Harry Lee Waterfield
American politician (1911-1988)

Harry Lee Waterfield (January 19, 1911 – August 4, 1988), an American Democratic politician, he served as the 42nd and 44th lieutenant governor of Kentucky and unsuccessfully sought election as governor of Kentucky.
Waterfield was originally from Calloway County, Kentucky. He published the Hickman County Gazette and four other West Kentucky newspapers, was president of the Kentucky Press Association and a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1938–1947 and 1950–1951. He was House speaker in 1944–46 and sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1947, 1959 and 1967. He founded Investors Heritage Life Insurance Co. in Frankfort in 1961 and served as its president and chairman until his death.
Waterfield twice won election as Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and held that office in 1955–1959 and 1963–1967. He was the first person to win election to two terms in the office, and the only one to do it before candidates for the post officially slated with candidates for governor. He served under Happy Chandler in his first term and under Edward T. Breathitt in his second.
Waterfield was generally considered anti-administration before winning his 1955 lieutenant governor's race.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harry Lee Waterfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.