There are those of us, of sufficient vintage, who can recall people saying, “If you want to vote in Kentucky, you register as a Democrat.” That always seemed to be a little bit more true here in western Kentucky, the birthplace of Alben Barkley, Wendell Ford, Ned Breathitt, Ruby Laffoon, and Julian Carroll. Of course, western Kentucky is more competitive today politically, but one has to wonder how our part of the Commonwealth became a Democratic bastion in the first place. Dr. George Humphreys is the director of Madisonville Community College’s Muhlenberg campus and an alumnus of Murray State’s History Department. He’s the author of The Democratic Rock of Gibraltar: The Rise and Fall of Western Kentucky Democratic Politics Since the New Deal, slated to come out next spring. He’s on the line today to speak with us about it.
Dr. George Humphreys is director of Community College’s Muhlenberg campus and the author of the upcoming book The Democratic Rock of Gibraltar: The Rise and Fall of Western Kentucky Democratic Politics Since the New Deal, due out from the University Press of Kentucky next spring.