John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky. He was the state’s first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. He also served as the Speaker of the Kentucky State House from 1894 to 1898, and as its Speaker from 1898 to 1898. Beckham never returned to elected office, failing both in his gubernatorial bid in 1927 and his senatorial campaign in 1936. Beckham County, Oklahoma, is named for him.
About J. C. W. Beckham in brief
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky. He was the state’s first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. Beckham’s political career began in 1894, when he was elected without opposition to the Kentucky House of Representatives. He served four consecutive terms and was its Speaker in 1898, his final year in the House. Beckham never returned to elected office, failing both in his gubernatorial bid in 1927 and his senatorial campaign in 1936. He died in Louisville on January 9, 1940. Beckham County, Oklahoma, is named for him. His maternal grandfather was governor of Kentucky from 1839 to 1840 and served as postmaster general in the administration of John Tyler. His uncle, Robert C. Wickliff, served as governor of Louisiana. Beckham was chosen as Democrat William Goebel’s running mate in the gubernatorial election of 1899 despite the fact that he had turned 30, the minimum age for governor, during the campaign. He lost a close election to Republican William S. Taylor, but the Kentucky General Assembly disputed the election results. A day later the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give the election to goebel, who was sworn into office on his deathbed. Beckham later won a special election to fill the remainder of Goeble’s term, since less than half the term had expired, and an election in his own right in 1903.
He later served as a delegate to every Democratic National Convention from 1900 to 1920. He continued to play an active role in state politics for another two decades, though he never returned in elected office to serve as governor or a U.S. senator. He also served as the Speaker of the Kentucky State House from 1894 to 1898, and as its Speaker from 1898 to 1898. He had a son and a daughter, both of whom were born in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1881 and 1883. He retired from the legal profession in 1891 and went on to become a schoolteacher and a county judge. He is survived by his son and two daughters. He never married. He and his wife had no children, but he had a grandson and a great-grandson. His great-great-granddaughter is the current Kentucky Supreme Court Justice, Mary Ann Beckham. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky and died in 2010, aged 89. He has a son, John C. Beckham, who served as mayor of Bardstown from 1989 to 1991. He died in 2012, at the age of 89. His grandson, William O. Bradley, was a former governor of the state and served from 1895 to 1899, and was elected to the US Senate in 1908. Beckham was the first person to be elected by popular vote to serve in both houses of Congress. His grandson, William C. Wickliffe, was elected as a US senator from Kentucky in 1906, and served until 1920.
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