On the thirteenth of December, 1983, Martha Layne Collins was inaugurated as Kentucky's first female governor, and as of now, the only. Collins was elected to be governor on the eighth of December, defeating Republican Jim Bunning with a 54.50% majority vote. She served as Kentucky's 56th governor, from 1983 to 1987.
Initiatives forwarded by Gov. Collins include a bill mandating kindergarten education throughout the state and strengthening drunk driving penalties and regulations. In 1984, she presided over the Democratic National Convention, and was vetted for vice presidential nominee under Walter Mondale. She was also able to form a trade deal with Japan, convincing Toyota to open an $800 million plant in Georgetown.
After retiring, she spent a year teaching at the University of Louisville, and was then named a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She went on to become president of the St. Catharine College in Springfield, Kentucky, and was the namesake of Women Leading Kentucky's Martha Layne Collins Leadership Award in 1999.
-Cici Mao
Sources:
http://www.historyorb.com/date/1983/december/13
http://www.historyorb.com/date/1983/november/8
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=21&year=1983&f=0&off=5&elect=0
Initiatives forwarded by Gov. Collins include a bill mandating kindergarten education throughout the state and strengthening drunk driving penalties and regulations. In 1984, she presided over the Democratic National Convention, and was vetted for vice presidential nominee under Walter Mondale. She was also able to form a trade deal with Japan, convincing Toyota to open an $800 million plant in Georgetown.
After retiring, she spent a year teaching at the University of Louisville, and was then named a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. She went on to become president of the St. Catharine College in Springfield, Kentucky, and was the namesake of Women Leading Kentucky's Martha Layne Collins Leadership Award in 1999.
-Cici Mao
Sources:
http://www.historyorb.com/date/1983/december/13
http://www.historyorb.com/date/1983/november/8
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=21&year=1983&f=0&off=5&elect=0