Before we begin, i would like to share our mission and the relevance it serves in our world today. As you all know, senator ford believed that students need a better understanding of how our government operates and that the principles by which he conducted his work, civil discourse, cooperation, and the willingness to compromise are vital to our nations future. In keeping with this mission, the center of established the Statesmanship Academy in 2012. The academy currently serves over 100 local Area High School students who have a passion for public service, enhancing their leadership skills, and for study the issues that face our communities, states, and nation. At the academy, we strive to teach these students to examine both sides of every issue, to learn how to respect another persons opinion, even when it may differ from their own, and that working together should not be assigned as weakness, but a sign of strength. These students are fully dedicated to the work and to reviving these principles not only back into our government, but also into everyday society. These students have learned to the example of senator ford that those ideals and principles or what it takes to best serve your constituents and community as a public servant. The less than principles our students learn our ones they will use throughout their lives. They may be High School Students today, but they are also our nations in the states, and communities future leaders. On behalf of the ford center, i would like to welcome and recognize several of our dignitaries we have in attendance today. We have the honorable joseph mckinley, the honorable jeff taylor, the honorable david payne come and the honorable j wethington, mr. Joe boland and susan mile, jim gooch. Honorable mayor tom watson and city commissioners bob glenn and larry conder. Officials from our county government as well. A special welcome to mr. Bill goodman, executive director of the kentucky humanities council. We appreciate you all being here today and for your continued support of the ford centers mission. [applause] and now i would like to introduce senator fords grandson and board of directors, mr. Clay ford. [applause] thank you everyone. Thank you for being here today. What a wonderful opportunity. I first want to thank Elizabeth Griffith, our executive director, for all the wonderful work you are doing on behalf of our students. I want to thank our former director, who is with us here today, and all the work he has done to get us to this point. Special thank you to my wife diane. She pours her heart and soul into this organization, that is for sure and she has worked very hard to build this program and has absolute confidence in our mission that not only are we going to make a difference, but our students will make a great impact on our communities in the future. What an important day for the ford center. We want to thank leader mcconnell. We are so proud to have him here to speak about granddad and his career. We as a family, we are very proud of his accomplishments of them of course, but we miss him, and what he meant to us as a granddad, as a great granddad, as a father, and as a husband as well. That is what we miss the most, but we are proud of his legacy, and specifically this piece of his legacy. It encourages students to engages citizens of their community and to do it in a simple way that encourages cooperation and compromise. Granddad love to quote henry clay. And specifically that compromise is negotiated hurt. We have to hurt a little. You have to hurt a little. I have to hurt a little in order for us to move ford. We want to instill that same sense of compromise in our students, and we think the best way to do that is through what we call fantastic experiences and we want to thank leader mcconnell and his staff for specifically one recently with our seniors in washington, d. C. He took a tremendous amount of time, maybe one of the busiest people on the planet, and took a tremendous amount of time to discuss issues with our students, to discuss the history of the capital, which was fascinating. He also talked about my granddads career and answered many of our students questions, so it is a wonderful opportunity for us and we want to thank phil maxon as well, who spent a tremendous amount of time helping us to get prepared and answering a lot of our students questions as well is spending the day with us, so thank you, leader mcconnell. That was a special expense for us and we certainly appreciate it, as did our students. Granddad and the leader have the opportunity to Work Together over many years that affected kentuckians. They did not always agree, but had respect for each others abilities and worked hard to make sure that passing legislation was going to benefit their home state and its constituents. Kentuckians have been lucky to have two senators in my opinion representing them that were able to rise to such levels of influence. As you know, Mitch Mcconnell is the Senate Majority leader. He was elected to that position unanimously by his republican colleagues in 2014, and again in 2016. He is only the second kentucky to ever serve as majority leader in the u. S. Senate. The first Alvin Barkley led the democrats in 19371949. First elected to the senate in 1984, mcconnell is kentuckys longestserving senator and made history as the only republican challenger to defeat the incumbent democrat and is the first republican to win a statewide kentucky race since 1968. In 2014, he was elected to a record six term by receiving broad support across kentucky, winning 110 of 120 counties. Mcconnell currently serves as Senior Member of appropriations, agricultural, and rules committees. He is the proud father of three daughters and married to secretary of labor, the 18th secretary of the department of transportation. Revis lee secretary chao served as george w. Bushs u. S. Secretary of labor. When you mention power in washington