Medicaid is a joint state/federal program that provides medical services to the poor and needy. Right now, the federal government is picking up 80 percent of Medicaid costs in Kentucky, with the state covering the rest. In 1990, program costs were less than $1 billion. But by last year, those costs had risen to more than $5 billion. And enrollment, which was around 400,000 in 1990, is now almost 800,000 in a state of roughly 4 million people. In search of ways to contain costs, the General Assembly created a 12-member task force, co-chaired by Rep. Jimmie Lee, D-Elizabethtown, and Senate President Pro Tem Katie Stine, R-Southgate. “We’ll be hearing from a lot of different people this summer and our job – it is a difficult one – will be to sift through all the information and come up with some recommendations on how we can serve our Medicaid population while remaining good stewards of the tax dollars that the citizens of this commonwealth entrust to us,” said Stine.

At its first meeting, the Medicaid Cost Containment Task Force was briefed on the inner workings of the Medicaid program, its costs and benefits. When House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, learned many of the benefits offered by Kentucky – like eyeglasses, dental and rehabilitation – are “optional,” he wondered if those could be areas for possible cuts.

“What’s the difference between what the minimum baseline standard is that the federal government provides and what we’re now providing?” asked Stumbo. “And then let’s determine how much money is actually being paid in those various categories, the difference being between what the minimum would be and what it would encompass and what we’re paying.”

Task force co-chair Jimmie Lee agrees optional benefits deserve more study, but doubts lawmakers will order any wholesale elimination of such benefits.

“You may work within that optional program to change the way we work with those individuals,” said Lee. “But I don’t see us saying, well you don’t need this and therefore, whether it’s going to be a cost saver. Because you have to look at the ramifications of not providing that care and where does the balloon get squeezed?”

The current budget assumes the state will be able to find more than $700 million in Medicaid efficiencies. And day two of the hearing found Medicaid Services Commissioner Betsy Johnson (pictured with Deputy Commissioner Neville Wise) testifying about actions that have already saved the state around $13 million. Those include pharmacy audits, prior authorization before certain drugs are dispensed, modified coverage of over-the-counter drugs, no payments for hospital-acquired conditions, like staph infections, and provider revenue intercepts.

“It’ll benefit the Medicaid program about tax refund time,” said Johnson, “because, guess what? If you owe the Medicaid program money but you’re owed a tax refund, you’re not going to be getting that tax refund this year. Because we’re not going to be refunding money that belongs to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The task force is scheduled to meet twice monthly until the end of the year. The group’s recommendations will be the basis of legislation to be considered in next year’s legislative session, and beyond. Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, says it’s a good time to be tackling the problem, especially in light of recent passage of the National Health Care Act.

“Review of this Medicaid program in Kentucky during this transitional period is going to bring up a lot of impact and a lot of costs that are going to have to be assumed by the state government and employers of the state,” said Williams.

Congress holds the key to resolving the most immediate fiscal challenge facing Kentucky’s Medicaid program. The program faces a $1 billion deficit by year’s end if Congress fails to approve the continued use of stimulus dollars to cover a larger share of state Medicaid expenses. The state’s share of the potential deficit? Around $230 million.

“We started seeing a lot of our picnic customers canceling,” Eckert says. “Obviously if a company’s having a down period one of the first things they’re going to cut is you know their employee parties.”

Although company picnic business fell off by about 30 percent, attendance numbers for the everyday customer — which accounts for 85 percent of the park’s business — actually increased. Eckert says this was in part due to admission being fairly inexpensive at about $42. That includes Holiday World’s newest ride — the Wildebeest, the world’s longest water coaster. It’s a series of yellow tubes where flowing water helps shoot riders on a raft through the very wet labyrinth.

Regularly adding new rides is one of the strategies parks like Holiday World use to get customers to return each year and attract new ones. Eckert sums it up this way: “We like those E-S-T words — the biggest, the tallest, the fastest, the best,” he says. “We always go for something that’s going to top something else in the industry if we can.”

