James D. Black

James D. Black

James Dixon Black (born September 24, 1849 in Knox County , Kentucky , † August 4, 1938 in Barbourville , Kentucky) was an American politician and governor of the state of Kentucky.

Early youth and advancement

James Black was educated at Tusculum College in Tennessee , which he graduated in 1872. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1874, and then practiced in Barbourville. In 1876 he made his first political experience as a member of the House of Representatives from Kentucky . Then he left the political stage for a long time. He devoted himself to the school system and was in 1884 school board ( superintendent ) in Knox County. All public schools in this district were subordinate to him. In between he devoted himself to his legal career and he took care of the Union College he helped to establish .

Political career

It wasn't until 1912 that Black returned to politics as a member of the Democratic Party . That year he became the Assistant Attorney General of Kentucky. Two years later he applied for the office of lieutenant governor . At the side of Augustus Stanley , the governor of Kentucky also elected in 1915, he took office in December of the same year. In May 1919 Stanley resigned as governor to take his seat in the US Senate . With that Black fell to the office of governor. He had to end Stanley's tenure, which would have ended in December 1919. In essence, he continued the policy of his predecessor. Parliament did not meet in these six months and so there were no parliamentary disputes. Black soon had to deal with corruption allegations that damaged his reputation.

Nevertheless, he tried to nominate his party for the gubernatorial elections in late 1919. He finally succeeded, but in the actual election he was defeated by Republican Edwin Morrow with 45.3% of the vote against Morrows 53.8%. The defeat was partly a result of the corruption allegations against him and his government, but also a national trend in the USA, which saw the Republicans on the upswing at the time, who opposed the policies of President Woodrow Wilson and, above all, did not join the League of Nations he initiated wanted to. Shortly before the end of his tenure on December 9, 1919, he pardoned the last still imprisoned conspirator of the assassination attempt on the former governor William Goebel . After ending his six-month tenure, Black was appointed as a Prohibition Inspector to oversee these laws in Kentucky in 1920. He then returned to practice as a lawyer and was President of the National Bank in Barbourville.

Black died on August 4, 1938. He was married to Mary Jeanett Pitzer, with whom he had three children.

Web links

• James Black in the National Governors Association (English)
• James D. Black in the database of Find a Grave (English)