John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was an American attorney and politician who served as the 35th governor of Kentucky and a United States senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.
Beckham, c. 1915
Funds were allocated for the construction of Kentucky's current capitol during Beckham's second term.
Wickland, Beckham's birthplace, is on the National Register of Historic Places
The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government in Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once before becoming ineligible for four years. Throughout the state's history, four men have served two non-consecutive terms as governor, and four others have served two consecutive terms, the most recent being current governor Andy Beshear, who was re-elected to a second term on November 7, 2023. Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states that hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years.
Governor of Kentucky
The governor's office
Happy Chandler created greater efficiency in state government under the Reorganization Act of 1936.
George Madison's death in 1813 occasioned the first instance of gubernatorial succession in Kentucky.