The Wildebeest cost more than $5 million — no chump change during a recession. But Eckert says that ride is a factor in business being up this year over last. And he says the company picnic crowd is starting to return. Holiday World has done drawn crowds by making investments over several decades. One of the biggest was adding its Splashin’ Safari water park 1993.

“The water park was huge,” says Pat Koch, the matriarch of the family that started the park. “The water park really helped to increase attendance when it was a very hot, humid day.”

And it has helped business this summer, with its record high temperatures, says Koch, who is also the mother of Will Koch. He oversaw the park’s rapid growth and died last month in an accidental drowning. She says the family is dedicated to continuing the family business and growing it, just as Will Koch would have wanted.

And other independently owned parks in the region are growing — including Bowling Green’s Beech Bend, with its adjoining auto race tracks. It spent $5 million to add a water park with a wave pool and other water rides, which it recently opened after a massive clean up following the April floods. Now, park-owner Dallas Jones says attendance is up.

“I’m going to say we’re in the 7 or 8 percent bracket, if I had to guess,” Jones says. “It may be even a little higher than that. The sad part of it is we’re about six weeks behind.”

These smaller parks, which appeal to people vacationing near home during this recession, are a bit of an anomaly in a sea of larger theme park companies that have seen revenues drop. They’ve had had to cut expenses and slash ticket prices to bring customers through the gates. With that backdrop, industry eyes were keenly focused on last months opening of Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando, says Dennis Speigel who consults theme parks nationwide. He says in these times, large bureaucratic companies often have limited access to credit and are unable to commit to new attractions.

“When you’re an independent operator, and assuming you have the capital, you can make these decisions rather quickly and implement them rapidly,” Speigel says.

Louisville businessman Ed Hart says he understands the strengths of these smaller parks. He once operated Kentucky Kingdom before selling it to Six Flags. He built up that park with big rides and one of the industry’s first water parks accessible with a general park entrance fee. While Six Flags closed that park earlier this year, Hart is now in negotiations to reopen Kentucky Kingdom next summer. He says he sees the smaller parks leading the way in the industry.

“Park owners are starting to realize that the future is more in creating family entertainment as opposed to just trying to appeal to teenagers with these high-thrill rides,” he says.

And industry observers say that kind of thinking could be to the ticket to a rebound for the industry.

“I mean I hope today’s my day you know what I mean? You just never know, its not your decision and they make the choices so you just try to go out there and play your game like you’ve been 12 years old and understand the game better and pick all these veteran guys on the team brains,” he said.

Yonder Alonso (below, left)was drafted 7th in 2008 by the Reds and has been moving quickly though the farm system. According to MLB.com, the first baseman is ranked among the top 30 young baseball prospects. Alonso says he tries not to think about being moved up and focuses on playing day to day.

“You know I just got to improve in all aspects in the game, everyday you want to learn even when your in the big leagues, so you hear guys like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, you know there in the big leagues and there doing their thing, and there learning everyday, you can heard from them, and everyday they want to get better and they set goals for themselves,” Alonso said.

Alonso and Frazier are hoping to take a page from teammate Drew Sutton, who has already played for the Reds and is currently on the team’s inactive roster and was optioned back to Louisville. Sutton says he has created some great moments from just playing in about 50 major league games.

“Probably that grand slam was probably the best one that I’ve had, I mean, it was against the Astros who was the team that drafted me and I traded from them to over here in April,” Sutton (pictured at right) said.              

Sutton added that being a versatile player was one of the key factors in his being bumped up to the Reds inactive roster.

“Playing a lot of positions helps, if your limited to one position, this years I’ve played short, third, second, first, left, and right, and so that opens up a lot more options if a lot more people get hurt, where is if your just a first basemen or shortstop, you going to wait on that position for something to happen, not necessarily for an injury or a trade or anything like that,” he said.

Despite having playing baseball professionally for years now, the 24 year old Frazier says he still feels like he’s just a kid.

