Kirk Fordice

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Kirk Fordice

61^st Governor of Mississippi
In office 1992 – 2000
Lieutenant(s)	Eddie Briggs, Ronnie Musgrove
Preceded by	Ray Mabus
Succeeded by	Ronnie Musgrove

Born	February 10, 1934 Memphis, Tennessee
Died	September 7, 2004 Jackson, Mississippi
Political party	Republican
Profession	Soldier, Businessman

Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr. (February 10, 1934 – September 7, 2004) was a politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. He was the Governor of Mississippi from 1992 until 2000.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Fordice studied engineering at Purdue University, earning a BS and MS in 1956 and 1957, respectively. After graduation he served with the United States Army as an engineer officer in the 1st Infantry Division for two years. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1977, retiring with the rank of colonel.

Fordice settled in Vicksburg and began a career in heavy construction. He won the governorship of Mississippi in the 1991 election, first winning the Republican primary against former state auditor Pete Johnson and in the general election against Democratic incumbent Ray Mabus, making him the first Republican to be elected governor since Reconstruction era governor Adelbert Ames, who served from 1874 to 1876.

Fordice successfully won re-election in 1995 against Democratic Mississippi secretary of state Dick Molpus.

Fordice was an outspoken conservative, advocating tax cuts, the abolition of race quotas, reductions in the welfare system, capital punishment, tougher prison conditions and the building of more prison cells.

However, Fordice often became an issue himself. Among the bluntest of modern American politicians, he offended blacks by refusing to apologize for Mississippi's violent history, as well as for vowing to call out the National Guard rather than enforce a court order to spend more money on the state's three historically black universities. Fordice also alienated Jews by refusing to back down from his contention that "America is a Christian nation."

Fordice's tenure was also roiled by rumors of an extramarital affair, which later led to his divorce from Pat Fordice.

After retiring, Fordice settled in Madison, Mississippi. He died of leukemia in Jackson at the age of 70. He is buried at Parkway Memorial Cemetery in Ridgeland, Mississippi.