Happy Chandler - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

In 1957, Chandler was one of ten inaugural members of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. A vestryman at St. John's Church in Versailles, he was awarded the Bishop's Medal of the Episcopal Church in 1959. That same year, he received the Cross of Military Service from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. He served as a trustee of the Ty Cobb Foundation and Transylvania University. At the 1960 Democratic National Convention, he again sought the party's presidential nomination, opining that the front-runner, John F. Kennedy, was "a nice young fellow ... (but) too young for the nomination." Chandler proposed that he be the presidential nominee with Kennedy as the nominee for vice-president, but the convention chose Kennedy for president instead.

On January 3, 1962, Chandler opened a campaign headquarters in Frankfort, announcing his bid for an unprecedented third term as governor with the slogan "ABC in '63". His opponent in the primary was Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt, Jr., the choice of outgoing Governor Bert Combs. Chandler reverted to his familiar campaign themes, charging the Combs administration with wasting state funds in the construction of a floral clock at the state capitol and denouncing Combs for re-instituting the state sales tax. However, he found it very difficult to adapt to campaigning via television, an increasingly important medium, and his attacks mostly fell flat.

Breathitt enraged Chandler by charging that, when Chandler was a senator, he had voted in favor of declaring World War II, but soon after resigned his commission as a reserve army captain. According to Chandler's version of events, after he voted in favor of the war declaration, he called Secretary of War Henry Stimson and asked to be put on active duty. Chandler said Stimson told him he would rather have a senator than a captain, after which Chandler resigned his commission. Chandler's explanation did not stop Breathitt from repeating the charge often on the campaign trail.

Chandler lost to Breathitt in the primary by more than 60,000 votes, although his running mate, Harry Lee Waterfield, won the nomination for lieutenant governor. Journalist John Ed Pearce opined that the loss marked the demise of the Chandler wing of the Democratic Party in Kentucky, although Chandler himself remained somewhat influential.

In 1965, Chandler was named to the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and became commissioner of the Continental Football League. He served as Democratic National Committeeman from Kentucky. Becoming somewhat of a perennial candidate, he unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1967 and 1971. After his loss in the 1967 Democratic primary, he endorsed Republican Louie B. Nunn. After his election, Nunn appointed Chandler to the first of his three terms on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees.

In 1968, Chander was given serious consideraton as the vice-presidential running mate of Alabama's former Governor George Wallace in the latter American Independent Party bid for the U.S. presidency. Wallace instead turned to Air Force General Curtis LeMay. the ticket lost to Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew. Chandler said that he and Wallace were unable to come to an agreement regarding their positions on racial matters.

In 1971, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race, this time as an independent, but he garnered only 39,493 votes, compared to 470,720 for eventual Democratic victor Wendell H. Ford, and 412,653 for Republican challenger Tom Emberton. Ford's successor, Julian Carroll, again appointed Chandler to the University of Kentucky's board of trustees.

The Major League Baseball Veterans Committee chose Chandler for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1987, filmmaker Robby Henson profiled Chandler in a 30-minute documentary entitled Roads Home: The Life and Times of A.B. 'Happy' Chandler.

Chandler endorsed dark horse candidate Wallace G. Wilkinson in the 1987 Democratic primary, and his endorsement was considered crucial to Wilkinson's victory in the race. After Wilkinson's election as governor, he restored Chandler's voting rights on the University of Kentucky's board of trustees. (In 1981, then-governor John Y. Brown, Jr. had designated Chandler an "honorary", non-voting member of the board.) While discussing the University of Kentucky's decision to dispose of its investments in South Africa at a meeting of the university's board of trustees on April 5, 1988, Chandler remarked "You know Zimbabwe's all nigger now. There aren't any whites." The comment immediately drew calls for Chandler's resignation from the University Senate Council and the Student Government Association, and approximately 50 students marched on university president David Roselle's office demanding that Chandler apologize or resign. Commenting on the controversy the next day, Chandler said "I was raised in a small town in Western Kentucky. There were 400 whites and 400 blacks, and we called them niggers and they didn't mind. And I reverted temporarily, at least, to that expression, and of course, I wish I hadn't." That apology did not satisfy many, and 200 protesters marched on the state capitol, demanding that Governor Wilkinson remove Chandler from the board. Wilkinson refused to remove Chandler and urged the crowd to forgive him.

Chandler published his autobiography, Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks, in 1989. In an interview with The Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky's student newspaper, Chandler was asked about his controversial comments the previous year, which were addressed in the book. Chandler reportedly told the paper "I said most of the Zimbabweans were niggers and they are niggers." The comment sparked fresh protests and calls for Chandler's resignation. In response to the controversy, Chandler's personal assistant said "He used the word again in explaining that it was not intended by him to be a racial slur," and called the Kernel's story "a complete and total distortion."

Chandler died in Versailles on June 15, 1991 and was buried in the churchyard of Pisgah Presbyterian Church near Versailles. Prior to his death, he had been the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the longest-living former Kentucky governor.