Kentucky. Governor (1875-1879 : McCreary)

James Bennett McCreary, a Democrat, served two terms as Governor of Kentucky during a political career that spanned nearly half a century. He was the only Kentucky chief executive to govern from both the Old State Capitol and from the present one.

McCreary was born in 1838 in Madison County, Kentucky, and attended the common schools in Richmond. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Centre College and his law degree from Cumberland University in Tennessee, he was admitted to the bar in 1859. McCreary practiced law in Richmond until the onset of the Civil War. He enlisted in the cavalry under General John Hunt Morgan and was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in 1863. He was captured in Ohio during Morgan's Raid, but was later exchanged and went on to serve under General John C. Breckinridge.

McCreary entered politics in 1868 as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1869 he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives and served three terms, the last two as Speaker of the House. McCreary won his first term as governor in 1875 on the conservative Democratic ticket.

McCreary's political goals were modest and reflected the interests of his largely agrarian constituency. Much of the legislation passed during his term concerned agriculture. The legal interest rate was reduced from ten to six percent, and property taxes were reduced twelve and one half percent. The Agricultural and Mechanical College (later the University of Kentucky) was disassociated from Kentucky University (later Transylvania University), and the State Board of Health was created.

At the end of his term in 1879, McCreary returned to his law practice. In 1885 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served successive terms until 1897. In 1902, he won a seat in the United States Senate for one term.

In 1911 McCreary was elected to a second term as governor at the age of seventy-three. Still attuned to the political tenor of the time, he ran on a platform of progressive reform. In contrast to his earlier conservative views, "he mirrored prevailing sentiments." In the next four years the State Highway Department and the Department of State Banking were established. He won a Compulsory Attendance Act, requiring attendance for school-age children, and increased per capita spending for schoolchildren by twenty-five percent.

Toward the end of his term he ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, then retired to his law practice. He died October 8, 1918 at the age of eigthy, and was buried in Richmond, Kentucky.

From the description of Subunit history. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145416228