today, three names come to mind. President trump, how speaker ryan, and leader mcconnell. It is an honor to have the leader with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you so much. It is great to see all of you and to be here today. Just to give you a sense what this speech is about. It is part of a series of talks on past prominent u. S. Senators from kentucky that i have been doing up the last couple of years. Our commonwealth has been blessed with a Rich Heritage that has contributed much to our nations development. I hope to convey a bit of that political history of some of the distinguished individuals who served as senators from our state. I might say we have had a bunch of them since we went into the union in 1792, and i think it is safe to say some were more significant than others, and obviously among the most significant was wendell ford. As a part of this effort, i want to thank a couple of professors from around our state. They helped on the research. Today, as you know, the focus of my remarks is on wendell ford, one of the states most distinguished and enduring public servants. I would note that the senators legacy continues to live today through the many ford Center Scholars in attendance today, and as clay pointed out, i got a chance to interact with earlier this year and to see again today. I am pleased that so many members of wendells family have joined us today, including clay and his wife diane, their two children. Also here are the senators son steve and his wife sarah, the senators daughter shirley and her husband bill, and the senators brother reverend ford. I would also like to welcome neil ford, morgan ford, and emily pendleton, and finally at one to thank behind me, Elizabeth Griffith for helping to set up this event today. Given the subject of my remarks, it is especially fitting to be in owensboro. A dean at the university of kentucky one set of senator ford, he said, i dont know of a link between a Government Official and a community that is as close and obvious as the link between wendell ford and owensboro. That link was there from the very beginning as wendell was born not far from here near yellow creek on september 8, 1924. He was born the second of four children to ernest and irene ford. Irene was a devoutly religious woman from home wendell would inherit his compassionate nature. Wendells brother raburn described her as saintly. Wendell ford inherited his chest for hard work and love for hard work and love of people from his father, ernest, who everyone called em, who farmed, started a family insurance business, and later became active in Democratic Party politics, serving and the state house and state senate. While in the state legislature, he worked closely with earl clements, and he would later call him his political father. Earl clements as many of you know would go on to become governor, u. S. Senator, and u. S. Senate majority whip in the 1940s and 1950s. Wendell followed in his footsteps in each regard. With a father as a state senator, wendell experience politics from an early age. He frequently accompanied em on senate business. Four of his grandchildren followed in his footsteps and have served as pages in the u. S. Senate. In addition, wendell learned how to farm from his father. He was expected to pitch in and do chores come and he did. Wendell groep milking cows, 30 cows to times a day, and experience for which he later attributed his firm handshake. [laughter] working on a farm in grained a number of enduring habits. One of which was being an early riser. His grandsons recalled one stretch when they spent several weeks with wendell because the family home was getting remodeled. The boys never had to worry about being late for school while staying with her grandfather. He was up early and expected the same from them. Wendell himself attended Daviess County high school, where he was popular and was named most talkative. [laughter] student who would later show great skill and arithmetic. He would prove to be the consummate vote counter. However, he struggled with geometry. Wendell recalled that when he took geometry, he felt like that fella who said, pi are squared, and his that said we need to take you out of that school, pies are round. Wendell took a job at jcpenneys in downtowns own borough and that a coworker. He asked her out and as ford reminisced, she said she would let me know. Fortunately for wendell, a friend interceded and convince jane to go on a date with him. As wendell recalled come i never dated any other woman after that. Not long after High School Graduation on september 18, 1943, wendell and jean were wed. He purchased a wedding ring by selling an adult cow. As he recall, i told her you got a guernsey and a calf on your finger. Almost without fail going for it referred to her as miss ford. The couple would have two children, steve and shirley. Jean loyally supported wendell through all his campaigns and had her own way of handling the demands of public life. Needlepoint. Wendell concluded it was her therapy for being married to a politician. She produced afghan blankets for the wives of three u. S. President s. Once a gene anonymously submitted a blanket she needle pointed to a contest at a kentucky state fair and won second prize. She also helped others with her work, crocheting over 300 blankets for the washington dc childrens hospital. After high school, wendell began coursework, but Family Responsibilities and world war ii interrupted his studies. 19441946, wendell served in the army as an instructor. While wendell was stationed at fort hood texas, jean moved to be with him. Endellsek wd father sent him a 5. 