Earle C. CLEMENTS, Congress, KY (1896-1985)

CLEMENTS, Earle C., a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Morganfield, Union County, Ky., October 22, 1896; attended the public schools and the University of Kentucky at Lexington; during the First World War served in the United States Army, attained the rank of captain; engaged in agricultural pursuits; sheriff of Union County 1922-1925; clerk of Union County 1926-1933; judge of Union County 1934-1941; member, State senate 1942-1944, serving as majority floor leader in 1944; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth and Eightieth Congresses and served from January 3, 1945, until his resignation on January 6, 1948, having been elected Governor; elected Governor of Kentucky in 1947 for the term ending December 1951, but resigned in November 1950 having been elected in a special election on November 7, 1950, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Alben W. Barkley, a seat previously held by appointed Senator Garrett L. Withers, and at the same time was elected for a six-year term and served from November 27, 1950, to January 3, 1957; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1956; Democratic whip 1953-1957; director of the United States Senate Democratic Campaign Committee 1957-1959; highway commissioner of Kentucky 1960; consultant for the American Merchant Marine Institute 1961-1963; consultant to tobacco industry and president of the Tobacco Institute, Inc. 1964-1976; died on March 12, 1985 in Morganfield, Ky.; interment in Morganfield Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Bibliography

Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Syvertsen, Thomas H. ‘Earle Chester Clements and the Democratic Party, 1920-1950.’ Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1982.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present