“You know, just watching different guys in different situations do their jobs is great it’s just baseball, and I get excited over any little thing, I don’t know if you’ve seen me in the dugout I’m like a clown in here, so I’m just rooting for my teammates like a 12 year old and I’m hoping everyone does well,” he said.             

These young players have lots of heart and talent that they hope will be translated into big league playing time.

(Photos courtesy of the Louisville Bats)

Amanda’s Law, which won unanimous legislative approval this year, and was quickly signed by Governor Beshear, allows judges to require violators of domestic violence orders to wear satellite tracking devices. Similar systems are already tracking parolees in almost 30 states, including Kentucky. Gary Tullock of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole says the systems work well, but can be labor intensive, because someone has to respond when violations occur.

“It’s not just putting a unit on an offender and sending them out the door and expecting nothing to happen,” said Tullock (in photo with colleague Susan Shettlesworth).  “I have told panels in Tennessee, that the only thing worse than not knowing where a sex offender is and what they’re doing, is knowing where they are and not doing anything about it.”

Tullock says to avoid high staff turnover, it’s important to determine a sustainable caseload for officers and to use an on-call officer for after-hours alert responses.

“If you’ve just got one person working in a county and they’re going to have to respond to every alert, it’s going to be a tremendous intrusion on their time,” said Tullock.

Tullock, who appeared before a legislative panel in Frankfort, says state employees keep track of Tennessee parolees and sex offenders. But with Amanda’s Law, that duty will be handled by private vendors, says Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom Jensen.

“One of the things that you saw here is that Tennessee opted to – although they hired a vendor to supply the matters, the state was operating it themselves,” said Jensen. “In Amanda’s Law that’s not the case.”

Also listening to Tullock’s testimony was Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson, who says Kentucky uses GPS to track more than 300 released inmates and parolees. But she says Tennessee and Kentucky use the systems differently.

“They put their high-risk offenders on the bracelets,” said Thompson. “We put our low-risk offenders on the bracelets. We bring back maybe five, six every month, and part of those are inmates who’ve lost their phone or home placement. So, it’s not always some type of infraction. And generally, what we bring them back for are drugs and alcohol.”

Parolees have already broken the law, but Amanda’s Law aims to prevent individuals from crossing that line. GPS systems not only allow authorities to track the location of individuals, but can also warn intended victims of the presence of potential attackers. The costs – estimated at $12 to $17 a day – will be borne by those ordered to wear the devices. But that’s one aspect of the law that still worries Sen. Jensen.

“Under Amanda’s Law, that company’s supposed to eat that amount if the person can’t pay for it, can’t afford it,” said Jensen. “So, you’re gonna have a lot of companies that are going to ignore several counties in the state because it won’t be profitable.”

But House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the primary sponsor of Amanda’s Law, recommends counties band together to reduce costs.

“If you’re a very small county – like a Wolfe County, or a Lee County, or an Owsley County – the smart thing for you to do would be to partner with whoever your neighboring county is,” said Stumbo. “It’s the same thing we’re doing with the jails now. The more participants, the more likely it is that the rate would be kept lower.”

Amanda’s Law is not mandatory. But in coming months, lawmakers will be watching to see how many counties adopt it, and how effective it is. The law is named for Amanda Ross, a former state employee who was shot to death outside her Lexington townhouse last September. Prior to her death, she had taken out a domestic violence order against the man accused of killing her, former state lawmaker Steve Nunn. Nunn, who has pleaded not guilty, still awaits trial.

Todd Hatton has this profile of Paducah’s Alben Barkley, Vice-President in the Truman
Administration:

When Alben W. Barkley became Vice-president in 1948, he’d been in Washington for 36 years, 22 of them in the U-S Senate and 10 of those as Democratic majority leader. It was the time of the Great War, the Great Depression and the Second World War, and Barkley would play a crucial role in the country’s transition into modern times, shepherding Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal through a divided congress. So, if you pay a bill from a TVA-supplied power company with money from your Social Security check, you can thank Alben Barkley.   