00 bill. One week he bought steaks for them. He was given a Silver Dollar in change. I almost wanted to a three times but i kept it to remind me of that evening. For the rest of his life, wendell took the coin out of his pocket to tell people of its origin. In time the service of the dollar coin became completely smooth but it would always remain a cherished keepsake. Ford returned to kentucky and went into the insurance business. One day in 1947 on his lunch break from work, he decided to run a quick errand and pick up an electric razor. That minor errand would come to have a major impact on his future. During that fateful stroll, wend ell happen across a member of the Junior Chamber of commerce or jcs. They struck up a conversation to he persuaded wendell join the group. Before long he was moving up the chain of command. Soon he became state president. By 1956, he was positioned to lead the kentucky delegation to the National Convention in kansas city. Song, shamotto and ke, rattle with ford, wendell was elected National Chairman of the jcs. As National Chairman hit was his responsibility to stay in touch with jc chapters throughout the country. One visit was to a Small Community in Washington State where one member briefed him on the latest jc project. He told ford we just raised enough money to buy a fire truck for our fire department. Ford asked, well, how did you raise the money . The washington native reply, the dealer let us have a ford convertible at cost and we raffled at sucker off and raised enough money to buy this fire truck. Ford was suitably impressed. What is your, next project . The man replied, raising of money to payoff the ford. So, wendells tenure tin the jcs not only exposed into unorthodox promotional efforts, it catapulted him into the upper reaches of kentuckys civic life. In 1955, ford was selected as one of the three Outstanding Young men in the commonwealth. [coughs] went on tos ford work as you director for democratic gubernatorial candidate bird buert colms. Ford became a top staffer in the governors office. Ford left his employ in 1961. And less than a decade later he would be governor himself. What factors accounted for wendell fords rapid rise in the jcs and later in state and National Politics . Word, wendell was in a tenacious. His mind to do something, he simply would not quit. The late senator dale bumpers of arkansas said that opposing him on an issue reminded him of fighting with his wife. Aint overents just yet. On the campaign trail, ford put in 20 hours day and wendell left nothing to chance. One time when i ran for reelection without opposition i worry there would be a writein. Ford not only worked doggedly, he took few vacations. He would like to say i guess vacation from the is not shaving and not wearing a suit. A second attribute was his skill as a negotiator. This made him very effective at the various jobs he undertook. Congressional quarterly observed about wendell he does not get everything he goes after but almost always comes away with something. A third key ingredient to his success was his love of people. In this regard, ford had a great ability to recall names and faces. This came through to kentuckians whom he would greet by name even if he had not seen them literally in years. Former senator carl levin of michigan relayed a telling anecdote. About senator ford. A member of my staff had brought his son to work. The staff member, needing to intend an important meeting, left his son to play with paper and crayons under the supervision of several coworkers. He returned to find his son no longer at the desk. A quick search followed. The boy was found just out of the office in the Senate Hallway where he had stopped senator ford and attempted to sell him a crayon artful pages of scribbles stapled together for a nickel. Senator ford was in the active requesting two and trying to convince a young man to accept a dime as security requested nickel. So, ford cared about people and it showed. Had a keendell political mine. He called himself a dumb old country boy with dirt between his toes. No one believed it. He had learned of the knee of his father and earl clemens and learned his lessons well. He never lost a kentucky election. Finally, ford never forgot about his roots. Described hisoye demeanor after the man had become a prominent senator. There were no ribbons, no frills, no bells. What you saw, you got. He said he was truth in packaging personified. As ford often said to people he met for the first time, just call me wendell. He said, just call me wendell. For decades, Democratic Party politics anin kentucky had been torn asunder by two rival factions. There was the Happy Chandler led faction that tended to be more conservative. And the earl clemens faction that tended to be a bit more liberal. Ford came out of the clemens blo c but benefited from an overall decline in democratic divisiveness in the 1960s. In the words of the kentucky state historian, ford represented a new wave of leadership in kentucky politics. Following his work for the governor in 1963, ford managed race. Uccessful governors soon there after he decided to become a candidate himself for the state senate. Right here in this county, taking on no less than the state Senate Majority leader. Hard fought state Senate Primary campaign in 1965, kentuckyians hard fought state. On election day, ford awaited the results. After spending the morning providing doughnuts for campaign volunteers, ford found himself with nothing to do. He journeyed to the barbershop right here in town. That was the beginning of two election day traditions that marked his political career. And winninghair cut his campaign. Excuse me. In that primary in davis county, ford won the election by 305 votes. Serve only to years in the state senate but it was a productive two years. Securitys enttenure ford nanette light of 22 bills. As he was ascending the political ladder, ford suffered a major personal blow in 1967. That year his father passed away. He was more than wendells devoted father, he was his closest advisor. Following isans, wendell passig came to lean more heavily on senator clemens. Ran for hisar ford first statewide office, Lieutenant Governor. Against the sitting sta