby supported Bert T. Combs to be his successor, but Combs lost to A. B. "Happy" Chandler, a former governor and factional opponent of both Wetherby and Clements. Chandler did not support Wetherby's 1956 bid to succeed Alben Barkley in the Senate, which contributed to his loss to John Sherman Cooper. From 1964 to 1966, Wetherby served on a commission charged with revising the state constitution, and in 1966 he was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he provided significant leadership in drafting the state budget. Following this, he retired from politics and served as a consultant for Brighton Engineering. He died March 27, 1994 of complications from a broken hip and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.