Barkley’s 1877 birth in a Graves County log cabin and early career as McCracken County Attorney and a county judge provided him with an insight into people that informed his politics.

“In my 40 years of public life in Washington, I have advanced that theory over the opposition of a great many people who believe in just standing still; that Uncle Sam or the government oughta be hitched to a post, that government and politics itself oughta stand still. Well now, the people don’t believe that, and I don’t believe it,” he said in 1953, defining his political philosophy in a Smithsonian Folkways interview.

Stephen Truitt, who’s a retired Washington attorney, and Alben Barkley’s grandson, elaborates:
“He thought that many problems, not all, but many, could only be solved at the federal level, particularly things like Social Security and flood control…which were already coming under attack by the time Truman took office. And he vigorously defended them then and would be defending them today!”

Truitt says the first draft of the Social Security Act was written in the mid-1930’s on Barkley’s front porch in Paducah. He also chaired joint committees investigating Pearl Harbor & the Nazi concentration camps in the mid 40s. Becoming Vice President didn’t slow him down.

“He was presiding on the Senate; he was very actively involved in negotiating with the parties. That would be a legislative role; there was nothing that prevented earlier vice presidents from doing that. He just seemed to do more of it,” Truitt said.

While that was a significant change in the office of the Vice-President, it wasn’t new to “The Veep.” Barkley changed the office to suit his strengths, using his oratory and good will to advance proposals from the Truman Administration to outlaw the poll tax, make lynching a federal crime, and establish national health insurance. And he did so with Harry Truman’s encouragement.   

“He was certainly the first vice president that routinely attended National Security Council meetings. And part of this was his own personality and the other part of it was Truman liked him and trusted him, and wanted him to do these things. He met with the president all the time, and was very important in his advice-giving to him,” said Truitt.

Barkley was also a skilled storyteller. That ability allowed him to navigate rough political waters and, in one case, get F-D-R to laugh so hard Secret Service agents rushed in to check on the President’s safety. Barkley told Roosevelt the story of a stranger in town who was so taken with a certain preacher’s Sunday sermon that he got a little carried away in his praise:

“And he said, ‘That was a damn good sermon you preached today.’ ‘Well,’ the minister said, ‘I like your compliment but I don’t like your language.’ ‘Yes,’ the stranger said, ‘that was such a damn good sermon that I dropped $100 in the plate when it passed.’ The preacher said, ‘The hell you did!’”

Stephen Truitt says that in the end, his grandfather’s most profound legacy was the New Deal. Truitt says the program went hand in hand with his grandfather’s deeply-held belief that sometimes Americans need a little bit of a boost from their government to reach their fullest potential.

Last week, the Greater Louisville Project released its 2010 Competitive City Report. Among other things, the study highlights several areas where Louisville needs to improve in order to be more competitive for jobs. The first criterion listed is education. Thirty percent of working-age Louisvillians have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and the report says that’s a liability when it comes to attracting new jobs and businesses to the city.

In mid-May, dozens of education, government and business leaders came together in the Muhammad Ali Center. They were celebrating a new effort to award 55 thousand associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in the next decade and increase Louisville’s percentage of working-age degree holders by ten percentage points.

After the event, Greater Louisville Inc. President Joe Reagan said without a more educated workforce, Louisville will lose potential jobs to cities like Cincinnati and Nashville.

“We’re here today because of the facts, because the facts show that we cannot compete with the type of education attainment we have today,” he says. “Those facts speak for themselves.”

This week at the University of Louisville, I spoke with library worker Andrew Huff. Huff is enrolled in graduate school, but he says his undergraduate degree hasn’t helped him in the local job market.

“I don’t know…maybe I’m not trying hard enough,” he says. “Back when I graduated in 2009 I applied for over 30 different jobs and I just couldn’t find one. No one really wanted to hire me.”

