Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Politics and Government
Series Number: OH174 (Sessions 2 and 3)
Interviewee: Barton, Lon Carter
Interviewer: Saundra Hoover and Burt Folsom
Date interviewed: March 29, 1993 and April 9, 1933
Processed by: Processed by Benjamin J. Drake in April and May 2012.
Date processed: May 5, 2012
Description: 4 sound discs (3 hours 2 minutes)
Abstract: Lon Carter Barton discusses his time in the Kentucky State Legislature. The first interview begins with his entry into politics and his failed 1955 campaign for state legislature. His 1957 campaign for state legislator was successful. He describes significant legislation debated during his time in office, including the Egg Bill, the Keeneland Race Track Tax and the Community College System. He recalls the three governors he served under, Happy Chandler, Bert T. Combs and Edward T. Breathitt. Barton provides his opinion on issues such as elected versus appointed State officials, the interstate and parkway system, the influence of lobbyists, strip mining, and Kentucky Education Television. He concludes with his opinions on why he left politics and returned to teaching.
Biographical / Historical note: Lon Carter Barton was born on September 18, 1925 in Mayfield, Kentucky. He attended Murray State College (presently Murray State University) and began teaching at Mayfield in 1947. In 1951, he was drafted into the Army and stationed at Indian Gap, Pennsylvania before being shipped to Korea. He was discharged in 1953 and returned to teaching before campaigning for the State legislature in 1957. He served as a State Representative in the Kentucky Legislature from 1958 until 1966. He returned to teaching in Mayfield the following year. He died at his home in Mayfield on March 28, 2006.
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:
Barton, Lon Carter, 1925-2006
Kentucky – Politics and government
Legislators – Kentucky.
Graves County (Ky.) – Politics and government.
Mayfield (Ky.)
