Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Politics and Government
Series Number: OH170
Interviewee: Knuckles, Denver C.
Interviewer: James W. Hammack Jr.
Date interviewed: July 16, 1974
Processed by: Processed by Benjamin J. Drake in April of 2012.
Date processed: April 13, 2012
Description: 2 sound discs (94 minutes)
Abstract: State Senator Denver C. Knuckles provides details into his family history and Kentucky politics. He recounts his family history as far back as the American Civil War and the community of Knuckles in Bell County. He offers a brief account of his experiences prior to and during the Second World War. The remainder of the interview focuses on his election to the State legislature and the major issues of importance from the 1950s to the early 1970s. His discussion includes major political figures including governors Happy Chandler and Louie B. Nunn.
Biographical / Historical note: Denver C. Knuckles was born at Knuckles, Bell County, Kentucky in 1908. He graduated high school in Hazard, Kentucky in 1929. While attending high school he worked for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and following graduation worked for the Kentucky Utilities Company. Prior to the start of the Second World War he worked in Mayfield, Kentucky selling Life Insurance. In 1942 he joined the United States Marine Corp and fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima. After the war he returned to Bell County, Kentucky. In 1956 he was elected to the State Senate and in 1962 he was elected as a State Representative. He returned to the State Senate in 1972. He later served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Teacher’s Retirement System of Kentucky. He died on May 1, 1988.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Knuckles, Denver C., 1908-1988
Kentucky – Politics and government.
Legislators – Kentucky.
Bell County (Ky.) – Politics and government.