Huff says he didn’t expect the market for English majors to be very strong in the first place, and other students majoring in engineering, law-enforcement or nursing told me they expected to find work after graduation. But even as those fields grow, there will still be students like Huff who have degrees, but limited prospects in Louisville.

To attract businesses that would hire those graduates, Greater Louisville Project director Carolyn Gatz says there should be more students like Huff sticking around after school.

“The jobs don’t appear overnight,” she says. “The economic development people say you have to be able to tell an employer ‘Yes, we have an educated workforce,’ before they’ll even consider coming to your community.”

And if Louisville builds an educated population of people who are willing to work, Gatz says the job market will grow accordingly.

“As you improve education attainment—which we are doing, we just need to accelerate that—then you become a more likely candidate to attract those jobs, which is also something we’ve seen here in the last year or so,” says Gatz.

“I’m not smart enough to figure out what the either/or is between those two things,” says Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte, North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. “Frankly, you probably need both and we’re very fortunate to have both going for us at the moment.”

Charlotte ranks above Louisville in education attainment and in higher wage technical and professional jobs. Morgan says twenty years ago, Charlotte was struggling, but then the universities expanded their research programs, more citizens earned degrees and the jobs started coming. But there was more to it than just that.

“We’ve been about building Charlotte into the type of place that’s going to attract jobs and that’s going to attract people—they go hand in hand,” says Morgan.

Morgan says in addition to an educated workforce and tax incentives for businesses, Charlotte’s professional sports, support for the arts, climate and improved public transportation helped keep graduates in town while also helping recruit companies that would hire those graduates.

“You need to be able to offer those workers what they might be giving up if they come from other, larger markets,” he says.

The Competitive City Report also addresses Louisville’s “Quality of Place.” It’s an assessment of the city’s liveability, based on criteria like safety, traffic congestion and housing prices. Louisville’s research institutions are growing, but without improvements in those liveability areas, the report says the city will likely still struggle to attract new workers who want more than a job.

Kentucky Public Radio’s Kevin Willis profiles former Governor and U.S. Senator Wendell Ford.

The clock is winding down on a Kentucky think tank that for almost 20 years has been helping state government plan for the future. 

The Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center was the brainchild of Vic Hellard, the first director of the Legislative Research Commission.  Approved by the 1992 General Assembly, the center – as defined in the enacting legislation – was created “as a catalyst to change the way decisions are made in government.”  It was charged with “taking into consideration the long-term implications of policy and critical trends and emerging issues.”  And for 18 years, that’s what it’s been doing – conducting studies, publishing comprehensive, often visionary reports and sponsoring public forums.

“To help both the governor and legislators, as well as the public, understand emerging trends and issues, so that we can get out front of some of these things that might be occurring and to really understand the long-term implications of some of our current policies,” says Michael Childress (pictured), who has headed the center since its creation.   

Childress says the center’s first major study, issued in 1994, warned of the coming decline of Kentucky’s burley tobacco industry.  He says, at the time, the report angered many people who didn’t agree with its findings, but the document not only proved prescient, but extremely beneficial.

 “There were groups that used the report that we produced to leverage grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund pilot programs on alternative crops,” said Childress.

 Over the years, the center has produced reports on broadband, industrial hemp, primary and secondary education, garbage collection, air quality, small business, nursing shortages, prescription drug abuse, and hundreds of other topics.  But in just a few days, the reports will cease – possibly forever.  Kentucky lawmakers this year eliminated funding for the center, at a savings to taxpayers of around $500,000.  Among those supporting the move is Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, who says, in the age of the Internet, there’s no shortage of research material for lawmakers to study.

“It just became redundant in a very difficult economy,” said Thayer.  “And I think the taxpayers of Kentucky expected us to look at ways to trim all branches of government and this was one way that we chose to do that.”

“And I know some of the people on the Long Term Policy Research board,” continued Thayer.  “They’re good people and they should be thanked for their service to Kentucky, but we just can’t afford to have all these programs out there.” 

Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, who serves on the research center’s board, doesn’t necessarily agree.  He believes, even in tight budget times, long range planning is vital.

