Chosen as Democratic party whip in 1991, Ford considered running for floor leader in 1994 before throwing his support to U.S. senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

[6] In 1944, Ford left the University of Kentucky to join the army, enlisting for service in World War II on July 22, 1944.

[3][4] On June 7, 1949, he enlisted in the Kentucky Army National Guard and was assigned to Company I of the 149th Infantry Regimental Combat Team in Owensboro.

[2] Representing the Eighth District, including Daviess and Hancock counties, Ford introduced 22 major pieces of legislation that became law during his single term in the senate.

[4] In 1967, Ford ran for lieutenant governor, this time against the wishes of Breathitt and Combs, whose pick was state attorney general Robert Matthews.

[2] He ran an independent campaign and won in the general election even as Combs-Breathitt pick Henry Ward lost the race for governor to Republican Louie B.

[11] Constitutional limits sometimes prevented him from combining like functions, but Ford made the reorganization a top priority and realized some savings to the state.

[13] Kentucky's Constitution required residency of one year in the state, six months in the county and sixty days in the precinct to establish voting eligibility.

[14] This issue had to be resolved before the 1972 presidential election in November, so Ford called a special legislative session to enact the necessary corrections.

[14] In addition, Ford added to the General Assembly's agenda the creation of a state environmental protection agency, a refinement of congressional districts in line with the latest census figures and ratification of the recently passed Equal Rights Amendment.

[16] Despite surgery for a brain aneurysm in June 1972, Ford attended the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida.

[11] During the 1974 legislative session, Ford proposed a six-year study of coal liquefaction and gasification in response to the 1973 oil crisis.

[16] Critics also cited the fact that employees found qualified by the merit examination were still required to obtain political clearance before they were hired.

[4] The seat was vacated by the retirement of Republican John Sherman Cooper and won by Ford's campaign manager, Walter Dee Huddleston.

[10] Ford's friends then began lobbying him to try and unseat Kentucky's other Republican senator, one-term legislator Marlow Cook.

[17] In the election, Ford defeated Cook by a vote of 399,406 to 328,982, completing his revitalization of the state's Democratic party by personally ousting the last Republican from major office.

[17] Ford resigned as governor to accept the seat, leaving the governorship to Carroll, who dropped state support for the project, killing it.

[4] In the wake of the rapid ascent of Ford and members of his faction to the state's major political offices, he and Carroll were investigated in a corruption probe.

[2] The four-year investigation began in 1977 and focused on a state insurance kickback scheme alleged to have operated during Ford's tenure.

[16] Investigators believed there was an arrangement in which insurance companies getting government contracts split commissions with party officials, although Ford was suspected of allowing the practice for political benefit rather than personal financial gain.

[23] Against Republican Jackson Andrews IV in 1986, Ford shattered that record, securing 74 percent of the votes cast and carrying all 120 Kentucky counties.

[27] Ford got a late start in the race, and a New York Times writer opined that he overestimated his chances of unseating Cranston.

[2][31] Ford got tobacco exempted from the Consumer Product Safety Act and was a consistent opponent of cigarette tax increases.

[2] He sponsored an amendment to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that limited the amount of foreign tobacco that could be imported by the United States.

[26] Later in his career, Ford split with Huddleston's successor, Mitch McConnell, over a proposed settlement of lawsuits against tobacco companies.

[2] As chairman of the Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee, Ford secured funds to improve the airports in Louisville, northern Kentucky, and Glasgow.

[26] Never known as a major player on international issues, Ford favored continued economic sanctions against Iraq as an alternative to the Gulf War.

[17] Despite having chaired Bill Clinton's inaugural committee in 1993, Ford broke with the administration by voting against the North American Free Trade Agreement .

[33] Opponents of the bill cited the broad powers granted to the printing office and concerns about the erosion of copyright protection.

[33] Warner did not return to his chairmanship of the Joint Committee on Printing in the next congress, Ford retired from the Senate, and the bill was not re-introduced.