Just as when he had been baseball commissioner , Chandler faced the issue of racial integration during his second term as governor . Among his first actions upon his election was to issue an executive order , ensuring that blacks and whites would have equal access to the state park system . He publicly acknowledged the US Supreme Court 's 1954 decision in '' Brown v. Board of Education '' as the law of the land and promised to enforce it . The Kentucky Court of Appeals struck down Kentucky 's Day Law , against integration , the following year . Some areas of the state resisted the change . Notably , in 1956 , when nine black students in Sturgis , Kentucky , attempted to enter the all-white Sturgis High School , they were blocked by 500 opponents of integration . On September 4 , 1956 , Chandler called out the National Guard , including a force of over 900 guardsmen and several M47 Patton tanks , to disperse the crowd . The confrontation lasted a total of 18 days before the protesters peacefully dispersed . Shortly thereafter , Chandler took similar actions in response to a protest in the town of Clay , which was resolved without violence also . Of his actions , Chandler remarked , " We regret it is necessary to use this means of guaranteeing equal rights to our citizens , but that we must do . " Still convinced that he was destined to become president , Chandler attended the 1956 Democratic National Convention in the hope of securing the party 's presidential nomination . Despite being told by his advisors that the convention would nominate Adlai Stevenson , Chandler continued to seek the nomination but received only 36 1/2 votes . Following Stevenson 's nomination , Chandler returned to Kentucky , bitterly disappointed . The death of Senator Alben Barkley and the expiration of Senator Clements ' term would make Kentucky elect two senators also in November 1956 . Clements was seeking re-election , and the state Democratic committee chose Wetherby as the nominee for Barkley 's seat . Chandler refused to use his office to support Stevenson , Clements or Wetherby , and Republicans Dwight Eisenhower , John Sherman Cooper , and Thruston Ballard Morton won the presidential and the senatorial races in the state
1956 Democratic National Convention
1956 Democratic National Convention
Happy Chandler