“It’s a small amount of money for the excellent work that the center did,” said Rollins.  “They did a great job for 20 years and I wanted to see it continue.”

Will the research center ever be revived?  Possibly.  The budget language says it’s being “suspended,” not abolished.  But Childress is moving on to a policy analysis position at the University of Kentucky.  As for all the reports issued by the center in the last 18 years, they will live on, on the Internet, at www.kltprc.net   In fact, Childress says a budget game on the website, in which the player pretends to be the governor and decides how to spend state dollars, remains quite popular.

“It gets used all the time,” said Childress.  “People download it from our website.  I know they use it in classes at the University of Kentucky.  And so, that stuff will still be there for people.”

But it’s the end of the road for the Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center, which runs out of money at the end of the month.

Debris left behind by last month’s Kentucky River flood is still partially blocking navigable waters in Frankfort. 

Jammed between two pillars of the railroad bridge that crosses the Kentucky River into downtown Frankfort are the burned-out and twisted remains of a large, floating dock.  An island of garbage and debris encases the tangled wall of aluminum, which has been stuck between the pilings since last month’s record flood.  It’s been Frankfort Emergency Management Director Derron Rambo’s job to find out where the dock came from and how to get rid of it.

“It was a floating restaurant from the Boonesboro area that was destroyed in a fire back in the spring, or back in the winter, in March,” said Rambo.  “And then during the flood, it got loose and moved down river as a debris pile, picking up debris as it traveled down the river – and then just the stuff that burned and was left on the dock from the fire.”

On May 5^th, after two days of unrelenting rainfall, the Kentucky River at Frankfort rose nearly 12 feet above flood stage, to almost 43 feet.  Numerous homes outside the city’s flood wall took on water, resulting in personal property losses, but there were no major evacuations or loss of life.  Mostly, the flood left behind huge piles of debris, like the tangled mess beneath the railroad bridge.

“It does block part of the navigation channel,” said Rambo.  “And the other concern is, it obviously could get loose if the river came back up and do more damage.  Do damage to the downstream bridges, which are currently being used.  Or pose a danger to the lock and dam.”

Lock and Dam #4 is a half mile downstream, and that’s where more flood debris is visible.  What’s left of a shanty boat rests, upside down, on the steeply sloped river bank high above the lock.  Stephen Reeder of the Kentucky River Authority says the craft’s owner apparently floated the houseboat over the lock at high water and tied it off, but the flood waters receded so fast, the vessel flipped over and collapsed.            

“The boat does have an owner,” said Reeder. “Owner apparently does not have the resources as far as we know to remove it.  So, we intend to move it and if we can find him, we’re gonna take it to some place he wants it to be and let him have it back.”

Reeder says the removal estimate is around $3,200, and since the lock and dam are federal property, there’s grant money available for the job.  Derron Rambo says the city plans to use a FEMA grant to remove the dock debris upstream.  That project, which starts next week, will cost around $80,000.

“We have a professional marine salvage company coming into town, with boats and heavy equipment,” said Rambo.  “And they will actually dismantle and cut apart this dock and trap all the debris and all the debris around it – all the coke bottles and basketballs and stuff it’s trapped while it’s been there.  That will be loaded up onto a boat or a barge and then put in dumpsters and taken to a landfill to be disposed of.”

Rambo and Frankfort Mayor Gippy Graham are anxious to see the debris piles gone and the Kentucky River again flowing freely.  And both are thankful the city was spared a major disaster in the 2010 flood.

“We were fortunate because it could have been much worse,” said Rambo.  “A couple of feet more of water would have caused many more problems, affected many more homes.”

“A little bit further and it would have gotten us a little bit more, but I was so pleased with the coordination that we have between the various responders during that period of time,” said Graham.  “So, we’re very fortunate.”

Frankfort’s worst flood occurred in 1978, when the Kentucky River crested at 48.4 feet.  The second worst was the Great Flood of 1937.  This year’s flood was the fifth worst on record.

