Earle Chester Clements (October 22, 1896 – March 12, 1985) was a Kentucky politician. He represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and was its 47th governor, serving from 1947 to 1950, after serving in the state Senate. For 25 years, he was the leader of a faction of the state's Democratic Party that stood in opposition to the faction led by two-time governor and senator A. B. "Happy" Chandler.
After following his father into the local politics of his home county, Clements agreed to chair the gubernatorial campaign of Thomas Rhea in 1935. Already committed to Rhea, he turned down an offer from Happy Chandler to chair his campaign, beginning the rift between the two men. Clements was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1941. In 1944, he was elected floor leader of its Democratic majority and successfully campaigned for a larger budget than that proposed by Republican governor Simeon Willis. His stand against Willis made him popular in the Democratic Party, and he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1944 and 1946.
In 1947, Clements succeeded the term-limited Willis, defeating Harry Lee Waterfield, Chandler's preferred candidate, in the Democratic primary. As governor, Clements raised taxes and used the revenue to increase funding for the state park system and construct and maintain more roads. He also achieved advancements in education, including some progress toward desegregation. In 1950, Clements was elected to the U.S. Senate. He resigned as governor to take the seat. While in the Senate, he served as Democratic party whip under party leader Lyndon Johnson and as executive director of the Senate Democratic Reelection Committee from 1957 to 1959. He was defeated by Thruston Morton in his re-election bid in 1956; a lack of support from Chandler (then serving his second term as governor) contributed to Clements' defeat. At Johnson's insistence, Clements resumed chairing the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee in 1957 and 1959.
Clements had supported Bert T. Combs for governor against Chandler in the 1955 primary, and did so again against Waterfield in 1959, brokering a deal for Louisville lawyer Wilson Wyatt to drop his bid for governor and run for lieutenant governor on an unofficial ticket headed by Combs. Combs defeated Waterfield and rewarded Clements by appointing him state highway commissioner. In 1960, Clements and Combs split over a deal to lease dump trucks from a Louisville car dealer. State newspapers charged that the deal was payback to the dealer, a Combs supporter. When Combs canceled the deal Clements took it as a public rebuke and soon after resigned to work on the presidential campaign of his friend, Lyndon Johnson. Following his split with Combs, Clements allied himself with the Chandler faction, opposing Wyatt in his bid to unseat Senator Thruston Morton. Clements' influence declined rapidly after the split with Combs, and by the 1963 gubernatorial race, he was unable to deliver his home county for Chandler in the primary against Edward T. Breathitt, who was nominated. When Johnson became president as the result of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Clements' friendship with him made Clements a logical choice to lobby for the Tobacco Institute, a coalition of cigarette manufacturers, who were increasingly having to play defense in Congress. After two years as a lobbyist for the institute, he was its president from 1966 to 1970, and remained on its payroll as a consultant until he died on March 12, 1985.
Early life Earle C. Clements was born in Morganfield, Kentucky, on October 22, 1896."Earle C. Clements" in Biographical Directory He was the youngest of two sons and four daughters born to Aaron Waller and Sallie Anna (Tuley) Clements.Syvertsen in Kentucky's Governors, p. 185 His father was a popular county judge and sheriff in Union County, but Clements at first shunned a political career. He obtained his early education in the public schools, and graduated from Morganfield High School in 1915.Powell, p. 100 Later in 1915, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture. In 1915 and 1916, he played center on the football team, and was named to the "All-Southern Team" in 1916. He was also a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.Pearce, p. 47
Clements' studies were interrupted by World War I.Harrison in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 206 On July 9, 1917, he enlisted as a private in Company M of the Kentucky National Guard.Jillson, p. 377 The company was ordered to Camp Taylor near Louisville, Kentucky, where they were mustered into the infantry of the U.S. Army. Clements first served as a guard at Camp Taylor and later entered the Officers Training School at Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated with the rank of first lieutenant and remained stateside as a professor of military science. He served for a total of 28 months, attaining the rank of captain, and was discharged on September 12, 1919.
