The Public Papers of Governor Martha Layne Collins, 1983-1987

This volume presents the important speeches and correspondence of Governor Martha Layne Collins, the first and only woman to be elected governor of Kentucky. Papers from the state archives chronicle the agenda and rhetoric that Collins, a former schoolteacher, used to accomplish the intertwining goals of education reform and economic development. Included are Collins’s letters to automobile makers to consider Kentucky as a manufacturing site and her triumphant announcement that Toyota had selected Kentucky for its plant. The volume also includes Collins’s pivotal speeches during her rise to leadership in the Democratic Party, which chose her to chair its 1984 National Convention. Other chapters deal with related issues of labor and management, energy and environment, health and welfare, and women in politics. An introductory essay summarizes Collins’s life and career and the impact of her administration on the future of the state.