Walter Dee Huddleston

Dee Huddleston
United States Senator from Kentucky
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1985
Preceded by	John Cooper
Succeeded by	Mitch McConnell
Member of the Kentucky Senate from the 10th district
In office January 4, 1966 – December 1972
Preceded by	Paul Fuqua
Succeeded by	Joe Prather
Personal details
Born	Walter Darlington Huddleston (1926-04-15) April 15, 1926 Burkesville, Kentucky, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Jean Pearce (1947–2003)
Education	University of Kentucky (BA)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1944–1946
Battles/wars	World War II

Walter Darlington "Dee" Huddleston (born April 15, 1926) is a retired American politician. He is a Democrat from Kentucky who represented the state in the United States Senate from 1973 until 1985.

Life and career

Huddleston was born in Burkesville, the seat of Cumberland County in south central Kentucky. After he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a tank gunner in Europe during and after World War II from 1944 to 1946. He then attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, from which he graduated in 1949. In 1947 he married Martha Jean Pearce (1929–2003).

Huddleston was a manager of radio stations in Kentucky from 1949 to 1972. He entered politics in 1964 when he was elected to the Kentucky State Senate. He was elected as a state senator in 1965, serving until 1972; for a time, he was the body's majority leader.

In 1972, Huddleston ran for the U.S. Senate seat which was being vacated by retiring Republican John Sherman Cooper. He narrowly defeated Republican Louie B. Nunn, a recent former governor, receiving a 51% to 48% margin.^[1] Huddleston was reelected in 1978 with 61 percent of the vote over the former Republican state Representative Louie R. Guenthner, Jr., of Louisville.

In 1984, Huddleston's Republican opponent was Jefferson County (Louisville) Judge-Executive Mitch McConnell. McConnell gained political traction with a series of television campaign ads making sport of Huddleston's attendance record in the Senate. Mitch McConnell accused him of putting "his private speaking engagements ahead of his Senate responsibilities."^[2] Despite these ads, the race was very close, with McConnell only defeating Huddleston when the last returns came in (49.9%-to-49.5%).^[3]

Huddleston was known as a member of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, as was typical of party members from Kentucky.

In the late 1980s, Huddleston was the head of the English Language Political Action Committee (a.k.a. "El Pac"). He currently serves on the National Board of Advisors of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

After leaving the Senate, Huddleston moved to Elizabethtown, the seat of Hardin County in west central Kentucky.

In 2012, Huddleston announced he was stepping down as Chairman of First Financial Service Corporation.^[4]

References

External links

• United States Congress. "Walter Dee Huddleston (id: H000905)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

United States Senators from Kentucky
Class 2	Brown Thruston Clay Bibb Walker Barry Hardin Crittenden Johnson Bibb Crittenden Morehead J. Underwood Thompson Powell Guthrie McCreery Stevenson Beck Carlisle Lindsay Blackburn Paynter James Martin Stanley Sackett Robsion Williamson M. Logan Chandler Stanfill Cooper Chapman T. Underwood Cooper Barkley Humphreys Cooper Huddleston McConnell
Class 3	Edwards Marshall J. Breckinridge Adair Clay Pope Bledsoe Talbot W. Logan Talbot Rowan Clay Crittenden Metcalfe Clay Meriwether Dixon Crittenden J. C. Breckinridge Davis Machen McCreery Williams Blackburn Deboe McCreary Bradley Camden Beckham Ernst Barkley Withers Clements Morton Cook Ford Bunning Paul