Louie Nunn

Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky.

Louie Broady Nunn was born in Park, Kentucky – a small community on the border of Barren and Metcalfe counties – on March 8, 1924.

His first name, Louie, honored a deceased friend of his father's; his middle name, Broady, was a surname in his mother's family.

Louie was the youngest of the four sons born to Waller Harrison and Mary (Roberts) Nunn; their youngest child, Virginia, was their only daughter.

The Nunns were farmers and operated a general store, though Waller suffered from a congenital heart condition and severe arthritis and was limited to light chores.

The eldest brother, Lee Roy, became an influential campaigner and fundraiser for the Republican Party.

Nunn obtained the first eight years of his education in a one-room, one-teacher schoolhouse in Park.

During his teenage years, he gave himself a hernia while lifting a heavy piece of farm equipment.

This, combined with his father's health history, may have contributed to back pain issues that plagued him for most of his life.

In 1938, he matriculated to Hiseville High School.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Bowling Green Business University, now Western Kentucky University.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Nunn departed for Cincinnati, Ohio, to take flying lessons in hopes of becoming a B-17 pilot.

By the time he finished his flight training, however, the Army had discontinued its air cadet program.

On June 2, 1943, he enlisted in the Army and received his recruit training at Fort Wolters near Fort Worth, Texas.

He was transferred numerous times.

First, he was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita Falls, Texas.

Finally, he transferred to the Army Medical Corps, but his back injury flared up, and he received a medical discharge on September 13, 1945.

He held the rank of corporal at the time of his discharge.

Following his military duty, Nunn pursued a pre-law degree at the University of Cincinnati.

Three years later, he matriculated to the University of Louisville School of Law where he was a classmate of future congressman Marlow Cook.

Nunn earned his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1950.

He opened his legal practice in Glasgow, Kentucky, in September 1950.

On October 12, 1950, Nunn married Beula Cornelius Aspley, a divorcee from Bond, Kentucky.

The couple had two children – Jennie Lou, born in 1951, and Steve, born in 1952.

He was the Republican nominee for governor in 1963, but ultimately lost a close election to Democrat Ned Breathitt.

An executive order signed by Governor Bert T. Combs that desegregated Kentucky's public services became a major issue in the campaign.

Nunn vowed to repeal the order if elected, while Breathitt promised to continue it.

Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003.

After rendering non-combat service in World War II and graduating from law school, Nunn entered local politics, becoming the first Republican county judge in the history of Barren County, Kentucky.

He worked on the campaigns of Republican candidates for national office, including John Sherman Cooper, Thruston Morton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1967, Nunn ran for governor again.

After defeating Marlow Cook in the Republican gubernatorial primary, he eked out a victory over Democrat Henry Ward.

The state offices were split between Democrats and Republicans, and Nunn was saddled with a Democratic lieutenant governor, Wendell Ford.

Despite a Democratic majority in the General Assembly, Nunn was able to enact most of his priorities, including tax increases that funded improvements to the state park system and the construction of a statewide network of mental health centers.

He oversaw the transition of Northern Kentucky University from a community college to a senior institution and brought the University of Louisville into the state university system.

The later years of his administration were marred by race riots in Louisville and a violent protest against the Vietnam War at the University of Kentucky.

Following his term as governor, he lost to Walter Dee Huddleston in the 1972 senatorial election and John Y. Brown Jr. in the 1979 gubernatorial election.

In his later years, he sometimes supported the political ambitions of his son, Steve, and advocated for the legalization of industrial hemp in Kentucky.

Next, he was assigned to the 97th Infantry Division, then received additional training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

He died of a heart attack on January 29, 2004.