as a national committee member (1952 to 1956), and then as the group's first woman president (1956 to 1958). When the popular Democratic politician Happy Chandler ran for Governor in 1955, he tried to persuade Stovall to be on his ticket as Secretary of State of Kentucky. After she took too long thinking about it, Chandler simply announced her candidacy on his own. With no ill will, Stovall went along with the plan, although she thought she would never win. Ultimately Stovall was elected Secretary of State three times, serving four-year terms beginning in 1956, 1964 and 1972. She also served two four-year terms as State Treasurer beginning in 1960 and 1968. In 1959, Stovall was secretary of state, the third-ranking office in Kentucky, when she discovered that the governor and lieutenant governor were both out of state. As the legal acting governor, she pardoned three prisoners, including a robber who had been given a life sentence for stealing $28. By the early 1970s, she was a figure of some national stature: the Cincinnati Enquirer described her as "one of the most knowledgeable women in America regarding state government" and noted that she was in high demand for speaking engagements around the country. She also candidly discussed her plans for higher office. Lieutenant Governor In 1975, Stovall was the first woman nominated for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky by either major political party. Stovall defeated the Republican nominee, Shirley W. Palmer-Ball, with 430,011 votes (54.6%) to Palmer-Ball's 357,744 votes (45.4%). As lieutenant governor, Stovall was not reluctant to invoke her powers as acting governor when Governor Julian Carroll left the state. During one of Carroll's absences, Stovall called the Kentucky General Assembly into special session to reduce taxation. Two bills were swiftly passed: one placed a statewide cap on property taxes, while the other removed a 5% state tax on utility bills. Equal Rights Amendment Her most famous intercession as acting governor came in March 1978 when, with Carroll out of the state, she vetoed the legislature's repeal of its ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The repeal had come to her as a late attachment to another bill regarding state pensions (House Joint Resolution 20), and Stovall claimed a legal right to reject it on two counts: the Kentucky constitution did not permit bills dealing with more than one subject, and there was a Senate rule that prohibited the introduction