Carl Dewey Perkins (October 15, 1912 – August 3, 1984) was an American politician and member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from the Commonwealth of Kentucky serving from 1949 until his death from a heart attack in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

in 1984.

Early years

Carl Dewey Perkins was born in Hindman, Kentucky on October 15, 1912, to Dora Calhoun Perkins and James Perkins. Perkins attended high school at Hindman High School and Caney Junior College (now Alice Lloyd College). He worked as a teacher in a Knott County School for 90 students. He then went on to attend the Jefferson School of Law (now known as the University of Louisville School of Law) and graduated in 1935. He passed the bar and served a term as a commonwealth attorney for the thirty-first judicial district of Kentucky. In 1938 Perkins married Verna Johnson and they had one son, Carl C. Perkins. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Perkins enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and served a tour in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1940, Perkins was elected as a member of the Kentucky General Assembly was then elected Knott County Attorney in 1941 and reelected in 1945. Perkins resigned January 1, 1948 so that he could counsel the Department of Highways for Frankfort, Kentucky. He was elected to serve as a Kentucky Representative in 1948 winning against the incumbent Wendell H. Meade.

Congress

With the support of Gov. Earle C. Clements, Perkins won the 1948 Democratic primary election to oppose the one-term congressman from Kentucky's 7th District, Wendell H. Meade, who had been elected mainly due to war-profiteering charged against Democratic incumbent Andrew J. May. Perkins unseated Meade and was elected to the Eighty-first and to the 17 succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1949, until his death. Perkins was the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor (Ninetieth through Ninety-eighth Congresses, 1967–1984). While a part of the committee, his work helped produce the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and Head Start. The local Head Start in his home city of Hindman, Kentucky is named after Congressman Perkins. Unlike most Southern Democrats, Perkins was a pro-labor

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

liberal. Perkins did not sign the 1956

Southern Manifesto The Declaration of Constitutional Principles (known informally as the Southern Manifesto) was a document written in February and March 1956, during the 84th United States Congress, in opposition to racial integration of public places. The manife ...

, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

(where Perkins was the only yes vote from Kentucky), and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

Death

On August 3, 1984, Perkins was on a flight from Washington to Lexington, Kentucky, when he fell ill; when the plane landed, he was taken to a local hospital, where he died at the age of 71. His funeral was widely attended as he was widely regarded as a popular Kentucky politician over the course of his career. Many of his colleagues flew to Kentucky to pay their respects along with thousands of native Kentucky residents. The funeral proceedings were hosted in the Knott County High School gymnasium that was filled to capacity by colleagues and constituents of the congressman all of which were there to pay their respects. Notable attendees included Senator

Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

, House Majority Leader

Jim Wright James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas' 12th congressional district as a ...

, Congressman William H. Natcher and House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neil who gave the eulogy. Perkins was succeeded in office by his son, Carl C. Perkins.

Legacy

Perkins's legacy of support to education and the under-privileged is shown by the federal

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest ...

called the Perkins Loan, named for him, as is the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, which provides federal money for

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

. The Carl D. Perkins Bridge crossing the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

, the Carl D. Perkins Building on the campus of

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. It also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, and Manchester and offers over 40 online undergraduate and graduate options. History Founding ...

, and the Carl D. Perkins Federal Building and United States Courthouse in

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon the southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West ...

are named after him. The vocational school in Hindman, Kentucky at Knott County Central High School, Carl D. Perkins

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 to 24.

at Prestonsburg and Carl D. Perkins Rehab Center at Thelma are also named in his honor. Kentucky highway 80 in Hazard, Kentucky is named the Carl D. Perkins Parkway. The Carl D. Perkins Parkway stretches from Hazard, Kentucky through Carl D. Perkins home county of Knott county, Kentucky. The Carl D. Perkins Parkway connects to the Hal Rogers Parkway in Hazard, Kentucky. Perkins' grave site is in Hindman, Kentucky, in a public cemetery named "Mountain Memory Gardens". However, he was originally buried at a private cemetery near his home in Hindman. In 2007 Perkins's body was moved to where he is presently buried at Mountain Memory Gardens. Verna J. Perkins sold the old house and the land. She had since retired to a home for the elderly in Lexington, where she died in 2012.

References

External links