 Born in Daviess County , Kentucky , Ford attended the University of Kentucky , but his studies were interrupted by his service in World War II . After the war , he graduated from the Maryland School of Insurance and returned to Kentucky to help his father with the family insurance business . He also continued his military service in the Kentucky Army National Guard . He worked on the gubernatorial campaign of Bert T. Combs in 1959 , and became Combs ' executive assistant when Combs was elected governor . Encouraged to run for the Kentucky Senate by Combs ' ally and successor , Ned Breathitt , Ford won the seat and served one four @-@ year term before running for lieutenant governor in 1967 . He was elected on a split ticket with Republican Louie B. Nunn . Four years later , Ford defeated Combs in an upset in the Democratic primary en route to the governorship . 
