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Wendell Ford Informational Piece

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Wendell Ford Informational Piece Wendell Ford was born on September 8, 1924 in Daviess County, Kentucky, and, after graduating from Daviess County High School in 1942, attended the University of Kentucky. Two years later, Ford enlisted in the army and served for two years before his honorable discharge in the summer of 1946 and continued to serve in the National Guard until 1962 (Quisenberry). He married Jean Neel on September 18, 1943; he has two children and five grandchildren (Kentucky). In 1965 Ford ran for the state senate edging out a win by only 305 votes. In this, his only state senate term, he introduced twenty-two pieces of legislation that were ratified and became laws. Two years later Ford became Lt. Governor and in 1971 went on to serve as Kentucky’s 49th governor (Cross). As governor, Wendell Ford created a budget surplus by passing a severance tax on coal, a two-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline, and an increase in the corporate tax rate. He used this surplus to remove the state sales tax on food, implement several construction projects, sharply increase funding for higher education, and local public schools. With the large budget surplus, Ford proposed several construction projects and sharply increased funding for higher education, the public schools, and human resources (Regional Training Center). By reorganizing and combining several executive departments, he created “super cabinets,” Ford saving the state more money and making the state government more

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