J. C. W. Beckham

J. C. W. Beckham
Black-and-white photograph of a clean-shaven man with his hair cut short, at about 45. He is wearing a suit and tie in a style common in the 1910s and 1920s.
Beckham, c. 1915
United States Senator
from Kentucky
In office
March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1921
Preceded byJohnson N. Camden Jr.
Succeeded byRichard P. Ernst
35th Governor of Kentucky
In office
February 3, 1900 – December 10, 1907
LieutenantWilliam P. Thorne
Preceded byWilliam Goebel
Succeeded byAugustus E. Willson
28th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
In office
January 31, 1900 – February 3, 1900
GovernorWilliam Goebel
Preceded byJohn Marshall
Succeeded byWilliam P. Thorne
Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office
January 4, 1898 – January 1, 1900
Preceded byCharles Blandford
Succeeded bySouth Trimble
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
from the 39th district
In office
February 5, 1896 – January 1, 1900
Preceded byIsaac Wilson
Succeeded byEli H. Brown
In office
January 1, 1894 – January 1, 1896
Preceded byA. L. Harned
Succeeded byIsaac Wilson
Personal details
Born
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham

(1869-08-05)August 5, 1869
Wickland, Nelson County, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedJanuary 9, 1940(1940-01-09) (aged 70)
Louisville, Kentucky
Resting placeFrankfort Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseJean Raphael Fuqua
Children2
RelativesCharles A. Wickliffe (grandfather)
Robert C. Wickliffe (uncle)
Alma materCentral University
University of Kentucky
Profession
  • Politician
  • lawyer

John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham (August 5, 1869 – January 9, 1940) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 35th governor of Kentucky and a United States senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.

Descended from a prominent political family, Beckham was chosen as the running mate of Democratic nominee William Goebel in the 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election. Although Goebel lost the election to Republican nominee William S. Taylor, the Kentucky General Assembly disputed the election results. During the political wrangling that followed, an unknown assassin shot Goebel. A day later, the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give the election to Goebel, who was sworn into office on his deathbed. Taylor claimed the election had been stolen by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly, and a legal fight occurred between him and Beckham over the governorship. Beckham ultimately prevailed and Taylor fled the state. Beckham later won a special election to fill the remainder of Goebel's term and then an election in his own right in 1903.

In 1906, during his second term as governor, Beckham made a bid to become a U.S. senator. His favorable stance of prohibition cost him the votes of four legislators in his own party, and in 1908, the General Assembly gave the seat to Republican William O. Bradley. In 1914, Beckham secured the seat by popular election, but lost his re-election bid in 1920, largely due to his pro-temperance views and opposition to women's suffrage. He continued to play an active role in state politics for another two decades, but never returned to elected office, failing both in his 1927 gubernatorial bid and his 1936 senatorial campaign. He died in Louisville in 1940.