After the war, Clements worked as a rigger in the oil fields of east Texas. In 1921, however, his father's health began to fail, and he returned to Kentucky to help him on the farm and served as his deputy sheriff. As a hobby, he also coached football at Morganfield High School, with some success. One of his assistant coaches, Rodes K. Myers, would go on to be lieutenant governor under Keen Johnson.Klotter, p. 330 On January 18, 1927, Clements married Sara M. Blue. Their only child, Elizabeth (Bess) Hughes Clements Abell, was social secretary to Lady Bird Johnson in 1961-69 and Walter Mondale when he was vice president.Syvertsen in Kentucky's Governors, p. 190
Political career In 1925, Clements' father died, and Clements was appointed to serve out the remainder of his term as sheriff.Union County Advocate, Feb. 26, 1925 Kentucky sheriffs at that time could not seek re-election, and he was elected county clerk in 1925. He served two four-year terms in that office. In 1933, he was elected county judge. During his two terms, which lasted until 1941, he supervised paving of 123 miles of road in the county — more than all the previous county judges combined — despite the financial hardships of the Great Depression.Syvertsen in Kentucky's Governors, p. 186
In 1935, Thomas Rhea of Russellville, a former state treasurer and highway commissioner, asked Clements to serve as his campaign chairman for the 1935 gubernatorial race. Clements accepted, and consequently had to refuse a later request from his boyhood friend, A. B. "Happy" Chandler, to fill the same position for his campaign. Chandler won the Democratic primary, and for 25 years, Clements and Chandler led opposite factions of the Kentucky Democratic Party. Chandler claimed that Clements bolted the party and supported Republican candidate King Swope in the general election; Clements denied this, but admitted that he gave Chandler's campaign only minimal support.Pearce, p. 39
Clements was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1941, representing Union, Webster, and Henderson counties. By 1944, he had risen to the post of majority leader in that body and played a central role in writing the state's budget that year. Due to Clements' efforts, educational appropriations were increased far above what had been called for by Republican Gov. Simeon Willis.
Clements' face-off with Willis made him popular and prominent, and helped him organize a campaign that forced the withdrawal of Rep. B.M. Vincent of Brownsville from the 1944 Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives representing Kentucky's Second District, making him the party nominee without opposition. He defeated Republican Otis White of Morgantown and was re-elected in 1946. A New Deal Democrat, Clements voted to increase funding to the Rural Electrification Administration and advocated for the 1945 National School Lunch Act. He supported expansion of agricultural research and reorganization of the Farm Security Administration. He endorsed conservation and wildlife programs and additional funding to federal parks. He supported civil rights legislation, such as bans on lynching and poll taxes and he did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto despite school segregation being legally required in Kentucky prior to Brown v. Board of Education (1954). He opposed the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act and voted to disband the House Un-American Activities Committee.Pearce, p. 48 His service on the Select House Committee on Food Shortages gave him the chance to interact closely with President Harry S. Truman.
Governorship Although encouraged to run for a seat in the Senate in 1946, Clements instead made the race for governor in 1947.Syvertsen in Kentucky's Governors, pp. 186–187 In the Democratic primary, he faced Harry Lee Waterfield, a former Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Not known for his oratory or personality, Clements was a masterful campaign organizer. He secured the support of many Western Kentucky Democrats by allying himself with Logan County political boss Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp, an ally of the recently deceased Rhea. He chose Lexington Herald-Leader editor Tom Underwood as his campaign manager, strengthening his influence in Central Kentucky. He befriended Judge Lawrence Wetherby of Jefferson County, which helped him with the urban vote and Carl D. Perkins of Knott County which helped him in rural eastern Kentucky.
During the primary campaign, two major issues surfaced. Waterfield favored a tax on parimutuel betting, while Clements opposed it. Waterfield supported development of electric power through public utilities, while Clements favored private development (which won him the support of the Kentucky Utilities company).Klotter, p. 331 The Clements campaign also attacked Waterfield for being deemed physically unfit for military service. Clements received a late boost when he gained the endorsement of John Y. Brown, Sr., garnering added support from organized labor. Ultimately, Clements defeated Waterfield by over 30,000 votes.
In the general election, Clements faced Republican state attorney general Eldon S. Dummit. While Clements managed to keep the Democrats united following the primary, Dummit had fractured the Republicans by attacking the administration of Republican Gov. Simeon S. Willis and his preferred successor during the Republican primary. Dummit mounted a meager challenge by citing Clements' opposition to the Taft-Hartley Act that organized labor opposed, but this was not very effective. Dummit had replaced his campaign manager from the primary election, and when the ousted manager turned against him in the general election, it sounded the death knell for his campaign. Clements won the election by a vote of 387,795 (57%) to 287,756 (42%). He resigned his seat in the U.S. House to accept the governorship.