In this report, Kentucky Public Radio’s Charles Compton profiles the late U.S. Senator John Sherman Cooper.    

In the century following the Civil War, Republicans were nearly excluded from Kentucky’s political life. It was Senator John Sherman Cooper, native of Pulaski County, who sparked the G-O-P’s emergence in the Commonwealth. And, between the ends of the World War Two and the Vietnam War, Cooper was also an effective “Cold Warrior.”

Not many politicians can claim teenage fans, but, John Sherman Cooper did. With some breaks, the Somerset Republican represented Kentucky in the U-S Senate from the end of World War Two until the war ended in Vietnam. As a Republican serving in a region dominated by southern Democrats, Cooper became a role model.

“We had moved from the Deep South, where there were no elected Republicans, at all, in that era, and I noticed him because he won (laughs),” said U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

After graduating from the University of Louisville, McConnell went to work as an intern for Cooper. With Cooper’s guidance, McConnell watched as the Senate approved the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“So I had an opportunity to witness the first great man I ever knew as a young man and he became someone I looked up to and hope to maybe follow into the Senate someday. And, interestingly enough, 20 years later, I was elected to the same seat that he held,” McConnell said.

John Sherman Cooper’s political career began during the Great Depression, when he served as Pulaski County Judge. It was there, according to Cooper, where he learned regular people deserve government assistance.

That lesson was applied after World War two when, as an American soldier, he met thousands of refugees displaced by war. Cooper was helping the U-S Army manage the occupation of Germany. Upon his return to America, Cooper found them homes in the United States.

“When I got back home to the United States, I was elected to the United States Senate. I introduced a bill which wouldn’t be too popular today because they’ve been passing laws to keep out immigrants, but, I introduced a bill that allowed 2000 of them to come in…of these displaced persons,” Cooper said in a 1980 interview preserved by the University of Kentucky.

Cooper said that law was one of his proudest achievements.

In 1946, Cooper replaced Happy Chandler, who became commissioner of baseball. The Republican lost his re-election bid, but, returned to the Senate in 1952. Another attempt at re-election failed when Cooper lost to Alben Barkley. When Barkley died, Cooper went back to the U-S Senate….and stayed until 1973. Cooper was establishing a reputation as a liberal Republican who would do business with Democrats…

“I just didn’t want to attack someone in the other party because they happened to be a Democrat or an Independent. I meet the issues the best I could,” Cooper said.

Brigham Young University historian Andrew Johns, who’s writing a biography on Cooper, doubts he could get elected today. Cooper, who was always willing to work with Democrats, would be too liberal for most of Kentucky’s Republicans.

Johns says the Senator opposed Republican hawks who wanted to warm-up the Cold War. Instead, Cooper willingly negotiated with the Soviets. He spoke out publicly against fellow Republic Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Kentucky Senator worked behind the scenes to end U-S military action in Southeast Asia.

“I think if you’re going to create some sort of hierarchy, absolutely. His opposition to Vietnam, his
consistent efforts to bring the war to a negotiated end, I think, stands out to me, as his most important contribution,” Johns said.

Surprising to some, Cooper had impressive diplomatic credentials. He was appointed ambassador to India when the newly independent nation was wooed by both the United States and the Soviet Union. And, Cooper was the first American ambassador to East Germany.

“You look at his time as ambassador to India, you look at his time as ambassador to East Germany, the first US ambassador to that country during détente, where he plays a very important role, you look at his role in the foreign aid debates in the 1950s and 1960s when he’s in the Senate. You look at his opposition to the ABM treaty in the late-1960s. I mean he is in the center of so many of these important episodes in the Cold War. I mean this is a man whose career is profoundly important and that I think for most people is a complete blank,” Johns said.

John Sherman Cooper ended his career practicing law in Washington, D-C, while maintaining a residence in Somerset. As a soldier, senator, and statesman, Cooper earned a place for himself at Arlington National Cemetery.